Handmade on Etsy
Ceramics, prints, jewellery, baby clothes. Photograph in daylight, ship in boxes that survive Royal Mail, price after fees and packing. A single well-made line beats a catalogue of everything you might one day make.
Selling, not hoarding
The loft clear-out versus a shop
HMRC draws a line most listicles skip. Selling your own used things is usually not a trade. Buying stock, making products, or running a shop is. The rest of this page is about staying on the right side of that line while still making money.
When a Vinted bag is not a business
If you sell clothes you wore, toys the children outgrew, or a sofa you replaced, you are disposing of personal possessions. That is generally not taxable, even if the total looks large. You cannot usually claim a loss either.
If you browse charity shops to restock, buy bulk from Facebook Marketplace, or list the same type of item every week with a margin in mind, you are trading. Gross sales from all platforms share one £1,000 trading allowance. Platforms also report sellers who pass 30 sales or about €2,000 in a year to HMRC under the DAC7 rules.
A simple trading test
- Did you buy it intending to sell at a profit?
- Do you list regularly, not as a one-off clear-out?
- Do you hold stock, take deposits, or advertise?
- Would a reasonable person call this a sideline shop?
Two or more “yes” answers and you should treat it as self-employment.
Four selling models that still work
Print-on-demand
No stock, thin margins, crowded categories. It works for a specific audience (a local running club, a trade, a fandom you actually belong to). It fails as a generic slogan shop competing with ten thousand others.
Digital products
Templates, worksheets, Lightroom presets, Notion dashboards. Delivery is instant, refunds are rare if the preview is honest. Discovery is the hard part. Sell to people who already read you.
Product photography for others
If you already photograph your own listings well, neighbouring sellers will pay for that. A morning rate in a Midlands kitchen beats buying more lights “for the brand”.
Fees, postage and the money you do not keep
A £20 sale on Vinted is not £20. Buyer protection, postage, packing and your time sit in between. Track sold price, platform fees, postage in, postage out, and cost of stock. If you claim actual expenses instead of the £1,000 allowance, those numbers have to exist on paper.
Royal Mail tracked 48 still clears most clothing. Do not ship ceramics as “letter”. Insurance on a parcel is cheaper than replacing a vase you under-packed.
Trading allowance, explained