Regards,
@frank6013 Have your partner create their own account then split up the items to sell on the different accounts. If you did not report the income from sales previously you will have to now.
If you had equal share in the acquisition cost of the lot or anything else you two sell split that for tax purposes ... each account will receive a 1099K at the end of the year if sales are over $ 600.00.
You can also split other costs like packaging materials, etc.
It sounds like you file separately for tax purposes so the above splits everything BEFORE any sales occur ...
Based on sales volume and reported income you will most likely have to pay quarterly tax estimates in 2023 so again, splitting things beforehand helps avoid issues in the future.
Mr. L
@gurlcat wrote:Wow this tax thing is just the excuse I've been looking for, to "break up" with the local BAM vintage store guy I've been selling for, for a couple years now. I've been trying to think of a polite exit, even though our arrangement has always worked out GREAT, 50/50 split for me doing all the photographing, listing, shipping (the post office is directly across the street from his store) but him buying and keeping the inventory for sale to walk-in customers as opposed to hogging precious space in my house, and both of us immediately notifying the other if an item sells, so that the other can remove it from viewability, to prevent double-selling it. And I don't pay him his half until the buyer has either left feedback or the return window has elapsed.
None of that has ever been a problem because we're talking a relatively low number of items, like maybe 20 simultaneously-listed at the very most, but usually fewer than 10. Honestly, I would do it again with another store owner and wouldn't discourage anyone reading this to give it a try, if you have a local store with good stuff being overlooked by local customers (priced lower than it'd fetch on ebay but not low enough to just buy it and provide shelf space for it until it sells), and you like the person/people who run it.
But that's just the thing with this guy, for some reason the quality of items he's been getting hold of has steadily declined, and his personality has become increasingly abrasive. When he gets something he thinks might sell on Ebay he texts me photos along with prices he found online, but always LIST prices, refuses to check SOLDs, in fact he doesn't even check ebay itself, just google so yeah sometimes he gets an utter bananas impression of value. I don't mind doing the Solds lookup myself, but he often seems really disappointed when I tell him how non-valuable something is, like it almost seems like he doesn't believe me. Also he has selective memory about things I have said a thousand times, like how hard it is to sell decorative items without any maker's mark, how I'd rather not risk breakables like glass unless it's a pretty valuable piece, how things like games need to have all their parts. And ugh, he doesn't know what 'clean' actually means. Part of why his store doesn't get much foot traffic is he lets his 2 big dogs run loose in it, they shed and he doesn't vacuum or dust, I have even smelled poop a couple times, also seen plenty of mouse droppings on shelves. I have to bring cleaning supplies to photograph most items, even though he says he already did but they've still got highly visible grime in all the nooks and crannies.
And while his inventory quality has steadily decreased, his political stances and need to talk about them has steadily increased, even though I usually try to change the subject and when I do engage I make it pretty clear I don't agree with his position, yet each new visit he talks like I'm one of his buddies that sees things like he does, especially if he thinks he can make it .....funny? Ugh.
So wow, I've never written so much about this relationship, lol. Feels good to get it off my chest, and now with this "I'm gonna have to pay taxes on all our sales" thing, I think I'll be able to offramp from this dude. Funny thing is I never thought of it before, it actually IS worth considering, and given his political views I think he'd see anything involving taxes as a legit point of contention.
@gurlcat Another approach is to set the lowest price you will sell anything for for anyone else. You can cite fees, taxes, expenses plus the ROI on your invested time. It's a positive approach whereby you will be happy to still sell but the minimum priced item for sale will have to be "X" and you pick that number and make it a good amount. You can spend about the same amount of time listing a $ 10 item as you would a $ 100 item ... he will understand that for sure plus it lets you do the cherry picking ... keep this in mind, your knowledge and expertise in selling online is the value you bring to the table ... he can always do it himself if he wants but at the end of the day you want to be happy with the money you make based on the time you invest ...
Mr. L
