Ending my business

[k510143]

I wonder if someone could clarify something for me. I have ceased trading from 01/12/23 as I get my retirement pension in a few weeks. I have no stock left . I may want to sell family items now & again in the future. Hubby's fish tank comes to mind. Ebay have told me that under no circumstances can I revert to a private account & I will need to open a new account. Obviously this won't have any of my feedback etc. If I sell anything presumably HMRC will tax me? This seems so unfair when I see "private" sellers with 1000+ items for sale. What a mug I am for being honest.

[cobwebcottage]

Congratulations on your retirement.

It would be more beneficial for you to open a private account as you will be able to access the perks a private seller gets. 

You will have to start again although if you were to buy a few household items, which you use anyway, you will soon build up some feedback.

[papso22]

HMRC will not tax your private sales.  

With a bit of luck they may end up with tax from the 'private' sellers you refer to!

[tommystrezures]

Congratulations on your retirement, and does the hubby know about the fish tank?!!!

Ebay have given you the correct info. If you have a business account you cannot then rescind it to a private account. They will make you keep it open in case there are things such as chargebacks. However it in affect becomes 'redundant'.

What I have found is when I had my first personal account on ebay was to buy some low value items (it was always stationery for me) but it at least gets your feedback score off of zero if that is what you are worried about.

If you are on your private account selling odds and sods, you will not pay or owe HMRC anything. There is a helpful page in ebay Digital Sales reporting which if you haven't read you should just take a minute or two to read. In short (there are masses of other threads on this so I am not going to go into any detail) if you sell more than 30 items a year and or the value of the items is over £1700/€2000 as in the guidelines laid out by the OECD, then ebay now have to report this to HMRC. These changes are not just being implemented by ebay but it affects all other selling platforms not just in the UK ,but there are 30+ countries participating in this programme. Nothing else has changed just the reporting methods. 

[vinylscot]

...apart from anything else, the feedback you received was not given to you as a private seller. It was given to the business entity's account. You can't take any credit for it, as you did not earn it.

[magpiecorner1]

Interesting comment - and valid if the business account was for a company - because a company is a separate entity, a self employed person is not - a person trading as a business is still the same person so all feedback would be personal to the seller -  so absolutely can take credit for all feedback, surely?

Whilst I still believe items sell better on business than on private accounts, these days the advantage is lost due to promoted listings.

As well as higher costs, business sellers have far more legal obligations than private sellers, so if you can legally avoid those obligations it is a good idea to do so.  Saves being sued.

[vinylscot]

I see what you're getting at, but it's really irrelevant. That feedback was earned while the seller was giving all the consumer protection required as a business. That may have persuaded some buyers to buy from them, instead of from a private account. I know there are some buyers who will not buy from private accounts, for this reason.

[1984jo]

Well I think most eBay members will be fine and should just keep selling like normal, if u are selling you own personal stuff, it fine and it will not come under the new tax rule. So u can sell has much as u like, as long has u do not go about £6,000 a year and I doubt most private sellers are going to get anywhere near that. I was a little worried as I sell quite a bit of stuff that belonged to me and I was worried I would not be able to, and that would have been hard for me has I just a university student living on student finance and that is not a lot so selling on eBay just helps me out a little so I can buy food etc but the eBay community explain that I could sell as much as I wanted as long has it was my own personal items. Also with this HMRC thing, I read it going to cost over £25m and they need more staff to look in to it and for what, has if u earn less that £6,000 a year there is no tax to be pay so it mayb more about sellers both private and business accounts who are earning thousands a month and now paying tax on that and every one else is just in the middle. So if they do catch some people who are earning over £15,000+ a year and not declaring it than good but I guessing the sellers who are making just a little extra cash to help them out, I not sure they are interested in us. 

[k510143]

Thank you to everybody who replied. I now know exactly where I stand. Cheers,

[sumnites]

Hope the fish tank was a joke, it wouldnt survive post unless plastic and as collection best sold locally via other cash on collection platforms. Good luck in your retirement

[maujohwai]

Feedback from sellers says little about you as a seller, but at least it bumps up the headline figure!

[cobwebcottage]

I am aware of that but at least it shows you are active instead of having a zero next to your username.