Vintage Reseller Tax UK 2026/27: Vinted, Depop, eBay and VAT Margin
Selling vintage and second-hand clothing at scale on Vinted, Depop and eBay is a real trading business, not a hobby. Full worked example on £28,000 turnover plus how the VAT margin scheme works once you register.
When wardrobe clear-outs become a business
Clearing out your own clothes on Vinted isn't trading, and HMRC doesn't expect you to declare it. The line gets crossed the moment you start buying stock with the intention of reselling it: charity shop flips picked for resale value, £5/kg kilo sale bundles sorted for the best pieces, car boot hauls bought specifically to list, or wholesale vintage lots bought by weight or unit. Once that's happening regularly and gross income from it passes £1,000 a year, you're running a trading business and need to register for Self Assessment.
The scale matters for the tax mechanics too. A seller doing a few dozen listings a year looks very different from someone sourcing 300+ items a year across Vinted, Depop and eBay simultaneously, holding real inventory, and treating platform fee structures as a genuine cost of doing business.
Self-Employed Tax Calculator
Calculate income tax, Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance for self-employed and sole traders for 2025/26.
Open Self-Employed Tax calculatorWorked example: full-time reseller, £28,000 turnover
Gross sales: £28,000 across Vinted, Depop and eBay combined (roughly 900-1,100 items sold at an average £26 each)
Deductible expenses:
- Stock purchases (charity shops, kilo sales, wholesale vintage lots): £8,200
- Platform fees and commission (Vinted ~5-10%, Depop ~10%+processing, eBay ~12-15%): £2,600
- Payment processing fees (where charged separately from platform commission): £450
- Postage and packaging (mailing bags, tape, labels, shipping shortfalls not covered by buyer postage): £1,850
- Storage/steaming/laundering supplies before resale: £400
- Photography and listing tools (backdrop, ring light, editing app subscription): £220
- Home office/storage proportion of utilities: £280
- Total expenses: £14,000
Taxable profit: £28,000 − £14,000 = £14,000
Income tax: (£14,000 − £12,570) × 20% = £1,430 × 20% = £286
Class 4 NI: (£14,000 − £12,570) × 6% = £1,430 × 6% = £85.80
Total tax and NI: £371.80
Take-home: £28,000 − £14,000 − £371.80 = £13,628.20
Note there's no Class 2 NI charge here — it was abolished for the self-employed from 2024/25 onwards, so this reseller's only NI cost is Class 4.
Take-Home Pay Calculator
Calculate your net salary after income tax, National Insurance and student loan deductions.
Open Take-Home Pay calculatorPlatform fees: the cost most resellers underestimate
Every platform takes a cut differently, and stacking sales across all three (common at scale, since different platforms suit different price points and buyer bases) means tracking fee rates matters more than it first appears:
| Platform | Typical seller fee | Payment processing | Effective cost on £25 sale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vinted | 0% listing, buyer pays "buyer protection" fee | Included in buyer fee | ~£0 to seller directly |
| Depop | 10% transaction fee | ~2.9% + 30p (PayPal/Depop Payments) | ~£3.20 |
| eBay | ~12-15% final value fee (category dependent) | Included in final value fee | ~£3.25-£3.75 |
Vinted's model (fees charged to the buyer, not deducted from the seller's payout) makes it look "free," but sellers who also use Depop and eBay for higher-value pieces need to price those listings to absorb the higher combined fee, or the margin on a £30 dress bought for £4 at a kilo sale shrinks fast once a ~13% platform cut and payment processing are both taken out.
Scaling up: from hobby allowance to full trading, and eventually VAT
At low volumes, the £1,000 trading allowance might beat itemising expenses. Once you're buying real stock at scale, actual expenses — stock cost plus fees plus postage — almost always produce a bigger deduction and a lower tax bill. The next threshold that matters is VAT registration at £90,000 turnover.
| Scale | Approach | Tax treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Occasional wardrobe clear-out | Not trading | No tax, no registration needed |
| Under £1,000/year stock-buying reseller | Trading allowance | £1,000 flat deduction, no Self Assessment needed if under threshold |
| £1,000-£90,000 turnover trading | Self Assessment, actual expenses | Income tax + Class 4 NI on profit, no VAT |
| Over £90,000 turnover | VAT registration required | VAT due — margin scheme usually best for second-hand stock |
VAT Calculator
Add or remove VAT from any amount. Supports 20%, 5% and 0% UK VAT rates.
Open VAT calculatorThe VAT margin scheme: taxing the margin, not the sale price
This only becomes relevant once you're VAT-registered — either because turnover has passed £90,000 or you've registered voluntarily. Under normal VAT rules, you'd charge 20% VAT on the full sale price of every item, which would be brutal for second-hand goods bought without VAT on the purchase. The margin scheme for second-hand goods exists specifically to fix this: VAT is calculated at 1/6 of the margin (the difference between what you paid for an item and what you sold it for), not 1/6 of the full sale price.
Worked example — normal VAT vs margin scheme, on a £60 vintage jacket bought for £15:
| Method | Calculation | VAT due |
|---|---|---|
| Normal VAT (on full sale price) | £60 × 1/6 (20% VAT-inclusive) | £10.00 |
| Margin scheme (on profit only) | Margin = £60 − £15 = £45; £45 × 1/6 | £7.50 |
On a single item the difference looks modest, but across hundreds of low-cost-basis items a year — exactly the profile of a kilo-sale or charity-shop reseller, where purchase costs are often a small fraction of resale price — the margin scheme consistently produces a much smaller VAT bill than charging VAT on full sale prices would. You can't reclaim input VAT on items bought under the margin scheme (since there typically wasn't any VAT charged on the purchase to begin with), and you need to keep a margin scheme stock book recording each item's purchase price, sale price and margin.
Record-keeping that actually works at this scale
With volumes running into the hundreds of items a year, a spreadsheet or reseller-specific app logging four things per item pays for itself in saved time at tax return season: purchase source and cost, sale platform and price, fees deducted by the platform, and postage cost. Bank statements alone won't separate stock purchases from personal spending or show which items are still unsold at year end — HMRC will expect a proper log if profits are queried.
Filing and paying
Register for Self Assessment as soon as gross trading income exceeds £1,000 in a tax year (registration deadline is 5 October following the end of that tax year), then file your return online and pay any income tax and Class 4 NI owed by 31 January following the tax year end. If you cross the £90,000 VAT threshold, you must register within 30 days of the month-end in which you exceeded it.
self-employed-tax-ukFrequently asked questions
Do I need to pay tax on Vinted, Depop or eBay sales?
Only if you're trading rather than just clearing out your own wardrobe. If you're regularly buying stock (charity shop lots, kilo sales, wholesale bundles) to resell for profit, HMRC treats this as a trading business and you must register for Self Assessment once gross trading income exceeds £1,000 a year.
What's the difference between selling my own old clothes and being a reseller?
Selling items you personally owned and used isn't trading — there's generally no tax to pay, even if you make several sales a year. Buying items specifically with the intention of reselling them for profit (charity shop flips, kilo sale lots, wholesale stock) is trading, and profits are taxable business income.
Can I deduct the cost of clothing I buy to resell?
Yes. Stock costs — charity shop purchases, car boot finds, kilo sale bundles, wholesale vintage lots — are a direct cost of goods sold and fully deductible against your sales income, provided you keep receipts or a purchase log.
Are Vinted, Depop and eBay fees tax deductible?
Yes. Platform selling fees, payment processing fees and any promoted listing or boost fees are all deductible business expenses. On a typical £25 sale with an average combined fee rate of around 10%, that's roughly £2.50 deducted straight off your taxable income.
What is the VAT margin scheme and does it apply to me?
The margin scheme lets VAT-registered second-hand goods sellers charge VAT on only the profit margin, not the full sale price. It only becomes relevant once you're VAT-registered — voluntarily or because turnover has passed £90,000 — and it usually results in significantly less VAT than charging 20% on the full sale price.
How much tax would I pay on £28,000 of vintage reselling turnover?
After typical costs of stock, platform fees, postage and packaging of around £13,000-£14,000, taxable profit lands near £14,500. Income tax and Class 4 NI together typically come to around £1,300-£1,500 on that level of profit.
Do I need to register for VAT as a reseller?
Only once your turnover (total sales, not profit) exceeds £90,000 in a rolling 12-month period, or if you choose to register voluntarily. Most part-time and even many full-time individual resellers stay below this threshold.
What records do I need to keep as a reseller?
A log of every stock purchase (date, source, cost, ideally a receipt or bank statement line), every sale (platform, sale price, fees charged, postage cost) and any other business expenses like packaging materials, storage or a portion of home costs if you photograph and store stock at home.
Does the £1,000 trading allowance help resellers?
Yes, if your gross trading income is under £1,000 a year you don't need to declare it at all. Above that, you can choose to deduct either your actual expenses or the flat £1,000 trading allowance, whichever gives a bigger deduction — but for anyone buying real stock at scale, actual expenses (stock cost plus fees) almost always beat the flat £1,000.
Try the calculators
Self-Employed Tax Calculator
Calculate income tax, Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance for self-employed and sole traders for 2025/26.
VAT Calculator
Add or remove VAT from any amount. Supports 20%, 5% and 0% UK VAT rates.
Take-Home Pay Calculator
Calculate your net salary after income tax, National Insurance and student loan deductions.
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