I'm trying to access a monthly report that shows item cost with free shipping net profit

[teeezeee]

Hello,

I list most of my items with free shipping. This will be the first year I'm claiming a profit on my taxes. I'm trying to get a monthly breakdown showing the net sales after eBay fees and shipping cost. Example. $20 item sold with free shipping, eBay fees 3.50, shipping cost 5.00. The net profit is 11.50, so I can make my notes minus what  I paid to come up with the profit. I've downloaded Excel files but they don't show minus shipping cost. Please explain how I can access this type of report, monthly or for the year. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

The way the IRS looks at it is similar to how eBay figures your final value fee: They don't differentiate between the selling price and the portion that the buyer paid for shipping (if any).  The buyer's whole payment counts as gross income. Then you deduct whatever you actually paid for shipping for the whole year.  

After all, the shipping that the buyer pays very often is not the same as what the seller spends on postage, not only for "free shipping" listings, but for any listings where the buyer is charged any amount more or less such as charging the buyer the retail postage cost and then purchasing an online label.

[tsme35]

If you ship using ebay labels, click on sales under performance, run a report for the time period, go down to selling costs and it will show "shipping labels"  for what you paid for shipping for that period.

[luckythewinner · Accepted solution]

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@teeezeee wrote:

Hello,

I list most of my items with free shipping. This will be the first year I'm claiming a profit on my taxes. I'm trying to get a monthly breakdown showing the net sales after eBay fees and shipping cost. Example. $20 item sold with free shipping, eBay fees 3.50, shipping cost 5.00. The net profit is 11.50, so I can make my notes minus what  I paid to come up with the profit. I've downloaded Excel files but they don't show minus shipping cost. Please explain how I can access this type of report, monthly or for the year. 

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You do not subtract expenses and "come up with your profit" and then put it on your tax form. You use the tax form to report your income, and you use the tax form to deduct the expenses. 

Remember back in high school when your math teacher wanted you to "show your work" on your test paper, and not just give the final answer? 

Well, the IRS wants you to "show your work" for your business - not just give them your final profit. You do this on Schedule C attached to your 1040 tax form. 

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf

In your example, you would report $20 as income, deduct $3.50 in eBay fees on line 10 (commissions and fees), and deduct the shipping cost on line 18 (office expenses).  Don't for get to deducts the original cost of the original item, which would go on line 4 (Cost of Goods sold) which is calculated in Part III. 

[reallynicestamps]

@nobody*s_perfect 

the shipping that the buyer pays very often is not the same as what the seller spends on postage,

Exactly.

I use Free Shipping and ship via Canada Post using older postage stamps from DH's collection.

When I ship with tracking and print a label at home,  I get a 5% discount from Canada Post for using my Solutions for Small Business discount card.

Sellers who use Flat Rate charge the same for a parcel sent to Texas or to Maine, but one is cheaper than the other, depending on the seller's location.

Sellers should be keeping their own records.

If only to prove that they did NOT make a profit and owe no taxes.

[lightlily_arts]

Every month you still get an invoice from eBay which shows your expenses and what you spent on shipping labels.  It's under  the payment tab

[m60driver]

Ebay's generated sales reports are useless for figuring out net profits.  You really need to keep track yourself and use a simple spreadsheet like Google Docs to keep track as you will need separate columns for gross sale less tax, shipping, final value fees, and the processing fee.  Once you get a routine down then  entering the data goes pretty quickly although I don't understand why I need to make an extra click to get the FVF as it does not show up on the "order details" page but can only be found another click away on the "see payment details" link.  

[teeezeee]

Thanks for the explanation I appreciate your time! 

[dstump2]

The biggest problem is that the ebay reports only report sales and postage figures. ie: What you received. The reports that I received do not show totals and they don't show what I paid in ebay fee, advertising fees etc.  You should keep records of your cost of goods sold and your own selling expense eg: envelopes, boxes etc, milage to the post office if you have to go there to ship, gas, etc.  But ebay should be able to provide the "net" proceeds from the sales and they don't. They only provide the gross figures. 

[kh-vince]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.