Making some extra money out of 3D printing and CAD hobby? Any tips?

I would like to make some extra money out of my hobby of 3D printing and CAD design, while still keeping it a hobby. How could I handle shipping and receiving parts without revealing my home address? And how to handle payment? Paypal? Is there some other more “Japan friendly” method or a local 3D printing or small stuff store (maybe like Etsy)?

Also how to handle receipts and taxes? If I understand it correctly, I don’t need to pay taxes as long as I make less than 100,000 an year from all side work (does that also include investments and trading?), but I guess I should still have to give a receipt to people who purchase stuff, right?

Can I get around dealing with all the tax stuff if I print in exchange for the 3D printing supplies directly or would it still have to be taxed as gifts?

4 comments
  1. The only way you can get around the tax stuff is if you don’t charge them any money for it and don’t make a profit.

  2. If you are an employee who gets a 年末調整 every year, you do not need to report miscellaneous income (profit) up to Â¥200,000 to the National Tax Agency. Technically, you’re supposed to report even small amounts of miscellaneous income for residence tax (local tax office).

  3. If your looking to sell please be careful on Merucari. They have a strict policy on homemade goods if you’re selling items connected to an existing IP.

    There are people who police stuff for sale and will notify Merucari of your listing.
    (Example: I started off selling diorama pieces. Some individual didn’t like that so they reported me. After 4-5 times they said I couldn’t sell anymore)

    PayPay Fleamarket and the other ones have a looser system but not as much eye-traffic.

  4. Mercari has a system that can hide your shipping address on parcels (Yu-Packet for Post office or something with KuroNeko as well) and also handle the payment aspect but as someone else commented, I’m not sure how you would handle complaints with IP or how to properly market your services there… Also Mercari takes 10% of your selling price- Unsure if that might be an issue.

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