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Help with Ebays convoluted and contradictory tax reporting information EVERYONE should be aware of as it affects you too
Summary: 419pmh is frustrated with eBay's reporting discrepancies, particularly regarding year 2025 tax information. They describe spending hours with chat agents who couldn't clarify why different eBay reports—"Order Proceeds," "Gross Amount," and "Net Transfers"—don't align. comics-scifi-collectibles suggested using the Financial Overview report, but 419pmh highlighted issues with the figures not matching. mudshark61369 explained that chat agents might not have access to necessary details and advised consulting a CPA. eastlaneave provided links to resources for tax reconciliation, but 419pmh clarified they don't receive a 1099-K and seek consistent data for tax liabilities. Despite suggestions, the reports remain inconsistent, and 419pmh is concerned about being responsible for potential IRS discrepancies.
Since ebays chat agents seem incapable of figuring this out, perhaps someone here can clarify things. I have spent at least 4 hours chatting with multiple agents, getting cut off/disconnected, told outright lies and misinformation and have just had enough of it, because its obvious they have no idea what they're talking about. I am trying to gather information for year 2025 taxes and there are multiple "reports" one can run to gather figures. The problem is, they dont match up with each other and ebay doesn't explain the parameters of what they use in calculating some of these figures, so you dont know if you're comparing apples to apples or what you're actually looking at.
First, go to SELLER HUB and find the header labeled PERFORMANCE. Drop down and choose SALES, then set parameters for Jan 1, 2025 to Dec 31 2025 and run the report (Report 1). This one at least the figures match up and makes sense when you add/subtract the various figures.
Next go to SELLER HUB, then header PAYMENTS and drop down option to REPORTS. On the dropdown boxes below FINANCIAL OVERVIEW, set the year for custom year and choose 2025 (Report 2). Between what they show as Order Proceeds, minus Expenses and Refunds, I'm short over $4000 for Net Transfers (ie payouts to me) And, no, I did not carry over a large sum of untransferred funds into the next year.
Lastly, go to SELLER HUB - PAYMENTS, then drop down box to REPORTS and on the left hand column at the bottom, choose EARNINGS. On that page, on the far upper right, set the time frame for custom and input Jan 1, 2025 to Dec 31 2025 (Report 3).
Why are the figures different on all reports? Report 2 shows a category called "Order Proceeds". What exactly is this? Ebay cant clarify it no matter how many times you ask. What does it include, what does it not include? One would think that this is the sum total of all your sales for the year. Further, when you look at Report 3, the category labeled as "Gross Amount" shown under "Order Earnings" does match up to what Report 2 calls "Order Proceeds". So one would think that Order Proceeds is thus the gross amount of earnings, right?
Then why is this figure alternately labeled as Order Proceeds and Gross Amount SMALLER than the figure for "Total Sales" from report 1? Gross is BEFORE any taxes or deductions are taken out, so how can it be the smaller of the two numbers between the two reports? " (based on what I am seeing in my reports, perhaps yours are different?)
Also, look at each report and find the area that shows "selling costs" on Report 1 and is labeled as "expenses" on Reports 2 and 3. Why are those numbers different on all three reports? How the heck can my selling expenses be different on all three reports? The time frame is set exactly the same cross all three reports and an expense is an expense, so why does it differ in ANY amount? The range in the different amounts is nearly $80 between the three reports. Hunh? I'm sure if I poked around other areas of ebay, I could find yet more ways to look at the same information, and I'd get even more different numbers. How freakin hard is it to tally all of ones sales, subtract the selling fees, enhanced/special fees, shipping labels and any other expense and give a bottom line? It should be the same across every report, no matter how you label the same information.
And theres part of the problem - ebay cant explain what it calls "Order Proceeds" nor clearly explain its parameters for the figures it provides. Is there anybody out there that CAN rectify ebays incompetence and explain what these categories do and don't include, and why most of them don't match up. The only way I can get these three reports to get anywhere near each other on their largest totals is to subtract the Order Proceeds amount from the Total sales amount. That figure is kinds close to doubling the amount of refunds for the year, but still leaves a difference of about $60. Perhaps the difference is tax collected on the items refunded? But that would be a very low average tax rate, below 5%.
Additionally, if you look at reports 1 and 2 and subtract the expenses/fees/refunds from the largest amount, they do NOT tally up correctly. The difference between my Order Proceeds and Net Transfers on Report 2 is off by over $4000 after removing the listed expenses. Any accountant type brains have anexplanations
eastlaneave
Mentor1 month ago@419pmh
For income taxes, this is what you need
For income tax purposes, your 1099-k for your sales will be here
https://www.ebay.com/sh/fin/taxforms
There is a reconciliation form here with more detail
https://www.ebay.com/sh/fin/taxdetails
Here is a new 1099-K Guide. It shows how all the numbers are generated:
https://www.ebay.com/mes/taxguide
And monthly tax invoices are here:
https://www.ebay.com/mes/transaction-reports?sh=true&q=invoice
Form 1099-K is an IRS information return that includes the gross amount of all reportable payments within a calendar year. This is based on when gross funds are processed by eBay, not necessarily when funds are received by sellers.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/ebay-form-1099k?id=4794#section3
eBay does keep unpaid sales in your "solds" total, but not in your 1099-k
The 1099-k includes funds when they are processed by eBay, not when the money is paid out to you.
eBay is required to issue the 1099-k for the gross amount of your sales which is more than your deposits.
On your Sch C of your tax form you can deduct
Things paid for from your eBay funds
- Selling Fees
- Promoted Listing fees
- Postage
- Refunds
Other things you pay
Cost of goods sold
Mileage
Shipping supplies
etc
If you take this material to an accountant, they can reconcile it for you.
419pmh
OP1 month agoThanks for the reply, but unfortunately, it doesnt apply. I dont get a 1099, not enough sales. And I cant even use the supplied link for monthly tax invoices for comparison efforts because it only goes back to march of 2025 which is incredibly stupid. Youd think ebay would understand you can file an extension for last years taxes and that means they should have the prior years complete details available until at least the end of October the next year. Let alone people who later file amended taxes would need access even longer.
eastlaneave
Mentor1 month ago@419pmh
Consider asking customer service for access to older invoices.
However, this is what you can use when there is no 1099-k
Just adjust the dates
https://www.ebay.com/mes/report-landing?sh=true
419pmh
OP1 month agoHmm, Does anybody actually READ the original question before posting a reply? Seems not.
eastlaneave
Mentor1 month ago@419pmh
You are free to work with Customer Service if you prefer. We are experienced sellers here, giving you practical advice.
I've read all your posts and know you are not getting the amounts to reconcile.
You say you didn't get a 1099-k, but your Order Proceeds are $28,668 , I think you should have a 1099-k here (unless you had $9,000 in unpaid cancellations) : https://www.ebay.com/mes/transaction-reports?q=1099-k&sh=true
✓ 1099-k were issued for $20,000 in 2025
I am sorry that we can't crunch your numbers for you. I don't have access to your reports, but we've given you the tools to do it.
419pmh
OP1 month agoIve looked at the link for 1099-k and it says "You didn't receive a Form 1099-K because your gross amount of payments didn't meet the IRS or state reporting thresholds." Thought the threshold was $20,000 but if they are looking at "net Proceeds", that is only 18k, so below the threshold. yet another reason this ticks me off - I am the one liable for any tax issues and thats why I want reliable, verifiable information that adds up. None of this correlates and ebay cant explain a damn thing.
I sent this to mudshark in my reply to him:
The problem is, cust service cant explain what ebay means when the report shows "Order Proceeds" What is that? What does it include, what does it not include? Report 3 has a dollar figure labeled as Gross proceeds - which happens to match up to "Order Proceeds" on report 2". And yet, it cant be gross proceeds according to report 1. Nothing consistently matches up.
If I go to monthly reports and add up every payout sent to me for the year, it matches up with the Net Transfers amount, so that is good. The confusion is - how do we go from the number shown for Order Proceeds to the number shown for Net Transfers? There seems to be $4200 difference here and with the information shown here, I cant finagle the numbers in any way where we go from $28,668 down to $18,650. What kind of "Overview" doesn't provide enough information to rectify the numbers it does show? That's not an overview, that's a selected piecemeal snapshot!
The only scenario I can see is if I somehow held back $4200 in untransferred funds/payout at the end of the year. Not sure how to check what one's "funds available" balance was in each month of the year. Any idea on that one?
mudshark61369
Mentor1 month ago@419pmh ,
eBay's Phone/Chat reps work for a hired 3rd party call chat center, and try to respond to issues by reading from the playbook ebay provides them. The play book does not include information about seller's fees and other financial info you are seeing. They cannot access the financial info ebay provides you.
FYI, the Gross amount is what the buyer paid for the item It includes everything the customer is initially charged, completely ignoring whether they use a coupon, get a volume discount, or later return the item and fees deducted by ebay.
The Net amount report is what you received from ebay after their fees are deducted, it may not include your shipping labels and packing materials costs, taxes taken from the buyers payment...
You may want to try printing out the 3 reports and take them to a CPA and have them explain the info to you.
419pmh
OP1 month ago · EditedYeah, I get the hired third party chimps that know nothing other than canned responses. They literally cut and paste the exact same drivel as a reply during conversations. The problem is, they cant explain what ebay means when the report shows "Order Proceeds" What is that? What does it include, what does it not include? Report 3 has a dollar figure labeled as Gross proceeds - which happens to match up to "Order Proceeds" on report 2". And yet, it cant be gross proceeds according to report 1. Nothing consistently matches up.
Here's what I'm looking at from the Financial Overview:
If I go to monthly reports and add up every payout sent to me for the year, it matches up with the Net Transfers amount, so that is good. The confusion is - how do we go from the number shown for Order Proceeds to the number shown for Net Transfers? There seems to be $4200 difference here and with the information shown here, I cant finagle the numbers in any way where we go from $28,668 down to $18,650. What kind of "Overview" doesn't provide enough information to rectify the numbers it does show? That's not an overview, that's a selected piecemeal snapshot!
The only scenario I can see is if I somehow held back $4200 in untransferred funds/payout at the end of the year. Not sure how to check what one's "funds available" balance was in each month of the year. Any idea on that one?
comics-scifi-collectibles
Mentor1 month ago@419pmh I believe that the difference you are seeing is due to the way the closing of funds are handled on the different reports.
I personally just use the Financial Overview report and download it as a PDF so that everything is added up for me. https://www.ebay.com/mes/report-landing?sh=true
I keep a record of my cost of goods to be subtracted from gross income too on my tax return.
That is all I give my accountant and it works out fine for me.
I know that some sellers use the more detailed reports.
419pmh
OP1 month agoWell, no. We're talking 2025; this is information from 9 months ago at earliest. All details are long taken care of and calculated. They should be the same on ALL reports. What you say is plausible if sales were going on up to the final hours of Dec 31st - but the fact is, I had zero sales the last TWO weeks of the year, so all funds/transactions/calculations were long finalized by Dec 31st, meaning that all reports no matter how long a lag there is in tabulations - should all match up, period.
And while I could choose any one of these reports and rely on that information and send that off to my accountant - the fact of the matter is, if there ever is an audit and the IRS finds inaccurate info, who do you think is responsible? Me. And every other ebay seller who relies on ebay to provide accurate information, which they damn well are not. After 5+ hours trying to find a competent agent to clarify the issue, I'm a little pissed off because I'm the one that faces the consequences, or does anybody think ebay will offer to step in and help? We're the ones on the hook if something goes wrong, not ebay.
419pmh
OP1 month agoI looked at the financial overview report just to be sure which one you were referring to - and that one is the issue. Its off by over $4000. Take my Order Proceeds, subtract refunds and expenses and the amount transferred to me (net proceeds) is off by over 4 grand. I appreciate the time and effort of replying, but this is clearly not the answer
comics-scifi-collectibles
Mentor1 month ago@eastlaneave can you please help. Thanks