eBay sales - TCG Hobby

I collect trading cards. Sometimes I trade (as in *swap*) these cards with other hobbyists to complete sets. Sometimes however, if someone has a card I need for my collection, but I have nothing they need in return, I will sell my spare card on eBay and buy theirs with the money. I usually have more than 30 sales in a year from this process. I do not buy or sell these cards in order to make a profit - but to complete sets that will stay in my possession until I die. Say I set a budget of £3,000 per year to collect a certain set, but in order to fund this without going broke, £1,200 comes from selling some duplicate cards, do I need to pay tax on the duplicate cards sold even if that money goes straight back into the collection? My understanding is that because I am not buying and selling to make a profit I will not owe tax unless I sell off the whole collection for more than £6,000 - but do I now need to keep receipts to keep track of how much money I am spending on the collection; and declare every collection purchase, trade(swap) and sale in a self-assessment to prove that I spend more on my hobby than I make? Basically: with this new online sales rule, do I now have to treat my hobby as a business, and my collection as stock (even if I never sell it all)? An additional question: The new rule came into effect in January 2024, but does this £1,000 total renew in April 2024 for the new tax year? From a very worried person, who just wants to catch 'em all......

Hi
As your turnover is over £1000 this is classed as self employed income and needs to be reported.This is not new rules and the only difference is that the selling sites are now obliged to report the details to HMRC. Therefore if your turnover is over this for any tax year, you need to report this on a self assessment tax return.