Reselling Spreadsheet Help

[poor_college_boi]

So I am trying to figure out how to setup a spreadsheet with sales and profit but I am a bit confused on how eBay calculates it's sales tax. For example I sold some concert merch for 185 and eBay charged 15.26 for tax and I did the math but it didn't add up. Do they do the standard 7%? It would've been 12.95 if so but I don't know where they got 15.26. I didn't charge for shipping. 

Anyone know of a spread sheet to follow for something like this or what exactly they charge for tax?

[katzrul15]

@poor_college_boi 

Sales tax is based on "where" (which State or US Territory) you sold it to in the U.S. - so it will vary per State and a few States do not charge sales tax at all.

State Sales Tax Rates - Sales Tax Institute

[stephenmorgan]

I calculate $15.26 to be 8.25%

Was there a Shipping and Handling fee added to the $185.00?

[stephenmorgan]

If you view the Sales Record it will show you the amounts that the Sales Taxes was based on.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@poor_college_boi wrote: ... I am a bit confused on how eBay calculates it's sales tax.... . Do they do the standard 7%?  ...  what exactly they charge for tax?

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No, it's not a standard 7%.  The sales tax is based on the location that the item was shipped to, so it's different all the time. Some states charge sales tax on the shipping portion of the payment, others don't. There's no way to predict the buyer's location, so there's no way to anticipate the sales tax.  Some places it's over 10%; a few states have no sales tax at all; most states with sales tax exempt whole categories of items, such as clothing.

Fortunately, eBay not only calculates the sales tax amount, they also collect it and send it to the states. You don't have to do anything.  

[luckythewinner]

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@poor_college_boi wrote:

Do they do the standard 7%?

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There is no "standard 7%" sales tax.

eBay follows the law and charges the buyer what the law in the buyer's state says the tax should be.

You cannot predict the buyer's location so you cannot predict the sales tax.

[stainlessenginecovers]

Also; many states have numerous tax amounts pending the 9 digit (not 5) zip code that someone lives in. 

California has over 50 ranging from 7 to 11%- just for example. 

Best to just use 8% (national average) for sales tax, to figure the fee that is charged.

Remember- the fee is on Item+Shipping+Tax.

You will never get an exact figure ahead of time, but your spread sheet will be within 1% at the end of the month/year. 

As stated, you can get the exact amount the buyer paid, which you are then charged % for Final Value Fees (also varies, depending on if you have a store or not and what category the item is listed in)

[poor_college_boi]

Gotcha, so the sales tax depends on which state I'm sending the item to. Would any of you know how to translate that into some sort of formula for a spread sheet or somehow being able to link the address to a state then tell the software to charge the appropriate tax rate. That's insane how some states have sales tax of up to 10% which in turn gives ebay more leverage to charge me more on the selling fee!

[katzrul15]

@poor_college_boi 

If you are wanting to create a burden rate, use the highest sales tax amount to plug in for your potential fees calc to use to create the burden rate. 

i.e. if the highest sales tax is 10%, use 10% to plug in to potentially calc your fees.

Here is a fees calculator we use:

https://www.ebayfeescalculator.com/usa-ebay-calculator/

[slippinjimmy]

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@poor_college_boi wrote:

So I am trying to figure out how to setup a spreadsheet with sales and profit but I am a bit confused on how eBay calculates it's sales tax. For example I sold some concert merch for 185 and eBay charged 15.26 for tax and I did the math but it didn't add up. Do they do the standard 7%? It would've been 12.95 if so but I don't know where they got 15.26. I didn't charge for shipping. 

Anyone know of a spread sheet to follow for something like this or what exactly they charge for tax?

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Suggestion for you

Base your spreadsheet off the eBay Transaction report. it will give you ALL the data fields you need and then you can use that data for your add on formula based fields/columns and any expense columns for things outside of eBay (packing materials for example)

The Transaction Report is a csv download available here:

https://www.ebay.com/sh/fin/report

You can customize the report to get rid of columns you don't need and avoid having to get rid of them manually in your spreadsheet.

[southern*sweet*tea]

One other fun fact to screw with your calculations is that some states charge sales tax on shipping, others do not.

https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/shipping-sales-tax/

[stephenmorgan]

I use  spread sheet to calculate my net from a sale.  I have it saved as a Template.  I input my data and print it out.  Then I run it back thru the printer and print the Order Details on the same page.  My inputs are at the bottom of page with the only calculation being the Net.  Most of the time order details will fit on this first page.  I save it as a PDF File.

Looks like this

I also use a Spread Sheet to keep a running list that includes all the financial details of each sale.  It shows all expenses and my gain or lost on each sale.  Comes in handy at tax time.