I would like your opinion regarding my situation. I seriously started Vinted from this summer on my account and my mother’s account. Initially, we only had 400 euros in grants to invest, and then we managed to grow to have about 5000 euros in available investment liquidity, which represents at least 8000 euros in generated revenue. This is very good progress at the end of the year, considering that we have only reinvested the profits obtained each time.
We are now wondering if we need to open a business account to continue. Is it already necessary or not? Because I know that normally, as soon as there is commercial activity, we must declare from the first euro. But in reality, there is a threshold of 5000 euros in revenue per person (we are not far from it on each account) not to be exceeded as a private seller in order not to be taxed, and for now, it can be declared as is without any problems. I also know that Vinted sometimes offers us to go professional by sending us a message on our account depending on its activity, which is not our case.
I am therefore wondering if it is relevant to switch one of the accounts to professional for now or if we still have some leeway before having to do so. And if it is relevant, what legal status would you recommend based on the situation?
I invite you to re-read the official regulatory texts, in no case is there a tolerance threshold of €5,000 for undeclared work. The only threshold with this amount corresponds to sales of precious objects whose unit price exceeds €5,000 and is taxed even if sold by a private individual, but in no case a threshold on all sales. And anyway, these are sales of personal goods, which is not your case.
Here you are clearly in an irregular situation given what you describe as your operating method, now it’s up to you to see if it’s worth the trouble to avoid 12.3% in contributions.
If you want to grow your business on Vinted, in my opinion, you will have to go pro at some point; whether it’s to avoid the risks of being banned from Vinted (who can reject you if you sell too many items on a personal account), or simply to be compliant administratively and fiscally. But be careful, because when switching to a pro account, several important changes need to be taken into account:
If you are self-employed, you will be taxed at 12.3% on your turnover. (if you mark up by x2, it’s about 1/4 of your profit; so you will make much less profit than as an individual). But you may be eligible for ACRE, which exempts you from half of this tax for 1 year. That helps a lot…
The legal withdrawal period of 14 days. As a professional, when a customer receives an item, the funds they have paid you will no longer be released immediately as with a personal account, but after a period of 14 days from the receipt of the item; this corresponds to the legal guarantee of conformity/withdrawal. As a result, your cash flow will be much slower than with a personal account.
In summary, you will make less profit and less quickly with a pro account. So don’t expect the same explosiveness as with your personal account; but if you want to grow, it is essential to switch to a pro account, at least partially. Good luck!
