Every once in a while I stumble across a job lot of something worth attempting a "quick" flip. "Quick" in inverted commas as there's nothing quick about selling on eBay these days! 🙄
Years ago eBay insisted I upgrade my Private account to Business because I bought a job lot of identical Brand New in box perfumes I wanted to flip for a quick profit. I believe their rhetoric was I can't sell more than one of the same item without a business account - from recollection there were 30 bottles and I made about 1200 after costs. Unbeknownst to me, I was then penalised to the tune of hundreds ££ in unnecessary fees for using the business account when legitimately selling my unwanted items in the 5 or 6 years that followed. Since realising I could run both a private and business account concurrently I've used the private account set up in 2022 for the entirety of my eBay.
Recently however I've just purchased a job lot of ink cartridges (£1k worth) and intend to sell these for a profit. As I don't want to jeopardise a forced upgrade on my private/personal account I intend to use the old business one.
Question is: Do I automatically have to declare this trading income via a tax return regardless of the net outcome? As for all I know I may even make a loss. As I'm not and never have been a business seller, it's purely a one off trade. And secondly is there anything to stop me using my private account for a one off casual trade that will almost certainly leave me below the trading allowance after costs.
