Would you like to supplement your income and start selling from home, without your new activities impacting your current family and/or professional life? All while complying with the law, especially from a tax and social perspective?
Are you wondering which status to choose? VDI status, self-employed, independent worker... What exactly are we talking about? Is it possible to combine a home sales job with salaried employment? Are you allowed to keep certain Social Security benefits?
When you want to offer your services to a company to become an Independent Home Seller (VDI), you first need to acquire an official, tax and social status, allowing you to carry out your activities safely and legally....
Let’s take a closer look with Elora, especially at the VDI status and the self-employed (or, more precisely, micro-enterprise) regime.
Why and how to become a VDI?
As a VDI (Independent Home Seller), you are not an employee but you benefit from the production, marketing power, and logistics of the companies whose products you sell.
You carry out your sales activity safely, within the framework of a proper contract. You are the ambassador of the company with which you have signed an agreement. You feel aligned with the company’s values and the products and services it offers, but you have the right to choose your own pace and place of work (at your home or near your home, if you wish!).
With Elora, you benefit from free professional training, and you are supported and guided by the company.
It’s important to know that with the VDI status, you are not an employee. The amount of your income, and therefore your pay, comes directly from your personal sales revenue. Your work is paid as a direct percentage of the sales you make.
The micro-enterprise, ideal for getting started
In France, the micro-enterprise status allows you to run an independent activity with basic tax and social protection. Here are the main benefits for beginners:
- Formalities: Micro-enterprises are individual. Created in just a few clicks with a simple online declaration to Urssaf (no capital to raise, no articles of association to register!), they are easy to manage and are not subject to corporate income tax, up to certain thresholds.
- Advantages: This status offers simplified administrative procedures—especially for income tax declaration, which is done automatically each year—reduced social contributions, and VAT exemption, depending on sales thresholds.
- Conditions: Anyone can become self-employed, as long as they are a resident in France and complete the process with Urssaf. There is no minimum annual turnover required!
- Costs: The creation and operating costs are flexible and scalable, making it an attractive option for independents who are testing or just starting out.
- Social contributions: The micro-social regime allows you to benefit from Social Security, including health insurance and pension rights, depending on the social contributions paid, as well as access to professional training... but, be aware, not unemployment benefits.
This is why the micro-enterprise (self-employed status) is so successful. It allows you to start a new professional activity as an independent, without risk or administrative burden.
The micro-enterprise has pushed aside the old VDI status, dating back to 1993, which was specifically designed for "door-to-door" sales. This traditional status, which still has its fans, requires registration with the Trade Register (RCS) or the Special Register of Commercial Agents (RSAC). It falls under the general regime for self-employed workers and creates a link with the company through an employment contract. Social charges and contributions related to VDI activity are then calculated and paid by the company.
Unlike the micro-enterprise, this status offers a certain level of security for independents, since it creates an employment link with the company. In practice, it also creates a relationship of subordination, and it complicates the combination of independent sales activity for those who want to keep a salaried job at the same time, or unemployment benefits, etc.
The micro-enterprise... complete independence!
Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit and want to stay independent? The micro-enterprise regime (self-employed) is particularly well suited to home sales because it lets you determine your activity level, based on the income you need.
You have your own micro-enterprise and therefore manage your communication, your networking on social platforms, and your daily business as you wish. You are truly independent and autonomous! As a VDI, you decide on your own sales strategy, while benefiting from the marketing and logistics support of the company you represent and whose products and services you market.
For the self-employed, it is still possible to combine with permanent and fixed-term contracts, Social Security and URSSAF benefits (unemployment and retirement, among others), under certain conditions. If you are an employee, make sure you do not have any clause prohibiting you from carrying out another activity in parallel.
Which status should you choose to become a VDI?
In conclusion, the micro-enterprise is a perfect choice for becoming an independent home seller (VDI), in complete safety. Without administrative burden, the self-employed can earn extra income throughout the year from selling products or services.
It’s a flexible and scalable status, supporting the start or combination of activities for independents, without affecting their training rights or requiring them to pay specific social contributions, since they keep their Social Security regime.
With Elora, you will benefit from a VDI agent contract. Being an agent does not require you to buy products, nor to make your own VAT declaration. In fact, for each home sale, it’s the stock of the VDI company that you market. What matters is the sales revenue you generate! Your income comes directly from this, as your pay is calculated and paid each month as a percentage of the sales you make.
If you want to stay independent, while diversifying your activities and boosting your income, the VDI activity is made for you! And, given the current legal rules, it is advisable to choose self-employed status.
Learn more about the profession and become an Fashion Consultant with Elora (at-home fashion advisor).
