How can you compete with other eBay sellers?

[dudeguy]

So I guess the shipping is less than what I remember. Sold a couple games yesterday and one of them was $3.76 to ship. Not bad.

 

And yeah I see the final value fee takes part of the tax as well, which makes a lot of sense considering neither eBay nor the seller get any of the tax. The higher your buyer pays in taxes, the more you are punished. So if your buyer is from New York City, and you sold them a $1,000 game, are you gonna see a bigger chunk taken from you compared to selling it to someone in a jurisdiction that doesnt pay any sales tax? I understanding charging the fee on shipping costs due to the fact that the seller can make up any charge they want for it and game the system, but taxes??? come on! Id rather pay a slightly higher fee on the sale+shipping if I have to. that way theres no surprises

[Tanooki]

1 hour ago, dudeguy said:

So I guess the shipping is less than what I remember. Sold a couple games yesterday and one of them was $3.76 to ship. Not bad.

 

I understanding charging the fee on shipping costs due to the fact that the seller can make up any charge they want for it and game the system, but taxes??? come on! Id rather pay a slightly higher fee on the sale+shipping if I have to. that way theres no surprises

Actually they can't make up their insane shipping fees.  That's why it's more of a slap in the face.  Years ago around the time they started the FVF nonsense they locked what you could put in for shipping into specific boxes of sorts.  You could make up your own charge, but you'd have to qualify it because when setting up the listing you'd have to give a general weight in lb/oz and possibly also the size of the package too.  The system would then qualify what you could reasonably put into the box, like if I ran a 3oz GB game in a bubble bag with the 9x8x2 size more or less I couldn't pop more than $5 in the box, OR and it defaults there first, ebay pre-calculates the shipping based on weight and sizes.

 

They stopped the ability to cheat a $50 shipping charge for a $50 item with a 99 cent price over 10 years ago.  So no, them screwing you on the FVF for shipping is 100% them skimming more off the top to pocket more money they're not entitled to.

 

@OLD CS1 Yeah I get that, problem is what you said, it's ridiculous.  Someone offloading a few old items of theirs, if it's old PC parts, some old toys, a used chair, whatever doesn't realistically make you a business.  They just decided to catch everyone in that so they can rake in that self employment tax and the rest pretending you're one to do it which is sad.  That's why I stopped, ebay fvf(and fvf on state tax and shipping costs) and then the self employment etc IRS rounded out 1099 based taxes made the slice down near keeping 50-60% of the completed auction paid value was just too much to bear for me and I've seen a lot of grumbling online, quite a few others who are now using cash only in person (marketplaces, flea market, garage sales, etc.)  Can't blame people for it as it's ridiculous using digital payment with online second hand sites now because they're (un)entitled now to nearly 1/2 the value of whatever thing you chose to sell vs throw in the trash.

 

Having had to switch from doing this 9 months ago (I stopped last end of November) selling on ebay it's been a good thing.  SO much wasted time dealing with posting text, taking images, pre-packing stuff, buying packing supplies, trips to the post office many times a week, dealing with the occasional try-hard to grift a few bucks(I'd force a return, then refund when I verified it was really mine as shipped or I'd report it), and the rest was just too much wasted hours on better things.  I've made a few messeger friends in town already with similar interests going local which is a plus.

[Rik1138]

I didn't read all of this in detail so sorry if this was mentioned... but remember one thing- that $600 limit before it's reported on your taxes has nothing to do with eBay specifically.  It's on ANY digital payment you receive for anything, anywhere.

You sell $600 worth of stuff here, and get paid by PayPal, you will be taxed on it, along with the 15% self-employment tax.  (Payments for goods/services only, not friends and family/gifts).

If you sell $600 worth of stuff on Facebook marketplace, OfferUp, or an add in your local paper, a garage sale at your house, if you accept a digital payment (PayPal, Venmo, Square, whatever), it will get reported as income if your total for the year exceeds $600 for that payment service.

 

Accepting cash, checks, money orders and PayPal as 'friends and family' is the only way to not have it be automatically reported... (Not sure if Square, Venmo, etc have a 'friends and family' type of option...)

 

So just selling here, or even selling at a swap meet (taking PayPal or Square on your phone) and you will run into the same problem...

(At least if it's an in-person sale, you should both be comfortable with a friends/family payment...)

[taxman]

On 9/8/2022 at 3:11 AM, Rik1138 said:

I didn't read all of this in detail so sorry if this was mentioned... but remember one thing- that $600 limit before it's reported on your taxes has nothing to do with eBay specifically.  It's on ANY digital payment you receive for anything, anywhere.

You sell $600 worth of stuff here, and get paid by PayPal, you will be taxed on it, along with the 15% self-employment tax.  (Payments for goods/services only, not friends and family/gifts).

If you sell $600 worth of stuff on Facebook marketplace, OfferUp, or an add in your local paper, a garage sale at your house, if you accept a digital payment (PayPal, Venmo, Square, whatever), it will get reported as income if your total for the year exceeds $600 for that payment service.

 

Accepting cash, checks, money orders and PayPal as 'friends and family' is the only way to not have it be automatically reported... (Not sure if Square, Venmo, etc have a 'friends and family' type of option...)

 

So just selling here, or even selling at a swap meet (taking PayPal or Square on your phone) and you will run into the same problem...

(At least if it's an in-person sale, you should both be comfortable with a friends/family payment...)

You're right, they are targeting all the payment processors to go after the Gig workers. Venmo does have options to select Goods and Services or just regular payments. Same thing with Zelle payments I believe.

 

One thing to clarify though is that not everyone will be treated as a "business" and subject to 15.3% Self-employment tax on top of the other stuff. Some people if they exceed $600, but did not operate as a "business" may be able to fill out Schedule D Capital Gains in which there is no Self-employment tax. Also if asset was held for at least a year, then would be subject to long term capital gains rate which could be be 0%, 15%, or 20%, depending on your filing status and income.

 

If you are able to go this route, you would not be able to deduct business expenses such as home office, mileage, internet, etc. Here is a link on capital gains taxes determination.

 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2022-capital-gains-tax-rate-194341395.html

 

The part to determine whether or not you are a "business" is what can be somewhat of a gray area sometimes, but I would imagine many on this forum are not a business since there is no real profit motive.

 

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/business-activities

 

[adamchevy]

If I was going to give advice of how to compete with other ebay sellers, these are the things I would do.

 

Obviously, you can compete just on price alone.  I would offer same day shipping, and I would write that in the description.  I would write in the description of how well you intend to package the item, and of how well you have done with this in the past according to your feedback.  That last bit may not be true yet, but you can make it that way.  Other than those two things, maybe the cleanliness and sanitization of the item as long as it doesn't cause your item any undo damage.  Also, good timing helps alot.  Study your market and dont list items at midnight.  

[adamchevy]

On 9/8/2022 at 1:11 AM, Rik1138 said:

I didn't read all of this in detail so sorry if this was mentioned... but remember one thing- that $600 limit before it's reported on your taxes has nothing to do with eBay specifically.  It's on ANY digital payment you receive for anything, anywhere.

You sell $600 worth of stuff here, and get paid by PayPal, you will be taxed on it, along with the 15% self-employment tax.  (Payments for goods/services only, not friends and family/gifts).

If you sell $600 worth of stuff on Facebook marketplace, OfferUp, or an add in your local paper, a garage sale at your house, if you accept a digital payment (PayPal, Venmo, Square, whatever), it will get reported as income if your total for the year exceeds $600 for that payment service.

 

Accepting cash, checks, money orders and PayPal as 'friends and family' is the only way to not have it be automatically reported... (Not sure if Square, Venmo, etc have a 'friends and family' type of option...)

 

So just selling here, or even selling at a swap meet (taking PayPal or Square on your phone) and you will run into the same problem...

(At least if it's an in-person sale, you should both be comfortable with a friends/family payment...)

 Thats some great info!  I sell bulldogs and have used Venmo and paypal most of the time when accepting money from buyers.  I'm going to go all cash from now on.

[Blazing Lazers]

I no longer sell on eBay for many of the same reasons mentioned above, but getting back to the original question I did a few things to help my listings: always have clear pictures, good descriptions, free shipping (even if it makes the price somewhat higher), have USPS Priority Mail so that the listing said "Fast and Free", a good amount of keyword spam, and always tried to quickly respond to any questions. It also helped that a lot of what I sold was often the only example of that particular book or rare game or was somewhat decently priced compared to outrageous BINs. 

 

And just as a heads-up for anyone reading this, the 1099 situation for this fiscal year will be a nightmare this coming Spring. My State had a lowered reporting threshold that already took effect and the resulting 1099s from eBay and a few other sites not only created quite a hassle for my accountant but also negated my tax refund and me owing money for the first time ever earlier this year.