Date Sold Discrepancy

[somanypcs]

An auction ended on Dec. 31, 2021 and the buyer paid today.  When I check All Orders, it shows the correct Date Sold, even giving the time the auction ended:  Dec 31, 2022 at 9:11pm PST.  When I look at the order for this sale, it shows an incorrect Date Sold of Jan. 4, 2003 which was the date paid.

[ebooksdiva]

If the buyer paid today that is the actual sold date. 
An auction isn’t a sale til the buyer pays. 

[somanypcs]

There are 2 ways of accounting for income:  accrual and cash basis.  On Schedule C for the IRS Income Tax Reporting a business must indicate if it uses accrual or cash basis accounting.  In accrual accounting, the income is reported on the date the transaction occurs and an invoice can be generated, even if the payment is made at a later date.  In cash basis accounting, income is reported on the date cash is received. 

eBay is using the accrual method of reporting on All Orders and on Invoices and the cash basis method of reporting on the actual order when you look up the order number.  On a Buy It Now sale this does not matter, as the transaction and payment occur on the same date and time.  However on an auction sale this is a discrepancy as the transaction date (i.e. auction end date) is not necessarily the date paid.  In my case, this means eBay says the sale occurred in 2022 and in 2023, depending on where I look.

[pburn]

eBay is using the cash accounting method. Proceeds for both fixed-price and auction transactions will be accounted for when eBay receives the buyer's payment.

Forms 1099-K also use the cash accounting method.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Buy it Now ONLY occurs on the same date as 'purchased' if 'Immediate Payment Required' is used; Otherwise, the buyer still could pay for it days later. 

[somanypcs]

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@pburn wrote:

eBay is using the cash accounting method. Proceeds for both fixed-price and auction transactions will be accounted for when eBay receives the buyer's payment.

Forms 1099-K also use the cash accounting method.

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OK, but if eBay is using the cash accounting method, the date sold for an auction is still when the auction ended.  Any accountant using the cash basis can ignore the date sold as they only need the date paid.  However an accountant using the accrual method of accounting needs the actual date sold, which is when the auction ends.  I use the accrual method of accounting, so the item is a 2022 sale even though the payment was made in 2023.  However if I print out the order number it shows date sold as 2023, which is NOT true for any auction, regardless of the accounting method used.

Buy It Now is somewhat different, as eBay does not recognize a sale when an item is placed in a shopping cart.  eBay does not show sellers that this item is awaiting payment.  A seller cannot send an invoice for it.  If another buyer purchases it and makes a payment, eBay removes it from the initial shopper's shopping cart.  So date paid and date sold are effectively the same for Buy It Now items based on eBay's procedures.

[monica-sells]

this is actually why some ebay reports differ from the 1099-K totals......

regardless of what ebay uses, all that matters is what YOU use as an accounting method, and how YOU treat the sale/income/posting/transfer, etc.....

as an example...(and I am simplifying this....)

if you are audited, the first thing 'they' do is add up all the deposits/incoming into YOUR checking account for the period they are auditing.....

Then, they determine what you spent (paid out) on the account for expenses, COG, etc....

(since this is not a part of the discussion, we will not address the expenses side)

If you are on 'cash basis' it matters not what ebay does...all that matters is what you get transferred to your account and the date it is posted...(most all of us are on cash basis)

Accrual has advantages, but is a bookkeeping nightmare for the unwary.......

Regardless which method you use, properly booking your sales are totally determined by YOUR method of accounting, not the entity that pays you for your products/sales. Reconciling the accounts can be an issue with contradicting accounting methods, though....

If you had a merchant account, there is usually a 2-3 day period before the funds are settled and in your checking account. You can either book it when you get it (cash) or book it when it is sold (accrual). Dealing with ebay is the same thing.

This is just from my experiences...not real advice....but I think I am being factual

[hstate]

Also, I have had many examples in the last 90 days where a BUY-IT_NOW item is sold, the buy pays for it right away, but the sold date by Ebay is the day before it was sold/paid. 

For instance:

Today (March 7th) a buyer bought a connector for $42.95+$5.25 shipping. The buyer paid for it right away. The printout says: Date sold:   Mar 06, 2023. How can this be? 

Hstate

[dhbookds]

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@hstate wrote:

Also, I have had many examples in the last 90 days where a BUY-IT_NOW item is sold, the buy pays for it right away, but the sold date by Ebay is the day before it was sold/paid. 

For instance:

Today (March 7th) a buyer bought a connector for $42.95+$5.25 shipping. The buyer paid for it right away. The printout says: Date sold:   Mar 06, 2023. How can this be? 

Hstate

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I'm guessing you are referring to the sold email notice..........which does show an incorrect sold date.........and which I've reported several time to no avail.........   Seller Hub has the correct dates........

[toomuchstuffagain35]

Also I noticed this changed once a seller was in MP.

Prior to MP, ebay logged the sale as the date the purchase actually occurred and billed us for their fees at the time regardless of when it was actually paid for.

Since MP, ebay logs the sale as occurring when payment is made and they take their fees.

[somanypcs]

Since MP, eBay logs the sale as occurring when payment is made on the Order details form.  Since MP, eBay logs the sale as occurring on the Orders -> All Orders display screen as the actual Date sold (for an auction the date the auction ended) and then has a column Date paid which can be the same or a later date. 

Since MP if an auction ends on one day and the buyer pays on a later day, the problem is eBay displays two different values for date sold depending on where you look.  There can only be ONE date sold for any order.