[ZSDOne]

LOL, I can’t ever figure out the math on those deals

I assume that there are actually a couple of factors here - one is to keep customers satisfied even if they are losing money which leads to repeat customers and thus buying more expensive cards - you turn around and later buy a $100 card and losing $4 on the $1 card is good business.

The other factor is that now that sellers are required to pay taxes on their profits that losing some money on sales isn't as bad of a deal as it could be - that $5 shipping cost is tax deductable as an ordinary and necessary business expense and yes, the card sell was a loss - but that loss is deductible from taxes - depending upon the income level of the seller losing money off of Ebay sells could be worth more money than making money off of them (while that is generally businesses - I once read a hilarious account from someone who bought a bunch of railroad stock of a bankrupt railroad for pennies requesting stock certificates - the idea was that he would sell the stock certificates to collectors and railfans after the railroad shut down - before he could do it, some company offered to buy the shares for several dollars a share (he had wound up becoming the railroad's largest stockholder) - they wanted the loses that the railroad had to avoid taxes.  Corporate tax law can lead to weird results - individuals with high incomes can also make more money off of deductions for losses than they could off of taxes)

[kerryandbeth]

CPA, here. Let me define the above:

The IRS is holding off making eBay and other selling venues from issuing 1099-K for payments of $600 or more.

They will start with $5,000 payments and slowly get to $600. But...but...but...the key points are that sales on eBay have ALWAYS been taxable income to the recipient. And...and ..and...any losses on sales are not deductible below zero.

So, you sell a card for $100, you deduct what you paid, you deduct shipping costs, and deduct supplies added. Net profit gets reported as other income.

However, if you claim it is a business, then you report as self-employment income and any losses can be deducted. The odds of getting that treatment are slim because you have to keep track of hours spent on the "business".

Most of us will have hobby income to report and hobby losses that are not allowed. And, all my sales are at a huge discount so none of my sales are reported.

[rjcj2017]

Huh. Interesting.

Because I screwed up on the shipping costs, I once ended up paying someone $3 to take a football card set away from me - never again.

[ZSDOne]

Kerry is obviously right about how you were always required to pay taxes on income from Ebay sales - after all, people even are required to report and pay taxes on illegal income (you aren't required to disclose the source of the income) - of course, that was how they got Al Capone. But without the forms, it is hard to really enforce income reporting requirements unless someone is like Al Capone and obviously has a standard of living far beyond their legal income

My first attorney job was at a firm that does tax law - half the job was telling people that the tax avoidance schemes people were pitching to them weren't actually legal.

[kerryandbeth]

+1...

[rjcj2017]

Tax evaders gonna tax evade

[rjcj2017]

Huge maildays this week ... sending good vibes to the sellers.

"Penny sleeve ... top loader ... team bag or masking tape"

Repeat, over and over again

[rjcj2017]

Gotta say, 3 of the 4 sellers did great today.

The other one? Card sticking out of a penny sleeve a quarter of an inch inside a PWE.

Card was OK but feedback will reflect laziness.