Quote:
Originally Posted by Cliff R
Ebay is not a sellers market....IMHO.
Not a bad place to "dump" some old car parts if you don't mind the work packaging them up for shipping, running to the shipping store, and can deal with Ebay's high seller fees.
If you are marketing a mass produced item fully expect a dozen or so other sellers to be offering the same part, or a clone of it for a very minimal profit margin after paying for shipping, packing materials, envelopes/boxes, tape, printer paper, ink, cost of goods, Ebays high seller fees and any fuel you burned if your item required delivery to the the UPS store, etc........
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as a business or self employed person, all those things listed above about "paying for" are mostly all deductible from the self employment/business tax you pay at the end of the year. so youre not really paying for them, if they are business expenses they are fully deductible- packing materials, shipping supplies/fees, office supplies, cost of goods, & all ebay or paypal fees, etc.
the only thing not fully deductible is vehicle mileage which is a set amount per mile, .55/mile which usually pays for fuel, registration, insurance etc. anything you do in your vehicle related to business gets that deduction- driving to UPS store, to look at or buy car/parts, delivering a car or parts, etc etc.
the complaints of "high ebay fees" goes with the territory, where else do you get worldwide or huge nationwide exposure & ability to have an item sell for 2-3 times or more of the listing price? you pay to sell stuff almost anywhere you go, swap meets, websites, forums, (if you own one) local auctions etc. only thing still free are places like craigslist which is pretty limited to your city or a few more around you, FB marketplace which is also limited to your area, & you gotta deal with a bunch of yahoos, tire kickers & lowballers there. or selling on forums like this with very limited exposure & majority of the time you still need to ship it or get paid via paypal that charges a fee or needs your bank account info that many say "no way" to.
much of this is misunderstood or confused, thats why many people just pay a CPA to do their taxes for them, but its been the same even before ebay for businesses or sub contractors, anything you pay for to run a business is mostly deductible from the SE tax you pay each year.
its 2022, we all have to pay somebody something to sell in the online world, or limit yourself to swap meets that you still have to pay for a spot then sit there all day dealing with a bunch of people wanting to pay $5 for your $50 part, or classifieds in the newspaper like its 1985. ebay sucks, but it still has many benefits for sellers & buyers that are well worth the 12.9% fee... that is deductible at the end of the year... or just tack it onto the sale price & pass it on to the buyer like all other businesses do.
