Trading Allowance Rises to £3,000: Do You Pay Tax Selling Cards?

The UK trading allowance rises from £1,000 to £3,000 on 6 April 2027, but it only helps if you're trading, and clearing out your own collection usually isn't trading. Buy cards to sell at a profit and you're probably trading, and until April the limit stays at £1,000. Selling lots on a marketplace can also get your details sent to HMRC, which isn't the same as owing tax.

This is general information, not personal advice: for your own situation, ask HMRC or an accountant.

Do you pay tax when you sell Pokémon cards in the UK?

It depends why you have the cards. HMRC says that to pay tax on goods you sell online, you must be either trading or making a capital gain. That gives you three broad situations:

What changed in Budget 2026?

In the Budget on 28 October 2026, the government said it will triple the trading allowance from £1,000 to £3,000. Two things move together: the allowance itself, and the point at which trading income has to go on a Self Assessment return.

It's being brought in through Finance Bill 2026-27, so it isn't law yet. HMRC's estimate is that up to 1.4 million people could benefit, with 100,000 no longer needing to report trading income at all.

Is selling your card collection trading?

Usually not, if they really are your own things. HMRC describes personal possessions as items that belong to you for your own use, whether you bought them or were given them. Its example is someone clearing out an attic: none of the items worth more than £6,000, and it's unlikely they need to tell HMRC or pay tax, however many items they sell.

The line moves when you buy with the sale in mind. HMRC says you're probably trading if you sell goods you bought intending to sell for a profit. Its closest example to the card world is someone who starts with unwanted clothes, then buys from car boot sales and charity shops to resell regularly. Swap the clothes for cards and you can see the shape of it.

What are the badges of trade?

When it isn't obvious, HMRC and the courts use nine tests, known as the badges of trade. No single one settles it. Some will point one way and some the other, and the answer comes from the overall impression.

HMRC's manual also treats things bought for personal enjoyment, like paintings and classic cars, as starting from a presumption that they aren't trading stock, though that can be overturned. Even one transaction can be trading, though HMRC says that's generally not easy to show.

How does the trading allowance work for card sellers?

It's measured on what you receive, not what you make. That's the part card sellers get caught on. HMRC uses gross income, the total before expenses, so the money you spent on the cards doesn't reduce it.

• If your gross trading income for the tax year is at or under the allowance, it's covered, and you may not need to tell HMRC. There are exceptions, and you still have to keep records.
• If it's over, you choose: take off the allowance, or take off your actual expenses. You can't do both.
• All your trading income is added together, so card sales count alongside other side income such as gardening or tutoring.
• You can't use it for income from your employer or your spouse's employer, a company you or someone connected to you controls, or a partnership.

For anyone buying stock, that choice is what matters. These three sellers are invented, on the new figures, with no other income and ignoring postage and fees:

Seller A is where the change is felt most. On £2,800 of sales, they'd have to tell HMRC today, but not on the new figures. Seller C shows the trap: a card reseller on thin margins can go over £3,000 with very little real profit, and is better off claiming costs. None of this tells you what you'd owe, because that depends on the rest of your income.

Do online marketplaces report you to HMRC?

Since 1 January 2024, digital platforms have had to collect details about their sellers and report them to HMRC. That covers websites and apps that let you sell goods. HMRC's guidance doesn't list platforms by name, so check the help pages of the one you use.

You stay off the report only if you make fewer than 30 sales and receive less than €2,000 in the calendar year. So 30 cheap commons could get you reported even if the money is small, and one good slab could too. If you're reported, the platform has to give you a copy of what it sent.

The reporting limits aren't the allowance, and nothing we found in the Budget documents changes them. From April 2027 you could easily sit under £3,000 and still appear on a platform's report.

Do you pay Capital Gains Tax on trading cards?

Possibly, on a high-value card that you owned as a personal possession. The special rules cover chattels: things you can touch and move. HMRC names stamps and coins among the possessions you may pay on, and doesn't name cards, but a card fits that description.

Here's how that plays out, again with made-up figures. Sell a graded card for £9,000 that cost you £2,000, and your actual gain is £7,000. The amount over £6,000 is £3,000, and 5/3 of that is £5,000. So the figure to use is £5,000, before the tax-free allowance and any other gains or losses.

Selling a run of cards to one buyer needs care. A set is a group of items that are similar, complementary and worth more together than apart, and the £6,000 limit then applies to the whole set. HMRC's examples are chessmen, matching ornaments and books by the same author or on the same subject. Split a set and sell the parts to the same person, or to connected people, and they're still treated together. Whether a complete set of cards counts isn't something HMRC has addressed that we could find, so ask before selling a valuable one.

Capital Gains rules are for possessions you weren't trading. If the sale is part of a trade, it comes back to the income rules above. Possessions with a predictable life of 50 years or less are generally exempt, but we found nothing from HMRC saying that applies to cards, and we wouldn't assume it does.

What should card sellers do now?

Our take

Selling a high-end slab, or weighing one up? Browsing our graded cards gives you a sense of how finished slabs are listed, and our free centering tool helps you decide whether a card is worth grading in the first place.

Selling cards and tax FAQ