Quote:
Originally Posted by 78w72
i think you might be doing the math wrong to come up with 14-16%, in that you arent factoring in all the items that get charged the fees. i could be wrong on that, but you cant just take the sale price of the item & subtract the total fees they are charging, the fees are charged on the shipping amount & especially the taxes ebay charges on the item.
look at one of your recent sales on ebay, there is a link called payment details, if you click on that they break down all the fees to show what they are charged on, it should work out to 12.9% + a .30 per transaction fee, at least thats the fee structure for all ebay motors sales of parts, other categories are different but are explained in the fees link i posted. if its not working out to that you can email or call them to point it out & have it fixed.
as for deductions, yes you are taking those expenses off the amount you pay taxes on, its not a 100% credit but you arent paying taxes on that amount. any items used for operating a business are part of operating that business, you factor it all in then set prices to make a profit, thats just how a business works. sucks to look at it that way but you gotta spend money to make money.
heres a little trick to help save money on shipping related expenses like driving to the UPS store, for smaller/lighter items up to about 4-5lbs, USPS is usually a lot cheaper than fedex/ups & they will pick up the item from your front porch for free!
the inventory at the end of the year is not fully taxed either, you subtract year end inventory from beginning year inventory to determine the net income for the year that you pay the ~13% SE tax on. they arent taxing the full inventory if it didnt sell that year. its confusing to discuss taxes but once you do them enough & understand how the flow of schedule c works you see how things like year end inventory works out.
|
Cliffs complaints about eBay are pretty universal. I know a lot of sellers and they echo Cliffs words! I've sold a few things myself over the years but would never have an eBay store. Years ago, I read stories about people selling things on eBay and making $$$$. However, things have changed with eBay as Cliff mentioned and it is not as user friendly as it once was. When eBay began charging local tax on used items, that pissed me off. Most people pay enormous amounts of tax in this country every year and eBay wants more. Yes, the worldwide exposure of products is fantastic but the days of making decent money on eBay is about over. Fees and more fees have shackled sellers and I expect that to continue!!