LITTLE SALES ADD UP FOR SHOPAHOLIC
ASELF-CONFESSED shopaholic has made £3,000 in a year by selling on Vinted. Hannah Canning says her sales on the second-hand clothing site have helped pay for weekends away for her family, and given her a financial security.
Hannah, from Thornhill, Cardiff, now has a watertight shed to sell the huge amount of items she has for sale. Her listings include a range of kids clothes, from designers items from Jojo Maman Bebe, Joules and The Little White Company, as well as men’s and women’s items, including clothes, bags, shoes and accessories. Her profile says she sells items from a size 4 to 24.
She also sells items on behalf of her friends, giving them the profits.
Vinted is a clothing site where people can list their items, and is one of the most popular online marketplaces in the world to sell clothes and accessories. Hannah has more than 1,500 reviews and has 832 items for sale.
Hannah, who works in marketing, describes herself as a “shopaholic”. “The convenience of ordering online during lockdown triggered a lot of my online spending,” said Hannah. But she has become “ruthless”.
“I barely buy new now. I go on Vinted first and exhaust that avenue. I’ve become very ruthless with my clothes now. If I put something on and I’m not comfortable in it I go ‘no’ before it’s even been through the wash. I’ve got a watertight shed out in my garden to store all the clothes,” she said.
“I’ve made about £3,000 overall, and it’s surprising how quickly it mounts up. A fiver here, a fiver there,” said Hannah.
“I can go on a little weekend break or something with the money I make,” said Hannah. “We went for a weekend away to Folly Farm in West Wales for the kids, stayed in a nice hotel and treated ourselves a little. I say it was sponsored by Vinted.”
The 43-year-old and her family also took a trip to the luxury Retallick Resort in Cornwall. “It’s also a bit of a buffer. If the car breaks you’ve got a little back-up then,” she said.
Earlier this year, HMRC announced it would clamp down on traders using the platform. It’s been called the “side hustle tax”. HMRC can already request this information from UK-based companies if they think you’re not paying the tax you should but now thisapplies to digital platforms based outside the UK too.
If you earn more than £1,000 a year via the site, you may have to declare the income to HMRC. Vinted say that in the UK, if the money you make on Vinted over a year is less than what you paid for the items, you pay no tax and it will contact sellers from this November if they cross the threshold.
“The tax on sellers has thrown me a bit. But Vinted don’t like businesses on there. I never sell anything for more than I bought it for,” said Hannah. “It has been a worry and I think it has put a lot of people off. It’s a shame really. You pay tax on your items when you first buy them, why should you have to pay tax a second time when you sell them?”
Hannah wants to carry on selling but it won’t become her job. “It’s a lot of work and it’s so saturated now. I’ve got a full-time job that I love,” she said.