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Posts Tagged ‘Acquisition’

Why An Ebay Seller Needs To Keep A Close Watch On Profits, Not Sales Volume

January 21st, 2012 No comments

One mistake that business owners make is that they focus on overall revenue instead of profits. While this thinking is flawed in any business, it can be especially dangerous in an eBay business.

Part of the problem is that this type of thinking is promoted by eBay. For example, you need to reach a certain level of sales volume to qualify for eBay Powerseller programs.

Sellers will also frequently sell products even if they’re not making money on them just so that they can build up their feedback.

I’m here to tell you that if your primary focus isn’t on the amount of profit your eBay business is making then you won’t have an eBay business for very long. It’s not true that if you have enough gross revenue that there will be some net revenue around. Trust me; it’s possible to have a lot of overall sales without making any money.

I remember back when I was more active with selling on eBay that I had a lot of months where I sold tens of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise every month, but when I actually sat down and crunched the numbers, I’d actually LOST money for the month. Then there were times where I sold only a few thousand dollars worth of items, but over half the revenue was profit. Can you guess which method I ultimately stayed with?

When I first started my eBay business, I’ll admit that I had this flawed thinking that as long as I got my sales volume up, I’d make more money. What I found was that the more stuff I sold, the more time it took up to fulfill the orders, more packing materials I had to keep on hand, and the more fees I had to pay eBay. The added cost of all these items wasn’t necessarily added into my acquisition costs.

The flaw in my thinking was looking at how much the item would cost me and then looking to see how much it sold for. If the selling price was higher than cost, even just a little bit, I’d buy it.

Eventually I got wiser (probably because I had to in order to stay in business) and started to focus on what items I could purchase and sell for a nice profit. While my sales volume definitely dipped, I made more money, and actually had more time to pursue other business interests.

So if you’d like your eBay business to still be open this time next year, then make sure you’re focusing on the right numbers – the bottom line, not the top.

Gary Ruplinger
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/why-an-ebay-seller-needs-to-keep-a-close-watch-on-profits-not-sales-volume-145345.html

Ebay Sales 2009

November 7th, 2011 No comments

Web based auctions and retailing is major home business and growing just about every year. eBay is the quantity 1 web-site for people to sell items and merchandise on the online. If you are thinking about selling on eBay, 1 question that you could possibly have is if you are necessary to pay income tax on your sales This post should certainly answer your concerns.

If you auction a couple of private items on eBay just about every now and then that represent merchandise that would otherwise be sold at a garage sale, you have no tax liability and no added filing requirement. Standard items that might possibly have been up in the attic or not made use of in a when probably are worth much less than what you paid for them so there is no taxable acquire. The loss on these items is also not deductible.

The rule is numerous if you sell an item that has appreciated due to the fact it came into your possession. Selling art or antiques that have gone up in value drastically due to the fact acquisition and sold for a profit have to be reported. They will be reported either as a capital acquire on Schedule D or on Schedule C if you are engaged in an web based home business. A smaller acquire on a novelty item is a further matter. For example, if you purchased a GI Joe for $ten and sell it for $100, you have a prospective capital acquire that could be reported. IRS is not probably to be concerned more than a thing smaller like a $90 acquire on a GI Joe. If you have 1 or two such sales like that a year, it is not going to be an concern even if in theory it is a taxable acquire. But an individual selling GI Joe action figures on a common basis as portion of a profit searching for venture would have a prospective IRS situation if they did not incorporate the income on Schedule C of their return. Any legitimate home business expenditures could be deducted from the profit on goods sold of an web based auction home business.

At this point a distinction have to be created among an web based home business and a hobby. A individual who buys items for resale and is attempting to make a profit in web based auctions might possibly have a legitimate home business. In spite of this, if an individual files a Schedule C with their return for an web based home business and reports a loss year just after year, IRS might possibly disallow the losses and declare that activity a hobby. The components that play into this distinction are outlined in IRS Publication 535 (Home business Expenditures). In a nutshell, common web based selling might possibly be a hobby if there is no clear profit motive. If your web based sales are a hobby, the expenditures can not exceed the income from sales for tax loss purposes. While an itemized deduction on Schedule A could possibly be taken by some aggressive people, I would not advise it. An IRS audit is no enjoyable.

A further factor to look into is no matter if or not items you sell had been depreciated for tax purposes in a prior year on your tax return. The sale of workplace equipment or vehicles that had been made use of in home business and had been topic to prior depreciation might possibly result in a necessary recapture of depreciation, capital gains or ordinary income. See a CPA, Enrolled Agent, or Accredited Tax Advisor for support with preparation of your federal income tax should certainly you have concerns about the taxation of web based auctions.