The UK second-hand resale fashion market is valued at over £7 billion. As platforms like eBay, Depop, and Vinted become common channels for buying and selling second-hand clothing and household goods, many sellers are wondering: when exactly do you need to pay tax on selling things on Vinted, and when don't you?

Key points

  • Only those who "buy or make goods for the purpose of resale" and earn over £1,000 a year need to register for Self Assessment with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
  • Selling a single item for £6,000 or more and making a profit on it may also trigger Capital Gains Tax, but there is a £3,000 annual allowance that can be offset.
  • Those who need to register for Self Assessment for the first time in the 2025/26 tax year must do so by 5 October.

The UK government clarified in 2024 that the claim circulating online that "selling old clothes and old toys will incur a new tax" was misinformation; the government has not introduced a new tax on second-hand sellers. What has actually changed is the way platforms like eBay and Vinted report sellers' income to HMRC. Under the new reporting rules, when a seller sells more than 30 items in a year, or has sales exceeding around £1,700, the platform will notify the seller that their information has been shared with the tax authority. This disclosure does not mean the seller necessarily has to pay tax—the tax rules applying to sellers themselves have not changed.

According to Vinted, if the money you make from selling on the platform in a year is less than what you originally paid for those items, you do not need to pay tax. In other words, the vast majority of Britons selling unwanted clothes, toys, kitchen items, and so on do not need to pay tax on that income.

But there are two exceptions: first, if a buyer or maker purchases or makes goods with resale as the sole purpose and earns over £1,000 a year from it, they need to register with HMRC. Registering does not necessarily mean you will be taxed—for example, income may exceed £1,000 but profit may be below that figure—but you may still need to file a return. Second, if an item sells for £6,000 or more and the seller makes a profit on it (the sale price is higher than the purchase price), tax may also be due; however, the £3,000 annual Capital Gains Tax allowance can offset part of the profit.

Because of the new reporting regulations, platforms will usually send a reminder when sellers need to fill in information. It should be noted that it is the seller's own responsibility to submit, report, and pay Self Assessment tax on time. If you are registering for Self Assessment for the first time for the 2025/26 tax year, you must do so by 5 October.

For the second-hand resale industry, these rules clarify the boundary between platforms' reporting obligations and sellers' tax obligations: having data reported by a platform does not automatically mean a tax liability arises. The real criteria remain the purpose of the transaction, the scale of income, and the level of profit.

Source: Here's When You Actually Need To Pay Tax As A Vinted Seller (And When You Don't) · Originally published on 2026-10-01