Book Keeping Help Please and Thanks!

[deluxe_discounts]

Hey guys, Was hoping i could get some helpful advice from all you professionals out there. Every time i post to here, i seem to get a little backlash for not knowing enough. Please bare with me, Im still learning the ropes.

About my situation: I Started selling on ebay as something to do for a little extra cash, as i can use it living in california in my 20's. I realized that there was really something there, and anyways long story short i ended up turning to dropshipping as i didnt have the capital to go out and invest in products (although i plan to) Anyways, Iv been dropshipping items for a few months now, with enough success to keep me happy.

The problem: My book keeping is terrible, Honestly. I mean, it could be worse, but its nothing like i would like. I feel like im only getting a general idea of what im making, i want it to be EXACT. The ebay fees are easily understandable. Its PAYPAL that kills me. Right now im simply imputting as much as i can into spreadsheets using the Standard paypal fees of 2.9% + .30 transaction fee (correct me if im wrong, The paypal fees get quite confusing)

The REAL Problem: With dropshipping, I have been accepting payments from many different countries. and i know the paypal fees get extremely confusing when it comes to recieving payments from differnt countries. I know the set fees are different and i just recently learned about the "Currency Conversion Fee"  which im sure has to be hurting me.

What i really want to know: How do i keep track of all of these differnt fees in a timely manner and track profits exactly?? Everytime i recieve a payment i can check which country it came from, Cross Reference that with paypals fees for that country and manually imput them into a spreadsheet i guess, But to me, that feels too time consuming and i feel the time could be better spent.

Im not too handy with excel, But iv looked everywhere trying to find a spreadsheet with the seperate fees or to try and figure out how to make correct forumlas that will work for me to no avail. Im not sure if there is a way to set it up where i type in the country name and it applies the fee automatically maybe?? Im really not sure how i could make it work for me, and could really use some help from you fellow ebayers if you could spare the time! Im hoping the answer is right under my nose and someone here could point me in the right direction!

I would really love to scale my ebay business more, But i know good book keeping is one of the most important parts and i really want to have it down before i dive in head first!

Thank you guys greatly in advance!

[chrysylys]

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@deluxe_discountswrote:

The REAL Problem: With dropshipping,

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is that you have NO idea what your buyers are eally receiving since you're not handling it yourself.  You're relying on somebody else to do all the work for you and hey could send pretty much anything.

And how are you going to handle the legal claims when the NHL comes after you?

.

[dhbookds]

A couple of things you need to check out:

I THINK paypal has a setting wherein you accept only US dollars for payment......and I THINK that puts the conversion cost on the buyer.......  Trying to make a formula for overseas conversion rate would be tough (at least for me) as the currency rates fluctuate.

Personally, I would look into programs that pickup the figures from ebay/paypal and then provide the analysis. They do cost a bit, but the time saved may well be worth it.  Many used to have free trials. Go Daddy is the one I hear about, but lots more and some may be more geared to drop shipping than others so I would look at several. 

just some thoughts

[lacemaker3]

@deluxe_discounts

You can download reports from PayPal that include all of this information. You won't need to calculate any of the fees, they will show exactly what the fees were.

How do I find a monthly statement of my account activity? - PayPal

As a merchant, what resources or reports are available when ... - PayPal

How to Customize and Download PayPal Reports - eBay for dummies

You can block payments from non-USA PayPal accounts in PayPal, but if you do that, you will lose all your sales to non-USA buyers. It sounds like you have been getting a lot of those, so you probably don't want to block them. It's probably worth your while to make the sales, even if the fees are a few percent higher.

The seller doesn't have to pay conversion fees when receiving money from a different country. The buyer pays the conversion fees, but the PayPal fees are a few % higher for the seller.

Drop-shipping is the most difficult business model on eBay. It is possible to do it successfully, just difficult. So don't be discouraged.

Something else you will want to be aware of:

How does PayPal report my sales to the IRS? Will I receive a tax Form ...

[luckythewinner]

If your goal is to be exact, then it is pointless to try to calculate the fees yourself.

Instead of guessing, why not just look at the information in PayPal and see what PayPal actually did?

Their transaction detail has all the information you need, including the adjusting entries for any currency conversions.

[tofu107]

list your items asking for US dollars and let the buyer pays the conversion fee of 3%.

Paypal fee is 30 cents plus 2.9% for domestic transaction

cross border would be 30 cents plus 4.4% without currency conversion

if you lose a chargeback,it is $20 chargeback fee.

Quickens is what some accountants recommend you use,but a 19 cents spiral book onsale at supermarket during school season work well if you dont have high volume.

each day you record item sold description,sales price,shipping received,cost of good sold,actual shipping,ebay fvf,paypal fee,misc like insurance or sales tax you have collected.

at the end of the month,you just add them up and get a monthly total

I would skip individual Ebay and Paypal fee and pick up the monthly total from your Ebay account and PAYPAL summary report,one lump sum is what I really care to know.

when those spiral go on sale,for 19 cents,pick up a boatload,it would last you years.

now you are doing dropshipping,so you may need more columns to pick up extra data.

if you are ever audited by IRS,just show them that book and if needed,your Paypal summary,detail reports and invoices,also 24 months of bank statements.

[sin-n-dex]

@deluxe_discounts

Let me straighten this out for you...

When you receive a payment in Paypal (and log in to check what's received), Paypal will show you a breakdown including fees. Enter the fees they take off in your spreadsheet, don't bother with math to try and figure out what that might.

My spreadsheet has columns that calculate the following (I'm simplifying, since I'm in Canada and need to do things in two currencies):

Item:

Date of sale:

Sale Price:

Shipping Collected:

Final Value Fees (including FVF on shipping): -note, this I calculate because eBay's invoice is not friendly on showing me the totals

Paypal fees paid:

Shipping paid:

Cost of the item:

Net Sale:

There are also other identifying columns, bidder location, bidder ID, and relevant details for certain types of my coin sales (where cost is based on silver weight and current silver price).

Make sure you keep a receipt for every purchase you buy for drop shipping, as you can deduct all this from your gross sales. Your income tax will be owed on the net sale.

Hope this helps. I'm in Canada, so for taxes some things might be a bit different, but I work part time as a bookkeeper, so I can answer some of your questions.

Cheers, C.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

Paypal: Never accept conversion fees! Never! ~~C~~

[dbmm-media]

 good luck selling that china junk