What resellers need to know about paying tax

What changed in 2024

Selling platforms including Depop, Vinted, and eBay are now required to share seller data with HMRC. If you sold at least 30 items or earned roughly £1,700 in a year, your platform will notify you that your sales data has been passed on. This generated a lot of confusion when it was announced. HMRC has confirmed that no tax rules changed. The new requirement is about data reporting, not a new tax.

Are you a trader or a personal seller?

The distinction matters because the rules are quite different for each. If you're selling your own clothes, items you bought to wear and no longer want, HMRC treats that as disposing of personal possessions. Selling personal items for less than you originally paid is not taxable. Even if you sell a lot of them, that status doesn't change as long as the items were genuinely bought for personal use. If you're buying stock to resell at a profit, HMRC considers you a trader. Buying goods to resell for a profit is one of the clearest indicators of trading activity. Most Fleek customers fall into this category. The platform reporting rules apply to both groups. If you sold at least 30 items or earned roughly £1,700 in a year, your platform will notify you that your sales data has been passed to HMRC. That notification doesn't automatically mean you owe tax. It means HMRC has the data and will cross-reference it.

The £1,000 trading allowance

If you're a trader, you have a £1,000 annual allowance before any reporting or tax obligation kicks in. If your total trading income is £1,000 or less during the tax year, you don't need to register for Self Assessment or file a tax return. A few things worth knowing about how it works:

1. The £1,000 applies to your gross income, not your profits. That means the total you receive before deducting costs like stock, platform fees, or postage.
2. If you sell across more than one platform, HMRC adds the figures together. So £600 on Vinted and £500 on eBay is £1,100 in total, which puts you over the threshold.
3. The allowance covers all trading income combined. You don't get a separate £1,000 for each platform or product type.
4. For most active resellers buying wholesale, the £1,000 threshold won't cover your activity. The more relevant question is what you can deduct.

When traders need to register for Self Assessment

If your gross trading income goes over £1,000 in a tax year, you need to register for Self Assessment and file a tax return. This applies even if, after deducting expenses, you end up owing no tax at all. You need to register by 5 October following the end of the tax year in which you crossed the threshold. So if you cross £1,000 in the 2025/26 tax year, which ends 5 April 2026, the registration deadline is 5 October 2026. Once registered, you have a choice when filing. You can claim the £1,000 trading allowance, or you can claim your actual business expenses. You cannot do both. For most resellers with real stock costs, actual expenses will give a lower taxable profit. Allowable expenses typically include the cost of stock, platform fees, postage and packaging, and storage. A proportion of phone costs may be deductible too if you use it for the business. Good record-keeping may also reduce the amount of tax you owe. A simple spreadsheet recording each purchase, what you paid, and what you sold it for is enough to start with.

What's coming

In March 2025, HMRC confirmed it will increase the reporting threshold for trading income to £3,000, starting in the 2027/28 tax year. This doesn't change the trading allowance itself, which stays at £1,000, but it means sellers earning between £1,000 and £3,000 will no longer need to go through the full Self Assessment process. HMRC is introducing a simplified online system for reporting and paying any tax owed instead. Capital Gains Tax is unlikely to affect most resellers, but worth knowing about. It may apply if you make a profit of more than £6,000 on a single item. For most wholesale vintage, individual items won't come close to that threshold. If you're sourcing or selling higher-value pieces, it's worth checking with an accountant.

If you're sourcing wholesale stock to resell, Fleek connects you with verified suppliers across the world. Browse available stock on Fleek.

This article sets out the general rules as they apply to UK resellers. It is not tax advice. If you're unsure how these rules apply to your situation, speak to an accountant.