How to read eBay statments!

[jlsa55]

Have been selling my own stuff, as aprovate seller, on eBay for some while.Now, am looking at how much I have earnt, due to the changes and HMRC. I don't earn anywhere near £1000 per year. BUT, it trying to look at how much I have earnt, I cannot seem to understand the eBay statement!

Opening funds (on 01 Oct) £0.00
Orders (Total minus fees) £23.31
Claims (Total net of fees and credits) £0.00
Refunds (Total net of fees and credits) £0.00
Payment disputes (Total net of fees and credits) £0.00
Postage labels -£8.82
Other fees £0.00
Adjustment £0.00
Purchases £0.00
Charges £0.00
Payouts -£14.49
Closing funds (moving to next statement) £0.00

Can anyone point me in the right direction for working out how much I have actually earnt please as I don't understand all the categories! Many thanks!

[jlsa55]

Sorry, private selller, not oprovate!!

[litp*records]

You may be getting confused about a couple of things.  £1k is the trading allowance for business sellers.

For private sellers, Ebay is sharing accounts with HMRC of anyone who has sold more than 30 items or 2000 euros worth in a calendar year.

Secondly, this is not based on your earnings (profit) but on your turnover.  Ie. It is based on the total amount of money you have received before any fees are subtracted, or purchasing of postage etc.

So in your case, your turnover at least for the report you have shared, is £23.31

[rjwilmsi]

If you are selling your own possessions for less than you bought them for then it doesn't matter how much you have sold because their is no tax payable and no requirement to report anything to HMRC. The £1000 number doens't apply as you are not trading.

Note, if selling your own possessions privately but for more than you paid for them then you could have capital gains tax to pay, even if it is not "trading" subject to income tax. But from the eBay statement shown that can't be the case here.

For others, the £1000 HMRC allowance is against turnover i.e. total gross sales. OP's figure of £23.31 is after fees, so I think their total gross sales is about £26, and if they were trading it would be the £26 figure to count against £1000.

[jlsa55]

Okay, thanks for all the replies. I don't earn £1000 per year and it is all my own stuff. Clearer now, thank you.

[keeptheroof · Accepted solution]

As a private individual, you have "earned" the profit you have made. Also as a private individual, you have no responsibility to keep records and don't need to register with the taxman. ( Won't argue about this so don't bother peps)

Having said that, and under that category, you would be liable to pay tax in certain situations. The most common being quoted here is if you are working and earn £12,571  - You are then liable to pay tax on all profits over the first £1,000 in the tax year.  Not the money sellers give you! but profits.

The point I'm making is you take all your expenses including the cost of your time based on the average hourly salary of £15.14 Hr (currently). It's unlikely that someone's hobby of selling unwanted stuff on eBay is ever going to be liable for tax.

Because even if they do come asking you to fill forms you have an endless list of costs you currently probably ignore associated with listing & dealing with eBay. I for example have 5 years of storage payments at over £100 a month I can throw at them. But most people have their time, printing costs,  packaging costs, transport costs if you drive to the PO. Hell, you could even claim for putting up shelves or a slice of the payment you pay to get online if you had to. The taxman knows this and if they can't even bother to investigate 25% of reported major tax fraud they are unlikely to spend more than a warning letter on even big eBay sellers who trading.