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Glossary

Sole trader

A sole trader is a self-employed person who runs a business in their own name, without forming a limited company.

Updated · By Otman Ounana · How we research

Why it matters when you send from your own Gmail

In the UK this matters because the email rules treat sole traders as individuals. The regulator says they can be emailed only with specific consent, or on a similar-product basis.[1] Nobody has to register to become one: you can start trading straight away.[2] So the website of a plumber or a photographer may look like a business and still be, in law, a person. When the evidence is unclear, treat the recipient as an individual, or leave them out.

Example

Hartley Plumbing Ltd is a company and can be emailed under the corporate rule. Tom Hartley, trading as Hartley Plumbing, is a sole trader and needs consent.

What to do

Look for a company suffix such as Ltd or LLP, or a registered number on the site. A business named after one person, with no suffix, deserves caution in the UK.

Related terms

All terms are on the glossary.

Read next

  • UK: is it a sole trader?Under PECR you may email UK companies and LLPs, but sole traders and some partnerships count as individuals. How to check a business in three minutes, with a decision table.
  • "Where did you get my email?"What GDPR requires when someone asks where you got their email address after a cold email, with three replies you can send and what to do if they object.
  • CAN-SPAMCAN-SPAM is the United States federal law that sets rules for commercial email: no deceptive headers or subject lines, a physical postal address, and an opt-out that is honoured.
  • CASLCASL is Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, a consent-based law that prohibits sending a commercial electronic message unless the recipient has consented, expressly or by implication.

Sources

  1. UK Information Commissioner's Office, Guide to PECR: electronic mail marketing. “Sole traders and some partnerships are treated as individuals – so you can only email or text them if they have specifically consented, or if they bought a similar product from you in the past and didn’t opt out from marketing messages when you gave them that chance.” Read on 1 October 2026.
  2. GOV.UK, Set up as a sole trader. “You can start trading straight away without registering. However, you must register for Self Assessment as a sole trader if you earn more than £1,000 in a tax year (from 6 April to 5 April).” Read on 1 October 2026.