Selling on Vinted or eBay: do you have to pay tax?

Selling your own things

HMRC calls these personal possessions: things that belong to you for your own use. Selling them is not trading. HMRC's own guidance says that if you're clearing out unwanted items, it's unlikely you'll need to tell them or pay any tax, "no matter how many items you sell".

The one exception is anything you sell for more than £6,000. That can bring Capital Gains Tax into play, and the £6,000 limit applies to the total for a set of items sold together, not each piece.

When it becomes trading

You're probably trading if you sell things you bought intending to sell at a profit, or things you made, even as a hobby. Car boot finds flipped on Vinted, charity shop jeans relisted on eBay, clearance stock bought in bulk: that's trading, especially when you do it regularly.

The £1,000 trading allowance

If your total trading income for the tax year (6 April to 5 April) is £1,000 or less, you don't need to tell HMRC and there's no tax on it. The figure is your income before expenses, so £1,000 of sales counts as £1,000 even if the stock cost you £800.

Once you go over £1,000 you have a choice when you do your tax return: knock £1,000 off your income using the allowance, or claim your actual expenses instead. You can't do both. If your stock, fees and postage come to more than £1,000, claiming expenses is usually the better deal, which is why it pays to record them from day one.

What Vinted, eBay and the rest tell HMRC

Since January 2024, online marketplaces have to report some sellers to HMRC once a year. For goods, you're reported if, in a calendar year, you make 30 or more sales, or receive about £1,700 (2,000 euros) or more. Either one is enough. The platform sends it by the following January and has to give you a copy of what it sent.

Being reported doesn't mean you owe tax. Someone clearing out their wardrobe can easily pass 30 sales and owe nothing. What it does mean is that HMRC can see the numbers, so if you are trading and over the allowance, it will expect a tax return.

What you can claim

If you're trading and claim expenses rather than the allowance, you can claim the business costs of making those sales. HMRC's list includes things you buy to sell on (your stock), travel costs such as fuel and parking, and office costs such as stationery and phone bills. If something is used for both business and personal life, like your phone, you can only claim the business share.

The dates to know

• 5 October after the end of the tax year: register for Self Assessment if this is your first year over the allowance. Registering late can mean a penalty.
• 31 January after that: file your online tax return and pay what you owe.
• Keep your records for at least 5 years after that 31 January deadline.

Making Tax Digital is coming down the line

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax means keeping digital records and sending HMRC updates every quarter through compatible software. It depends on your qualifying income: your total turnover from self-employment and property, before expenses.

• Over £50,000 in 2024 to 2025: you're in from April 2026.
• Over £30,000 in 2025 to 2026: you're in from April 2027.
• Over £20,000 in 2026 to 2027: you're in from April 2028.

Most resellers are well under these, but it's worth knowing the line is dropping.

Where STC fits in

I built STC because I was doing exactly this and losing track. It records what each item cost, what it sold for, the fees and the postage, and adds it up by UK tax year so the figures for your return are already there. You can export them as a CSV for your records or your accountant. It doesn't file anything with HMRC for you, and it isn't Making Tax Digital software.