Do you pay tax on Vinted or eBay sales? HMRC rules explained (UK)

Personal items or trading?

gov.uk puts it simply: you are unlikely to pay tax if you sell personal items from your home, such as the contents of a loft or garage. If you buy or make goods to sell at a profit, you are likely to be trading and will have to pay tax on your profits. A clear-out of your own wardrobe is the first kind. Buying stock to resell is the second.

The badges of trade

Between those two is a grey area. HMRC's Business Income Manual lists nine "badges of trade" that help decide whether activity is a trade:

• Profit-seeking motive. Whether you meant to make a profit. It points towards trading, but not on its own.
• Number of transactions. Dealings that are systematic and repeated point towards trading.
• Nature of the asset. Whether the item could only be sold for a profit, or gave you income or personal enjoyment.
• Similar trading transactions or interests. Whether the sale resembles a trade you already carry on.
• Changes to the asset. Whether you repaired, modified or improved the item to make it easier or more profitable to sell.
• The way the sale was carried out. Whether it matched ordinary trading practice, or was forced, for example to raise emergency cash.
• Source of finance. Whether you borrowed to buy the item and the repayment depended on selling it.
• Time between purchase and sale. A quick planned resale points towards trading. Holding something indefinitely makes trading less likely.
• Method of acquisition. Something inherited or given to you is less likely to be the subject of a trade.

Not every badge is present in every case, they can point in different directions, and no single one is decisive. The manual says a badge on its own is unlikely to give a conclusive answer: the overall picture is what counts.

What the platforms report to HMRC

Under rules that started on 1 January 2024, platforms collect sellers' details each year and report them, with the income from selling goods or services, to HMRC by the following January. You get a copy. A platform does not report you if you make fewer than 30 sales of goods in a calendar year and receive less than 2,000 euros (about £1,700) for them.

A report does not automatically mean you owe tax, and it does not replace your own records or tax calculations. gov.uk does not say whether sales of personal items count towards the 30-sale and 2,000-euro limits. The exclusion does not apply to services or property rental.

The £1,000 trading allowance

The trading allowance is a tax exemption of up to £1,000 a year for individuals with trading income. If your gross income from trading is £1,000 or less, you do not need to tell HMRC, unless you cannot use the allowance or you must register for Self Assessment. Above £1,000, you can deduct up to £1,000, but not more than your income, instead of your actual expenses. You cannot do both. If your expenses are higher than your income, claiming them may be better.

You cannot use the allowance if you have trading income from a company you or someone connected to you controls, a partnership you or someone connected to you is in, or your employer or your spouse's or civil partner's employer.

When to register for Self Assessment

If your gross trading income for a tax year is more than £1,000, you must register for Self Assessment by 5 October in the following tax year. For 2025/26 that date was 5 October 2026. The online return and any tax are then due by 31 January 2027. Telling HMRC after 5 October could bring a penalty. The selling fees calculator shows what you keep after fees on each platform, and the self employed tax calculator shows the tax on your profit.