Do I pay tax on Depop sales?
Depop's sellers skew younger than most resale platforms, and its two biggest seller types sit at opposite ends of the tax question: people clearing out their own wardrobe, and people who've turned charity-shop and secondhand finds into a proper little side income by buying cheap and reselling at a markup — often called "thrift flipping". Which one you are matters far more than which platform you use.
Just clearing out your own wardrobe
If everything you list is something you bought for yourself and genuinely wore or owned, you're not trading. Selling your own unwanted possessions is normally not taxable, no matter the total across the year. Since the 2024 calendar year, Depop and other digital platforms have had to collect and, above a threshold, report seller details to HMRC — roughly 30 sales or about £1,700 in a year — but that's about what Depop reports to HMRC, not about what you owe. Plenty of active Depop sellers clear that reporting threshold every year from genuine decluttering alone, without owing any tax on it.
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Which tax year is this for?
Most people checking now need the year that ended 5 April 2026.
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Thrift flipping is a different picture
Buying items specifically to resell — trawling charity shops, car boot sales or wholesale sites for pieces to clean up, style and relist at a profit — is trading, in HMRC's eyes, whatever the scale. It doesn't need to feel like a "business" to count: the test is about the pattern (buying with resale in mind, doing it regularly, holding items only briefly before selling them on), not about turnover, age, or whether you've registered a company. A student flipping a few pairs of trainers a month is just as much a trader, for tax purposes, as someone running it full time.
The £1,000 trading allowance is what usually decides whether any of this needs reporting. Gross trading income up to £1,000 in a tax year needs nothing filed for it. Go over that, and you'll need to register for Self Assessment by 5 October after the tax year ends, then file and pay online by 31 January the following year. For someone thrift-flipping steadily, £1,000 of gross income — not profit — can arrive faster than expected once a few good months line up.
Most Depop sellers who read this far will already know, honestly, which camp they're in. If you're not certain — maybe you started with a genuine clear-out and it's slowly turned into something more deliberate — the checker above asks the specific questions HMRC cares about and gives you a clear verdict in about two minutes.
A high-value single item
It's uncommon on Depop, but occasionally a single piece — a rare designer item, a limited-edition collaboration, a genuinely sought-after collector's piece — sells for a serious amount of money on its own. If that item was something you owned personally rather than something bought to resell, and it sold for more than £6,000, the gain on that one sale can attract Capital Gains Tax, with an annual exempt amount of £3,000 before any tax is due. Clothing has no blanket exemption from this rule — the exemptions are cars and "wasting assets" such as clocks, watches and machinery — so it depends on exactly what sold and for how much. There's also a relief that caps the gain at 5/3 of the amount above £6,000, which usually makes the figure much smaller than the sale price suggests. The checker above asks about this directly if it applies to you.
Keeping a simple record as you go
Whichever camp you're in, it's worth jotting down roughly what you paid for anything you bought specifically to resell, and what it sold for, as you go — a note in your phone is enough. It's far easier to keep this up in real time than to try to reconstruct a year of buying and selling from memory later, and if you ever do need to register with HMRC, having those figures ready makes working out your trading income straightforward rather than stressful.
Frequently asked questions
I'm just selling clothes I don't wear any more — is that taxable?
No. Selling your own unwanted possessions, including clothes you've bought for yourself and no longer want, is not trading and is normally not taxable, however many items that involves. The exception is a single item that sells for more than £6,000, which is rare on Depop but can bring Capital Gains Tax into play.
What is 'thrift flipping' and does HMRC care about it?
Thrift flipping — buying secondhand or charity-shop items cheaply with the specific intention of reselling them at a profit on Depop — is exactly the kind of pattern HMRC treats as trading, even when it's done casually or alongside school, college or another job. Buying to resell is one of the clearest signals of trading there is, regardless of the amounts involved or how the seller thinks of it.
Does Depop report my sales to HMRC?
Depop is a digital platform under HMRC's reporting rules, which have applied since the 2024 calendar year. Above roughly 30 sales or about £1,700 (€2,000) in a year, Depop may report your seller details to HMRC — a reporting threshold, not a statement about what's taxable.
I'm under 18 or still a student — does that change anything?
No. Age and student status don't affect whether you're trading; HMRC's rules apply the same way to a sixteen-year-old flipping trainers as to anyone else. What matters is the pattern of buying and selling, not who's doing it.
How much can I earn before I need to register anything?
The £1,000 trading allowance covers gross trading income up to that amount in a tax year with nothing to pay and, if that's your only trading income, nothing to file. Above that, you need to register for Self Assessment by 5 October after the tax year ends, and file and pay online by the following 31 January.
This is guidance, not tax advice.