Hobby or Trade? A 2026/27 Guide to Tax on eBay and Vinted Sales

Selling a pair of unworn trainers on Vinted, or clearing the loft on eBay, has become a routine part of British household finance. What is rather less routine, for many people, is the moment the tax system takes an interest. Since digital platforms began passing seller information to HMRC, the question "is this taxable?" has moved from the back of the wardrobe to the front of people's minds.

The short answer is reassuring: most casual sellers owe nothing at all. The longer answer is that "most" is not "all", and the dividing line is worth understanding before you list your next item.

Why HMRC now sees more of your selling history

Under rules in force since 2024, UK-based platforms — eBay, Vinted, Etsy, Amazon, Depop and others — must report certain seller details to HMRC each January, covering the calendar year just gone. The data typically includes name, address, date of birth, tax reference, gross sales, platform fees and the number of transactions.

Two thresholds matter. A platform generally does not report a seller who, within a calendar year, completes fewer than 30 transactions and receives less than the equivalent of €2,000 in total. Above those lines, the account falls into scope. Postage, refunds and platform fees all form part of the gross figure that gets reported.

It is worth being clear about what this reporting does and does not mean. Receiving a data file from eBay does not create a tax liability, and it does not turn a private seller into a business. It simply means HMRC can cross-check what people declare. If you sold a few old coats for £300, a record may still exist somewhere; your tax position is unchanged.

The £1,000 trading allowance

For anyone with a genuine side activity, the first thing to reach for is the trading allowance. This is a flat £1,000 of gross trading income per tax year — income, not profit — that can be earned without registering for self-assessment or declaring anything.

The 2026/27 tax year runs from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, so the allowance resets on 6 April 2027.

Two points cause most of the confusion. First, the test is takings, not margin: £1,000 of sales, however little you made on them. Second, the allowance replaces your expenses rather than sitting on top of them. If sales are £4,000 and costs are £1,200, you compare £4,000 less the £1,000 allowance (leaving £3,000 taxable) with £4,000 less £1,200 of actual costs (leaving £2,800). Here the expenses win. The allowance is a simplification, and only sometimes a saving.

You cannot use the allowance to manufacture a loss, and it does not apply to employment or property income — there is a separate £1,000 property allowance for the latter.

Hobby or trade? The badges of trade

Above £1,000 of takings, the question becomes whether you are trading. There is no single statutory test; instead, HMRC and the tribunals work through a set of indicators drawn from case law, known as the badges of trade.

The principal ones are:

1. Profit motive. Buying with the intention of reselling at a gain is the strongest single indicator.
2. Frequency and number of transactions. A one-off clear-out looks very different from fifty listings every month.
3. Subject matter. Selling your own clothing is one thing; buying in stock specifically to sell is another.
4. Length of ownership. Items held briefly and moved on suggest trading.
5. Supplementary work. Repairing, altering, cleaning or presenting goods for sale points towards a trade.
6. How the sale was organised. Deliberate selling operations — professional listings, managed stock levels, marketing — look commercial.
7. Reason for sale. Selling because you have outgrown something is personal; selling because the margin is attractive is not.

No single badge is decisive. The picture as a whole matters, and the underlying question is simple: are you behaving like a business?

Three examples for 2026/27

The wardrobe clear-out. Priya sells 40 items of her own clothing on Vinted during 2026/27, receiving £1,400 in total. She is disposing of personal possessions rather than trading, so there is nothing to declare — and the trading allowance is not even needed.

The collector turned dealer. Marcus buys trainers at retail and resells them at a profit, around 60 pairs a year, actively sourcing stock. His takings are £18,000. That is a trade. He must register for self-assessment and declare the profit after allowable costs.

The crafter. Aisha makes candles at home and sells £9,000 worth in the year. Clearly trading. She can deduct materials, packaging, postage, platform fees and a proportion of household running costs — or use the £1,000 allowance, which in her case would be far less generous.

Personal possessions, capital gains and other edges

Selling personal items is not entirely outside the tax system. Chattels — tangible moveable property — sold for more than £6,000 each can attract capital gains tax, and a collection of items can sometimes be treated as a single set. In practice, very few wardrobe sales come close. A designer watch or a painting might.

If you sell your only or main home, private residence relief normally covers it. If you let out a spare room, the rent-a-room scheme covers £7,500 of income.

And if the activity grows substantially, VAT registration enters the picture once turnover passes the £90,000 threshold across any rolling twelve months. That is a long way from a Vinted habit, but it is where the road eventually leads.

If it is a trade, what happens next

Register for self-assessment. The deadline for telling HMRC you need to file for a given tax year is 5 October following the end of that year — so 5 October 2027 for 2026/27, with filing and payment following on 31 January 2028. Income tax applies to the profit, and Class 4 National Insurance may apply once profits are high enough.

Keep records now rather than reconstructing them later. A straightforward spreadsheet of sales, platform fees, postage and cost of goods will carry you a long way, and HMRC expects records to be kept for five years after the filing deadline.

The calm summary

Most people selling their own belongings online have nothing to declare. The £1,000 trading allowance absorbs a surprising amount of genuine side activity. Beyond that, the badges of trade decide — and the test is common sense applied honestly. If you are sourcing stock, selling repeatedly and protecting a margin, treat it as a business. If you are having a clear-out, carry on.