What we fail to realize
Over the last 6 months I have really dived into these discussion boards reviewing EBAY fees, increases and whatever. I want to present a hypothetical situation which some of the result applies to all of us. One note, I had this discussion with a friend and from past experience. Let's say a person purchases an abandoned storage unit every month. Your costs were to purchase is $400/month. Thats $4800/yr. So, let's say you donate roughly half of the storage unit to goodwill, the other half you sell on a platform and lastly you have rented a storage unit for $125/month to house your items that you purchased. Tax implications, you have a LLC it's a business. Tax write-offs include the storage unit u rented, any use of your car to and from a facility to ship your products, pick up supplies, maybe you rented a U-Haul or used your car to pick up your items, and the list goes on. So, my final statement is, does a .35% increase in seller fees on a platform really play into the overall numbers? No, in this case it does not. In other case's maybe so but I doubt it. What we sometimes forget is all the extras that can be applied to our taxes that we are not accounting into the equation. I am sure some people will contradict me but so be it. I know the numbers based on this situation.
argy_eyes
·3 years agoThe 0.35% change may not be a big deal for most sellers, but for eBay it adds up. Assuming that eBay's GMV (Gross Merchandize Value) is about $80B dollars/year it amounts to $280,000,000. Given the decline in GMV and active users that eBay has experienced post-Covid, they will need every penny of it.
Mike
mam98031
·3 years ago@argy_eyes
What also adds up is the reduction in fees and shipping sellers get that are in EIS [Ebay International Shipping] program. The EIS program has some great benefits for sellers on Ebay's dime. So this program has a big expense to Ebay. Hence, the fee increase to cover these costs.
Historically this is what Ebay does. Fee decreases in some area and fee increases in others.
luckythewinner
·3 years agoNothing in your post gives any information that helps determine whether the .35% increase plays into the overall numbers.
Let's say that the items you sell each month sell for a total of $4800 plus $2400 in shipping charges, and your net profit after all costs and expenses and fees was $1000.
Figuring an average sales tax of 5%, the .35 % fee on $7560 is $26.50 which represents 2.65% of your profit. IMHO that would be a clear impact
traditonalproducts
OP3 years agoand what impact is the $26.50 utilized on a deduction? You get some of that back. Also keep in mind EBAY does most of the accounting for you which eliminates what? Your time and a CPA's time which cost money.
mam98031
·3 years agoEbay does NONE of the accounting and no seller should depend on them to do that either. Keep your own records. ALWAYS keep you own records. You can get reports from Ebay, Amazon, PayPal and other sites that will tell you what ran through you account and how much the expenses you paid on their site for different things like fees and shipping. But there are more costs that just that. These sites have NO knowledge of those numbers, EVER.
All Sellers should track their own sales and expenses. Use the reports you can get from the site or sites you sell on as a cross check for your numbers. Never solely depend on a site to tell you everything. They simply don't know all the information and they could make a mistake too. You would not know that unless you keep your own records.
traditonalproducts
OP3 years ago"Nothing in your post gives any information that helps determine whether the .35% increase plays into the overall numbers."
Because it does not in my example. take the $4800 + $1500 for the year. Let's say the NET result is $30,000 selling on platforms + add in additional monies for items that were sold for $3000 cash. So, the .35% has zero bearing on this example. It's nothing compared to the write offs and profit. These items are NOT buy/resell thus the goal is to make as much money as possible to recoup and add profit to the investment. Lastly, as stated, the ,35% could have a small impact on buy/resell.
My example DOES NOT represent every situation.
fern*wood
·3 years agoI guess I'm not getting your point. An increase in fees will always be an increase. Of course we all have deductions to take when we file our taxes, which can wipe out some of our costs, but without an increase in fees (regardless of the size) we would have ended up with more money.
If you are saying up your price a little to offset it, then I get it. I've always had the deductions, so that doesn't change.
traditonalproducts
OP3 years agoMy point is that a lot of people are not utilizing their deductions. As in some of the responses my guess is correct. Yes, an increase is an increase no doubt but some of the deductions can offset the increase specifically if one is not using the tax deductions properly. Yes, at some point a minimal increase on a selling price should happen over time.
mam98031
·3 years agoHow do we know they aren't? Or is this an assumption.
traditonalproducts
OP3 years agoRead through the post.
coltsde29
·3 years agoI see what your saying. That's goes well if that is your first year doing all that. If you have already been doing that same way the last few years there's no way possible that you wouldn't see the increase. Every increased fee no matter how big or small it my be comes out of your pocket and will be noticed on the bottom line. I don't understand when people say you won't notice. The only way is if you sell 1 or 2 things in a year. If you sell 200 items a month with a .35 increase that is $70 a month times that by a year and it's $840 a year. Would you notice if you were missing $840 ? I sure would
mam98031
·3 years agoBecause other fees were lowered. Especially if you ship internationally.
yuzuha
·3 years agoIt's not a .35 increase, it's a .35% increase, which means that for any items under $100 it will be less than .35 per item. On most of the items you currently have listed, it would work out to an increase of a few pennies per item.
yuzuha
·3 years agoTo give concrete examples, the increase on that $30 item I just sold would be .11. The increase on the $20 one would be .07.
traditonalproducts
OP3 years agoexactly! All the carriers went up well over .11 cents. Its the shipping costs that play a more hefty role than EBAY at this point.
mam98031
·3 years agoOn $840 worth of sales X 0.35% = is about $3.00
movieman630
·3 years agoBottom line is you have to spend money to make money. It's never about the sale of a single item. It's about the sale of multiple items. At least if you do it for a living. I can see someone selling their Grandma's stuff it might be frustrating but you're right. It's just the cost of doing business in 2023.
mam98031
·3 years agoWhy would anyone contradict you. Along with all the stuff you talk about, I write off the square footage of my home office along with utilities for that area, mileage to the PO, Office supplies, computer updates, new hardware, my Cell Phone, etc. There are many allowable deductions. Reviewing a Schedule C can help those that are trying to figure things out.
caldreamer
·3 years agoMy CPA (former IRS agent) said even cost of hotel and meals are deductible if you go on a out-of-town "buying trip". Another big expense that many people overlook is the "home office deduction" (% of your rent and utilities).
chapeau-noir
·3 years agoMeals and lodging (along with mileage) are usual customary deductions for business travel, but the home office deduction/utilities can be a red flag for audits - make sure that is clearly defined.
ETA: It's better not to deduct at all if there is any question as to space/utilities usage.
traditonalproducts
OP3 years agoAgreed. I have never utilized the home office deduction. I have been lucky enough to to have worked remote since 1998 plus my LLC. Its not worth the headache of an audit.
mam98031
·3 years agoWhy would you assume to use this as a deduction = audit? That simply is not true. Just follow the guidelines for it as set forth by the IRS and you'd be fine even if you had an audit.
traditonalproducts
OP3 years agoBecause the room is split in half with me and my wife who is not remote. The numbers in my case would be very minimal.
mam98031
·3 years agoIt still would not kick you into an audit because you claimed it. Have you actually ran the numbers to figure out how much the deduction would be for an entire year.
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/small-business-taxes/the-home-office-deduction/L1RZyYxzv
traditonalproducts
OP3 years agoYes I did run the numbers and it does not make sense for me. Thanks for asking.
toomuchstuffagain35
·3 years agoNot to mention the tax implications of deducting that % over the years should you sell your home.
mam98031
·3 years ago@toomuchstuffagain35
What specifically do you mean?
dnasilver
·3 years agoAs long as the meal is business related it is deductible at 50% (from approx July 1 2021 to end of 2022 100%). The meal must be business related. Documentation of who your client was and what is discussed is important. Overly lavish meals for the type of business value conducted can be a red flag. It is not a blanket write off when just traveling on business. ex: you alone ate breakfast just as you would every day. No business purpose even though you were traveling on business.
Home office is often overlooked but in many cases it should be skipped. The average person does not have a dedicated space only used for business purposes.
Having a CPA and a tax attorney can save a person thousands/ tens of thousands if they are operating a business with the intent of earning money and they maintain the proper documentation.
It is not for the average person just cleaning out their stuff and selling it on eBay.
pennysdream
·3 years agoTo make this point real. I went to a train show thanksgiving weekend. If I had been smart enuf to realize it, the most of the trip could have been written off...
mam98031
·3 years agoCan't you recover some of your receipts? From your charge card / debit card, or if you stayed in a hotel, ask them for a copy of the invoice, etc. While you may not recover all of it, you may get some additional things you can deduct.
krazzykats
·3 years agoAnd dump fees. There's a lot of rubbish in storage units to haul off.