A sole trader or partnership with a registered business name
The type for a registered business name that is not a limited company. The same paperwork as an incorporated seller, and the same place on the marketplace.
Every seller on Surplus gets the same store page, catalogue and payouts. These are the things that are different because you registered as unincorporated business.
The same three documents and the same VAT number field as an incorporated company, so nothing about your store page, your listings or your payouts differs from theirs.
The private-seller limit of two live vehicle listings does not apply to a registered business.
You can switch to another registered business type yourself later, without opening a second account.
Every seller gets the same core dashboard: your catalogue, your orders, your store page and your payouts, on one menu.
Pack, print the label, hand it to a driver, get paid out.
These are the documents the signup form asks a unincorporated business for, taken from the same list the form itself uses. You upload them in the last step, and nothing on your store publishes until an administrator has looked at them.
You are also asked for your VAT number on the form itself, as a field rather than an upload.
Filling the form in takes a few minutes. Approval usually takes one to two working days, and it is a person reading your documents rather than an automatic check.
Your details, your business and your location, with the documents above attached at the end.
We send a link straight after you submit. The account is not active until you have used it.
Usually one to two working days. A person reads them, and you are told either way.
Once approved, your store page is public and your listings go live as you publish them.
Pick the one that describes the business. It decides which documents you are asked for, so it is worth getting right before you start rather than after.
Running a kitchen, driving, dispatching a fleet or holding parcels are separate ways in. They are all on the join page.
Free to start, on the free plan every new seller is given. The form opens with unincorporated business already chosen for you.
Already selling on Surplus as something else? You can apply to add unincorporated business to your account from Business types in your dashboard. An administrator checks the paperwork for the new type before it is approved.