rugger megalithic: Over 8 million people operate an 'online business from home'

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Over 8 million people operate an 'online business from home'

15/04/2013

By Daniel Hunter

According to new research from Direct Line for Business (DL4B), one in six (17%) people in the UK are operating as an ?online business from home?, specifically purchasing goods to resell, or making their own products to sell for profit.

The research revealed that of these home businesses, 5.2 million (65 %) are buying items specifically to resell on at a profit, while 2.8 million sell home made products such as greeting cards, soaps and eBooks. DL4B has termed these companies 'home webtailers'- retail operations selling goods direct from home using the internet.

The research also revealed that three in four (74%) home businesses keep all their stock at home with an average value totalling ?4,388, a risky proposition given in the last year there were 653,000 burglaries in England and Wales. Many of these businesses would not be covered by standard home insurance policies, requiring specialist business insurance, as these goods to not constitute standard home contents.

Analysis of trades on a leading online auction site showed that a large number of online sales operations run by private individuals are actually sizable businesses, with the top 5% of private sellers generating an annual turnover of a very healthy ?18,094.

With the new personal income tax threshold of ?9,440 now in place as of the 6th April 20134, DL4B believes that a significant number of people selling products online will be unaware that their activities online mean they are actually running a business from home. Those operating a business from home on top of other employment may need to pay tax on all turnover generated through online sales.

?A large proportion of people clearly don?t view themselves as running a business, despite generating a sizeable turnover selling goods online to be dispatched from...?continued on page two >

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