Selling on Fiverr

[Magpiesolution]

I've been composing music at home as a hobby

 

 

I've bought a few 'gigs' on fiverr.com off musicians to play on my tracks.

 

 

I want to continue buying these gigs, but I don't have enough spare money

 

 

I am thinking that I could start selling gigs myself and use the money I receive to buy these gigs.

 

 

I am however receiving benefits, would this be legal?

 

 

I wouldn't be making profit, and it would all be done on paypal.

 

 

Help appreciated.

[antone]

I'm not familiar with the website you mention, but it sounds like what you plan to do amounts to self employment. Could you explain a bit more about how this works?

[Magpiesolution]

Yes, it is all about offering services. I play a few instruments, so I could offer to record a guitar track for somebody. I would post the offer along with fees, as an example - £5 to record 3 minutes of guitar on your song. Then Additional bonus buys like - £10 to master your track, £5 to add solo etc. I would then send them the files like .wav or .mp3.

[antone]

Ah, I see. Well that would almost certainly be regarded as self-employment income from a benefits point of view. It's perfectly legal to do this as long as you declare any earnings to the DWP. When "earnings" are considered, you can deduct any costs, so from the DWP's point of view, your earnings are your profits minus any legitimate expenses you incurred in the course of your work. So, for example, a person who makes jewellery can deduct the cost of any materials they have to buy to make their products.

 

You haven't said which benefit you're on, but most of them have an "earnings disregard" - a certain (small) amount of money that you can earn from work before it starts to affect your benefit. This is typically £5 per week for a single person, £10 for a couple claim, and £20 for a claimant who is disabled.

[Magpiesolution]

Ah I see, thanks for the explanation. I'm on Carers Allowance and joint ESA. I shall have to be prudent with my music investment.

[antone]

Fair enough. Make sure you keep records of what you earn and spend. Even if you're not actually making any profit, you want to be able to explain any income to the DWP if required. Since your claim is a joint claim, the £10 disregard should apply: you can earn up to £10 per week without it affecting your benefit.

[DCA-KING]

I read somewhere a couple of weeks ago that the gov where clapping down on people not just on benefits, that sell goods on ebay and other sites that anything they sell they will have pay tax, how they will police it is anyones guess

[ericsbrother]

the key thing is that what you do is for "gain" and this may be more than just cash. However let us be practical about this, if you are spending more than you are making it is not for gain.