- Original Poster
- #1
Hi All,
My wife has recently trialed with setting up a stall in our local market selling home linen. As the response was encouraging, she wants to do more of these in the coming months and hopefully make it a business over time. I don't have any prior experience in running a small business and neither does she, so I would appreciate if you could advise me on some points.
She will be mainly selling physically from stall but at some point we may also opt to do it online. I don't anticipate our project revenue from these market stalls (4-5 a month) to exceed £1000 per month for now based on volume of sales we have seen from our two trials in the local market.
1) She isn't currently registered as a sole trader. Is this a pre-requisite or can we wait and see if this is something she wants to pursue long term? She has an NI number but not currently registered for self-assessment as she isn't in active employment. She has previously worked for a retailer part-time so didn't need to.
2) She will be getting goods shipped from Indian sellers. As we are starting small, I don't anticipate those shipments to be more than £300-400 in value initially till we get a better grasp of the business. I understand as the value will likely cross the £135 threshold, we would be charged VAT and duty. Is this correct?
3) I think our products would fall under this commodity code - 6304191090 - which I believe won't require any import license. Is this correct?
4) Is there a need to setup a different bank account for this or can we wait and see if this is something viable in the long run? At the moment, the money goes into her personal account.
Thanks
My wife has recently trialed with setting up a stall in our local market selling home linen. As the response was encouraging, she wants to do more of these in the coming months and hopefully make it a business over time. I don't have any prior experience in running a small business and neither does she, so I would appreciate if you could advise me on some points.
She will be mainly selling physically from stall but at some point we may also opt to do it online. I don't anticipate our project revenue from these market stalls (4-5 a month) to exceed £1000 per month for now based on volume of sales we have seen from our two trials in the local market.
1) She isn't currently registered as a sole trader. Is this a pre-requisite or can we wait and see if this is something she wants to pursue long term? She has an NI number but not currently registered for self-assessment as she isn't in active employment. She has previously worked for a retailer part-time so didn't need to.
2) She will be getting goods shipped from Indian sellers. As we are starting small, I don't anticipate those shipments to be more than £300-400 in value initially till we get a better grasp of the business. I understand as the value will likely cross the £135 threshold, we would be charged VAT and duty. Is this correct?
3) I think our products would fall under this commodity code - 6304191090 - which I believe won't require any import license. Is this correct?
4) Is there a need to setup a different bank account for this or can we wait and see if this is something viable in the long run? At the moment, the money goes into her personal account.
Thanks
