A MAN has left people fuming after he cleared the shelves in Tesco and bragged about making £335 profit from reselling the products.
The seller, who makes cash through retail arbitrage, was met with a barrage of abuse as people told him to “leave something for real shoppers.”
Shoppers have been left furious after a man bragged about making £335 profit from reselling clearance items from Tesco[/caption]
The seller went to two stores and emptied out the shelves, leaving people totally gobsmacked[/caption]
Retail arbitrage is the practice of buying products at a lower price and then reselling them at a higher price, for a profit.
It often involves finding discounted or clearance items that can be resold for more, sometimes taking advantage of price differences across different regions or platforms like Amazon, eBay, or local stores.
It’s a popular strategy for individuals looking to make money by leveraging these price differences and is completely legal in the UK, as, once you own an item, you have the right to resell it.
But in a TikTok video that has left people fuming, the savvy seller got candid on his hefty earnings.
He claimed that to top up his bank, he heads to Tesco stores “nice and early” to check out the discounted finds in their reduced section.
Using an app called Seller Amp, the man scanned items in the supermarket to find out how much they are selling for on Amazon and how many times they have been sold in the past month.
He then shared: “Scanning these [pens] shows that I can sell these on Amazon for £9 and they’ll give me £2.54 profit after fees, so I pick up nine of them, that’s £23 profit, just like that.”
Not only this, but he added: “These Post-It notes – buy for £1.95, sell for over a tenner, giving £2.77 profit each – five of them and that’s another £13.85 profit.”
The man also got some highlighters and calculators, giving him an extra £7 in profit.
After just 10 minutes in one Tesco store, the man claimed to have made £44 profit.
In search of more sales, he then drove 10 minutes to another Tesco store, where he nabbed 12 more calculators, making another £33 profit.
He also claimed to find another type of calculator, which he described as a ‘gold mine’, as he could buy it for just £9 and sell it for £29.29, giving him £10.36 profit per unit.
That’s over £335 of profit for just over an hour’s work
Arbitrage seller
As a result, he explained: “We got 19 of these, that’s just shy of £200 profit.”
He then found packs of Sharpie pens in the reduced section, which were being sold in Tesco for £3.90, but can be flogged online for £9, giving a profit of £1.17 per unit.
Do I need to pay tax on my side hustle income?
MANY people feeling strapped for cash are boosting their bank balance with a side hustle.
The good news is, there are plenty of simple ways to earn some additional income – but you need to know the rules.
When you’re employed the company you work for takes the tax from your earnings and pays HMRC so you don’t have to.
But anyone earning extra cash, for example from selling things online or dog walking, may have to do it themselves.
Stephen Moor, head of employment at law firm Ashfords, said: “Caution should be taken if you’re earning an additional income, as this is likely to be taxable.
“The side hustle could be treated as taxable trading income, which can include providing services or selling products.”
You can make a gross income of up to £1,000 a year tax-free via the trading allowance, but over this and you’ll usually need to pay tax.
Stephen added: “You need to register for a self-assessment at HMRC to ensure you are paying the correct amount of tax.
“The applicable tax bands and the amount of tax you need to pay will depend on your income.”
If you fail to file a tax return you could end up with a surprise bill from HMRC later on asking you to pay the tax you owe – plus extra fees on top.
Subsequently, he continued: “Got 21 of those, so that’s around about £25 profit.”
The reseller bragged that he “cleaned up” the Tesco store and as a result of clearing the shelves, made £295 profit from the one store alone.
Combined with his £40 profit from his earlier trip, the man boasted: “That’s over £335 of profit for just over an hour’s work.”
Social media users fume
The TikTok clip, which was posted under the username @aftermarketarbitrage, has clearly left many open-mouthed, as it has quickly amassed 217,600 views, 7,343 likes and 193 comments.
But social media users were horrified at the man’s actions – and also weren’t totally convinced.
At least leave something for real shoppers
TikTok user
One person said: “What a mug. I buy off Temu way more profit margins. Leave those for kids.”
Another added: “Sounds too good to be true.”
Alongside an angry face emoji, a third commented: “At least leave something for real shoppers.”
Whilst someone else remarked: “IF they sell.”
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