Buying and Selling on eBay: Tips, Tricks, Problems & Questions

[Fueco]

GF is Mexican...hope this helps.

Hola,

En los zapatos, unos de los "tacos" tapones se rompio durante el envio de correo. El "taco" se pude reponer, pero los zapatos estan completamente usables sin el "taco."

Gracias!

I concur. However, is the speaker Mexican or from some other central/south American country? There are differences within the diff Spanish variations.

You should be fine. It's a good translation. Never having been in this situation before on that site, if I were you, I'd write both just to be cautious. ie, "my friend translated this to Spanish"

Thanks for the help, fellas! Before I was able to try the Spanish translation on the dude, someone from Thailand bought the shoes through a proxy company out of SoCal (why do all of these places seem to be in Compton?). At least I get cheap shipping!

 

[TheNeedMachine]

eBay sends you a monthly invoice for the eBay side of the fees to your e-mail, so just gather all the ones you PAID in 2013 (the date you actually paid the eBay invoice, not the date you sold the item associated with the fee). You should be able to run a report on the PayPal home screen for all of 2013, and there is a column for the CC fees, just add them up. Everything is cash basis, meaning you report it when you actually receive or pay the cash, not necessarily keeping all pieces of the transaction together. This may mean that you have the expense in 2013 (when you bought the item) and the income in 2014 (when you sold it) - this is OK.

What you are trying to do is the accrual basis, meaning you recognize the revenue in the same period as you recognize the expense (matching everything up item by item). DON'T DO THIS - you won't be able to keep up on it or at least will make your life very difficult. The cash basis is acceptable. Box F on the first page of the 2013 schedule C, check CASH.

However...

YOU DO NEED TO CLAIM THE INCOME ON SCHEDULE C!!! Now, if you choose not to, will you get caught? Likely no, as the IRS has no way of knowing you have this income since you didn't get a 1099 from PayPal. I don't know anything about your tax situation and so I don't know if you have anything else going on that puts you at a higher risk of audit. But I'm telling you to report it.

All expenses in connection with your business can be deducted on schedule C. eBay and PayPal fees, sales tax paid, shipping materials, shipping costs (include shipping fees received from buyers in gross income), mileage to/from thrift stores/post office/etc (only if you have written mileage records - trust me, it adds up - your receipts would be sufficient documentation to show where you were on each day, and you can just Google Maps the distance between your house and the store, or from store to store), of course cost of goods sold. If you meet certain requirements (mainly: space is dedicated to the business), you can deduct business use of home, which you can calculate either as a flat rate per square foot of the dedicated space or a percentage of your actual home expenses (utilities, mortgage interest/rent, insurance, repairs, etc). You can expense your computer, printer, label printer, lighting equipment, camera, mannequin, whatever, at the time it is purchased, as long as it is only used in connection with the business. Anything with a useful life of more than one year, you technically depreciate, but there is something called Section 179 which lets you fully depreciate items in one year up to a very high threshold (let's just say that Spoo could likely Section 179 his Ferrari and still have more room until he hit the threshold).

If you run this as a real business, please just get a real accountant. It might be $500 to $1,000 but this is not something to mess around with and try and thrift. The potential penalties and hassle are just not worth it.

PS to anyone who got a 1099-K from PayPal: it reflects your gross sales and does not include returns refunded...so, any refunds are also a deduction. Most folks probably knew that, but if this is your first time getting a 1099-K (me included) it may not be obvious and I had to do some digging to find that out.

I also had to remember to deduct PayPal fees for items not sold thru eBay, since they are not included on the eBay sales reports (I sold a motorcycle in person and accepted PayPal, and I think I sold 1 or 2 things on Etsy - will have to check that).

I'm definitely getting an accountant this year, and I believe we have a winner - this guy (with that haircut, that accent, and that tie, how could I not)??

 

[MJMcRibb]

PS to anyone who got a 1099-K from PayPal: it reflects your gross sales and does not include returns refunded...so, any refunds are also a deduction. Most folks probably knew that, but if this is your first time getting a 1099-K (me included) it may not be obvious and I had to do some digging to find that out.

I also had to remember to deduct PayPal fees for items not sold thru eBay, since they are not included on the eBay sales reports (I sold a motorcycle in person and accepted PayPal, and I think I sold 1 or 2 things on Etsy - will have to check that).

I'm definitely getting an accountant this year, and I believe we have a winner - this guy (with that haircut, that accent, and that tie, how could I not)??

I saw that guy and immediately thought of this. That guy actually makes this haircut look good.

 

[Lirum]

I saw that guy and immediately thought of this. That guy actually makes this haircut look good.

still can't get over how superb a job this guy did for that character. what a fantastic portrayal of death.

 

[thefastlife]

so some guy did a BIN of one of my items. cool. but he has 0 feedback and messaged me directly after stating he has a new address and to not send to the verified PayPal address...


does this raise any red flags to anyone? how, if at all, can i protect myself?

 

[sparrow]



so some guy did a BIN of one of my items. cool. but he has 0 feedback and messaged me directly after stating he has a new address and to not send to the verified PayPal address...


does this raise any red flags to anyone? how, if at all, can i protect myself?

Cancel order

 

[Mifune]

so some guy did a BIN of one of my items. cool. but he has 0 feedback and messaged me directly after stating he has a new address and to not send to the verified PayPal address...


does this raise any red flags to anyone? how, if at all, can i protect myself?

Insist on sending it to the verified Paypal address, and that you don't post to non-verified for reasons of fraud.

If he insists on the new address or threatens to give negative feedback, you are in a bind. Ebay will not help you by automatically cancelling the transaction. You can either:
- try and mutually cancel the transaction (he can still leave negative feedback though); or
- insist that he pays with a direct bank transfer (so he can't claw back funds via Paypal).

Also - in your future listings, state that you will only post to verified Paypal addresses.

 

[thefastlife]

edit: im an idiot. he has 9 feedback. does that change anything? still smart to send to verified im assuming?

 

[Mifune]

edit: im an idiot. he has 9 feedback. does that change anything? still smart to send to verified im assuming?

It's a risk.

If it was someone with a long ebay history and absolutely perfect feedback COMMENTS, then I'd be ok.

For someone with only 9 feedback, I wouldn't. If he insists, get him to pay you via internet banking, and post via tracking and signature on delivery.

 

[capnwes]

Insist on sending it to the verified Paypal address, and that you don't post to non-verified for reasons of fraud.

If he insists on the new address or threatens to give negative feedback, you are in a bind. Ebay will not help you by automatically cancelling the transaction. You can either:
- try and mutually cancel the transaction (he can still leave negative feedback though); or
- insist that he pays with a direct bank transfer (so he can't claw back funds via Paypal).

Also - in your future listings, state that you will only post to verified Paypal addresses.

Wrong. You are never in a bind if a buyer threatens you with negative feedback. That's the golden ******* ticket right there.

 

[hbkshin]

Wrong. You are never in a bind if a buyer threatens you with negative feedback. That's the golden ******* ticket right there.

Basically if a buyer is giving me trouble on a item I know it's 100% perfect, as described, and they won't give me any proof (via photos or such) and keeps talking about wanting a partial refund to "repair damages" or some **** I'll edge the conversation towards negative feedback leaving as much as possible. A couple times it's worked to where they threatened if I don't refund xx% right now they'll leave negative feedback immediately.

Hate doing that ****, but it's the only tool I have sometimes.

 

[Fueco]

I just had a buyer return a pair of gray pants stating that they were green (did not open an SNAD case, just returned it). They are gray.

 

[Steve Smith]



PS to anyone who got a 1099-K from PayPal: it reflects your gross sales and does not include returns refunded...so, any refunds are also a deduction.  Most folks probably knew that, but if this is your first time getting a 1099-K (me included) it may not be obvious and I had to do some digging to find that out.

One of the ebay reports which I print every year lists the total refunds, so you can use that number instead of trying to total up a long column of numbers.

 

[Snoogz]

You guys, just get go daddy bookkeeping. It makes all this much easier.

 

[ruben]

Earlier this year I sold a jacket to France, shipped it via usps first class international.

After a month (and an opened ebay case) jacket was returned to me, having made it all the way to france before getting a vague "address undeliverable" stamp.
I used ebay's label and provided address.

Buyer is understanding (I guess the French PO is, in his words, "lazy"), but I have no idea how to proceed.
The PO didn't cancel the slip-in cutsoms/postage slip, so I could re-send, but I don't want an ebay case to occur if it doesn't get delivered again.
If he gives me another address, how can I protect myself against an ebay case?