Auction Power Guide

I’ve been selling on ebay for a long time, and now i have a good amount of friends, etc., that want me to sell for them, but I want to do it right. How do I charge for like the ebay fees, and such. Do people charge a percentage of the final value when selling for others, etc.? I want to get a little in return for my efforts. : ) Any suggestions?

Actually being a Trading Assistant is the certified ebay reseller you describe.
http://ebaytradingassistant.com/signup/

There is also an eBay Trading Assistant Discussion Board where requirements, information and tips-of-the-trade are exchanged.
http://forums.ebay.com/db1/forum/Trading-Assistant/106

I’ll tell you a few of my personal tips.
1. Never, never list anything that you don’t have in your possession and control over. If your consignor finds a local buyer, changes their mind or refuses to release the item after a successful sale; you become a Non-Performing-Seller, get a strike against you and may get Negative Feedback.
2. Nobody who hasn’t sold on eBay has a clue about the effort involved in photography, writing Descriptions, staging a item and proper shipping. Friends and relatives are aware of how easy it’s become for you but don’t realize how steep the learning curve is. Me personally, I’d avoid selling for those I wanted to keep close to me. I’d offer to help them open an account, guide them, encourage them, but that’s me. If you do decide to sell for those special people be prepared for some changes in the relationships.
3. Depending on the value of the item (higher priced gets lower %), a fair commission for selling ranges from 15% to 40% of the price realized AFTER all eBay & PayPal fees (perhaps shipping too).
4. The bottom line can be broken on shipping. Be aware of all the options & costs available. Free shipping now gets higher placement in *Search* so be careful of hi-weight, hi-cost items to ship if you offer it.
5. Never ship anything without some form of on-line verifiable delivery confirmation.
6. Also, see my previous answer to a Y!A question from a neophyte eBayer.
http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=An6vEuMnsc7K8NvdD1G3W4Dh5gt.;_ylv=3?qid=20090906191246AA1CsJx&show=7#profile-info-zyYv4N7iaa

I recently agreed to purchase a piece of Machinery from someone in California. The company I’m purchasing from does not have nexus in Washington state where I live.

They asked if I would have the machine shipped or be picking it up myself. When I offered to drive down and pick it up they sent me an invoice requesting I pay 9.25% sales tax.

This does not sound legal to me.
I understand the Walmart analogy. Does that hold true if I pay for something in advance? In essence, acting as my own shipping company by going down to pick it up.

It doesn’t matter if the company has nexus in Washington. You are paying California sales tax because possession and title to the product passed in California. It doesn’t matter when you paid for it and it doesn’t matter if you are removing it from the state.
If the company had shipped the product, title and possession would pass when you receive the product in Washington, which would make it exempt from CA tax.
Either way, you would still be liable for Washington use tax.

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.