I want to start selling on Ebay but I do not have ABN&my business not registered, so is this legal?

[sofar2018]

Hello All,

I do not have ABN yet and have registered business..so all these info. required to start selling on eBay!

As I read that importing goods from China need registered business otherwise it is illegal..I am really confused!

I tried to sell on ebay.com as a drop shipper, but I was all time afraid of been illegal!

When I changed my personal eBay account to business, the Ebay asked you if your business registered or not...so what is the difference between them in term of Fee/GST or anything I missed?

I'm in Austrlia..Please help me..all of the above question make me stop progressing.

Best Regards

[viewmont1071]

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@sofar2018 wrote:

so where I should go to have professional advice about online business.

I read some threats here which advice to have consulting with an accountant first. Is it enough at this point? or I should go to Nies for that?

please share with me your opinion.

Best Regards

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I think you got that acronym backwards NEIS (new enterprise incentive scheme) will help with those details....however you will need to "sell" them on the  point of difference regarding your business plan/aspirations

https://www.jobs.gov.au/who-can-participate-new-business-assistance-neis

What business ideas can receive assistance?

If you are eligible to receive New Business Assistance, your NEIS provider will assess the business idea to make sure it meets the business eligibility criteria. This means your proposed NEIS business:

• cannot already be operating on a commercial basis
• will have an independent business structure
• is lawful and capable of withstanding public scrutiny
• has been assessed as commercially viable by the NEIS provider
• will be established, located and operated solely within Australia
• will be structured so you have and will maintain a controlling interest over the NEIS business while participating in New Business Assistance.

Training

New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS) training helps job seekers achieve a nationally recognised qualification and is a Centrelink approved activity for up to 13 weeks.

Depending on the type of small business the job seeker is planning, a NEIS provider will refer them to the appropriate training, either a:

• Certificate III in Micro-Business Operations or
• Certificate IV in Small Business Management.

During the training job seekers will develop a NEIS Business Plan which will need to be approved by their NEIS provider.

Allowance

Job seekers participating in the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme (NEIS) will receive allowance for 39 weeks of business operation.

The NEIS Allowance is equivalent to the single, 22 or over, no children rate of Newstart Allowance, and is paid fortnightly in arrears, subject to a NEIS participant meeting the obligations under their NEIS Participant Agreement.

The amount of NEIS Allowance that a job seeker receives will not be affected by income from their NEIS business.

Job seekers can receive income from outside their business (such as from investments or other work) while participating in NEIS.

However, NEIS providers will ensure that the NEIS business is their primary, full-time activity. If a job seeker’s external income is greater than twice the basic rate of NEIS Allowance in a given financial quarter, it may affect the amount of their NEIS Allowance.

[viewmont1071]

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Selling/I-can-t-start-my-business-because-of-the-GOVERNMENT/td-p/18...
post 21

Copy and Paste from Saarzi's post 2015.

The NEIS rules are always evolving but I believe most of the details/hints in this post are still current.

The whole thread is worth reading albeit a tad daunting

******************************************************************************************************************************

"First part of NEIS is CERT III or CERT IV - you dont technically start on the NEIS "program" (or the 9 months of NEIS) until youve finished this certificate. The certificate will go for a couple of months prior to the main NEIS part (which is actually just ongoing support plus different payment plan as above).

The cert is to help you build a GOOD working, viable business plan. They are usually pretty strict with it, and they make you accountable. So, by the time youve finished with the Cert, you will know exactly how much youre going to earn each month, expenses and profit, for the next 2 years (or damn close to it). you will have a full working business plan, all financial tables, etc etc etc. They help you through this.

DO NOT submit financials to ANYONE or start your business before going on NEIS. If you do, you will be ineligible. If your business is Ebay based, and you have already started selling on Ebay, make sure to keep it very small (or stop now), dont use the same business name for NEIS, and dont tell Centrelink youre running a business - just report the income as a hobby.

Youre allowed to have a hobby that youre turning into a business, and youre allowed to do research for your business (which might involve selling on Ebay to "test" or research the market), but you CANNOT be actually running the business, as a business, before you complete the cert III / IV. If you have a ABN, or business name already, thats ok, but dont use them until youve completed the Cert. (theyll tell you all this in class).

You need to be working on your business a minimum of 30 hours per week - its a full time job. If the NEIS provider or centrelink thinks you arent working hard enough on it, or arent serious, you can be kicked off NEIS... AND forced to pay the payments back to them (yes, Ive seen that happen).

Dont bother asking Centrelink about NEIS - they are pretty useless when it comes to it. Certain job network providers in your area will be contracted to run it. Google who it might be in your area, or walk into a random job net work provider in your area and ask.

If youre worried about not being able to make enough money in your business before NEIS ends (9 months), dont worry too much right now - thats what the CERT III / IV is for. They will help you through it and develop a viable business plan, that will enable you to be off payments in 9 months. If that doesnt happen, youll be removed from NEIS fairly early.

BTW, just "selling stuff on Ebay" is not a business plan... I also would not rely on Ebay for your sales alone.

Its not really about "I hope I make enough money by 9 months!"... youll either have a viable business plan, or you wont... youll know that in the first few weeks of the Cert, long before youre actually on the NEIS benefits.

#################################################################################################

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

@viewmont1071 wrote:

I think you got that acronym backwards NEIS (new enterprise incentive scheme) will help with those details....however you will need to "sell" them on the  point of difference regarding your business plan/aspirations

I suspect that English might be the second language of the OP based on some of the the sentence structure and words used in their posts.

[lyndal1838]

If it is the OP's intention of just starting to sell on ebay it is obvious he has no idea of how hard it can be to get a viable income from the very beginning.   You don't just "open the doors" and start making a profit.

[brerrabbit585]

Anyone who doesn't know the basics isn't likely to get accepted for the NEIS scheme in the first place. I did it back in 1993 and you had to be able to show that you were capable of running a business, not just have a good business idea. Yes, we learnt a lot during the course but you still had to be capable of understanding and using the information. Back in those days it ran for 6 weeks full-time. I hope they sacked the woman that ran ours!

If the OP thinks it's that easy to sell on ebay, why haven't they already done it (unless they've just come to Australia)?  Why wait to do it under the NEIS scheme?

[Anonymous]

Maybe the OP has seen all the 'specail seller' YouTube clips that were posted recently

Of course there is a huge difference between those 'specially picked' sellers and what 95% of sellers face. None of the videos mention all the scammers,fake claims,fake chargebacks etc etc etc etc 

In real life, selling on eBay is nothing like eBay want sellers to believe 

[dazzledayz]

The OP is obviously on Newstart which is why they are referencing NEIS.

As a Newstart recipient they are entirely able to run a business without getting involved with the NEIS scheme.

All they need to do is let their Job Service provider and Centrelink know what they are doing.

They will need an ABN for tax return purposes which is free.

They will not have to register for GST until their gross turnover exceeds $75K pa.

They do not need a business name if they are a sole trader.

(An eBay seller name is not considered a business name).

They will need to provide monthly profit and loss statements to their Job Services provider.

These will have ALL business costs included and only nett profit will be assessed.

Centrelink benefits should not be impacted for quite some time, if at all.

It would be a very good idea to see an accountant to get all that set up properly.

The only advantage to being involved with the NEIS programme is that job search requirements will be waived for the duration.

If the training is of good quality this would also be an advantage.

If the OP has any sort of business experience, is prepared to read up on govt rules and regs, and is handy with a spreadsheet, they should have no particularly difficult problems.

[Anonymous]

No worries, but not sure what that has to do with eBay posting their rose coloured glasses YouTube clips and would-be sellers possibly thinking that is indeed what selling on eBay is like for the 'average' seller