You are very incorrect. I was a private seller, selling as an "individual" aka sole trader.
I have to continue submitting my tax returns each year now since 2 yrs ago I submitted my tax return because my income was a grand total of just over £1250, and I got an email back from HMRC saying that there was no need to submit anything, although their website clearly states any income over £1200 from self employment must be declared. They also said that since I'd made a tax return, they'd require one every year regardless of whether my income meets the threshold.
As I said, I made hardly any money, but it was enough to keep me going between jobs.
Just because I made a fair amount of sales, those sales didn't exactly turn into profit considering my materials costs, shipping on the materials, wastage through trial and error to achieve specific customer requirements, delivery costs, packaging materials plus shipping costs, and expensive replacement parts on my machines (no cheap generic parts, only genuine), rent and electricity costs.
I was originally planning to operate as a printing business until my unit was broken into, smashed up and several items stolen to fund the thieves drug habits, I then had to sell my printer, of which eBay pocketed a good £450+ cut of the sale price and ditch the business idea because the damage done and stolen items cost me my startup funding.
Because I still had the vinyl cutter, and could ultimately operate that from home, I kept that going so I had just about enough money to feed myself whilst I looked for work. Sales steadily grew and I gained a loyal repeat customer base. I kept it going mostly to continue supplying products for my repeat customers, but now it's just impossible to continue. I can't ask my customers to pay more than I was already asking, it doesn't sit right with me and for me to absorb the additional costs, that's not even remotely possible.
To give you an example of the realistic income of one product that may of sold for £20, I'd spend sometime anywhere between 3hrs to 24hrs designing (if required) and making that product. Break down that £20 into an hourly wage before other expenses, and you can see just how much money I earned. Some months I could have as much as £350 of sales, other months I'd be lucky to make £70 of sales. I was working on growing my sales, but with working a full time job, growth was very slow. eBay was essentially my safety net for if, and when my employers do the dirty on me and leave me unemployed suddenly - very common in the courier/delivery business.
I'm actually not even too bothered about myself in regards to eBay because as I said, I currently have a full time job and so money isn't an issue and my free time is very limited, but my dad, as no doubt with many other low value item sellers, will suffer big time because of this stealth tax.
Buyers aren't stupid, and they'll rapidly turn to purchasing goods direct from China over paying inflated prices on eBay.
