is there any legal requirements when selling on ebay?

i want to make some money and not do some job that will pay me less then 4 pounds an hour. im thinking of selling online so i can pay for my courses but where do i start i.e who do i talk to about tax and what are the legal requirements?
will it be considered as a job because when i do sell online i will try to make profit.

Doing a one-off clearout sale or selling some second-hand stuff every now and then won't draw the eye of the tax man. But if you buy and sell on a regular basis then the profit earned from that is taxable income.

If you're not likely to earn more than the personal allowance (currently £10,600 per year, £11k from April) then you won't pay any tax. That's combined income though, so it includes all the money you earn through jobs and selling stuff and any other (taxable) income sources you have (student loans aren't taxed).

I think technically you do have to report your income to HMRC even if you don't earn enough to be taxed anything, but it probably depends on exactly what amounts you're looking at as to whether you can fly under the radar or not, so to speak. I suggest reading up on the subject, there's plenty of information online about setting up a shop on eBay or similar, and there's also loads of info about tax and self-assessment on the gov.uk website and the CAB.

so if i don't work and regularly sell products (not my own designed products- most likely just random) and i make 10k, would i still need to report this to HMRC?

You would need to do a self-assessment, yes.

i did, but it says i dont need to be taxed. do you have to make ove 50k to get teaxed or something?

so if i don't work and regularly sell products (not my own designed products- most likely just random) and i make 10k, would i still need to report this to HMRC?

i did, but it says i dont need to be taxed. do you have to make ove 50k to get teaxed or something?

You are thinking about VAT registration which is a different thing.

If you earn income of more than your personal allowance you are liable to income tax. If you go over the VAT registration threshold you are also required to register and account for VAT (and to charge the applicable rate to the products being sold).

You should also become conversant with consumer protection legislation as you will be a trader.

where do i sign up as the things on gov.uk is very confusing, it says i don't need to be taxed and but everyone that works is taxed, and then it says the first 5000 i make won't be taxed......
its so confusing

You don't need to "sign up" - start generating the income, then worry about tax.

But Self Assessment info is here:
https://www.gov.uk/undeclared-income
and
https://www.gov.uk/check-if-you-need-a-tax-return

Sole Trader: https://www.gov.uk/working-for-yourself

your right, im just so scared of the gov, they seem to have a tendency of picking on the small guys, before they demanded ebay to give them names of sellers etc. ive already sold an item on ebay so i know how it works however its the tax stuff that gives me nightmares

thanks for your help

im just so scared of the gov, they seem to have a tendency of picking on the small guys,

they really don't prioritise picking on the small guy