Ordering for business using personal account

[shakibi9]

Hi All,

I have a personal eBay account with a long history and excellent rating, which gives me an advantage in winning offers for sought after items. Can I use the same eBay account to purchase items for my LLC, from an invoicing and tax reporting perspective, or should I make an eBay account for my LLC? Of course new account will have 0 rating and could potentially scare of sellers. I do not intend to sell any items on eBay, only purchase.

[ferncliff-39]

@shakibi9 

I'm not sure eBay boards are the best place to get tax advice - do you have your own tax advisor to ask these questions?

[shakibi9]

@ferncliff-39 Thanks for your reply. I thought it's more of an eBay reporting question. For example, would I be able to get invoices for purchases made under personal eBay account but paid with LLC debit card & shipped to LLC? 

[ferncliff-39]

@shakibi9 

I don't buy much here, so not much experience with Purchases. You can get "Orders" here, but I don't know if they show the detail as to what card what was used.

@wooden_flower  - would you have any input on this? (tks in advance)

[wooden_flower · Accepted solution]

@ferncliff-39  Thanks for the tag 🙂

You don't have to have separate eBay accounts.  I think the best record keeping is from your credit card statements. 

The eBay order detail does not show you which card was used for a purchase, but if you use a business card for business purchases, you can match those orders to the charges on the statement for that card.  Those order details become your record of business purchases.

[shakibi9]

That makes sense. Thank you @wooden_flower & @ferncliff-39 for your help!

[rfmtm]

At the very least you will have to change you personal account to a business account so you can apply any sales tax exemption your company has.

Personally I find a separate buying and selling account better.  Ebay even recommends two buying accounts, one for taxable and one for non-taxable.  Having separate accounts helps with not only bookkeeping, but provides more privacy, especially if you buy on ebay to then resell on ebay.

Also recommended you not use you main selling account to post here or on any discussion board.

[wooden_flower]

@rfmtm 

Thanks - the sales tax is a good point.  If you have a sales tax ID and purchase exempt items, separate accounts are must!