if buyer does't pay does that sale come off our selling balance don't wont to pay tax on non sales

[symo10]

if buyer doesn't pay I open up a unpaid case and get the fees back but does that sale get taken out of our sales balance as don't want to pay tax on non sales

[symo10]

thank you for your comment

[lyndal1838]

So you are posting on someone else's account?

No need to get upset at the responses you have received....the responders here can only answer questions on the information you supply.

The remark that you are new to this is at odds with the information we can see on the ID you are posting with.

Have you asked your friend to explain ebay to you a little more before you get too involved?  You would also benefit from reading the Site Map...it may help you avoid asking questions on the boards that will get similar responses to those on this thread....questions that would not be expected from an experienced selling ID.

Alternatively you could start a new ID for posting on the boards....then we could not see how much you should know.

[symo10]

Hi

Yes thank you I will go back to my friend was just keen to get involved and learn

[lyndal1838]

By all means come to the boards for help if you don't understand something but they are not meant to be a substitute for reading the Site Map and the ebay help section.

The boards are manned by volunteer members who have learned by trial and error and by reading everything on the site.  The boards can be a great education too...just reading about other people's experiences can often give you the answer to something you have wondered about.

It is a bit unfair to ask members to give up their time to teach you everything you need to know about selling on ebay which can be found for yourself.

[samjess54]

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@symo10 wrote:

wow so that's what happens when you ask a question, I didn' say the shop was new I said I was, I have just joined my friend and was wanting to understand abit more,  I thought that was what a discussion board was for,  didn't know that a couple of you would start judging good on yous you must of not needed any help when you started!!

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I'm sorry, I wasn't meaning to offend - I was agreeing with you that you ARE a new seller by pointing out that the 2000+ feedback was recent even if the account wasn't .

I get lots of help and tips from the boards and am grateful to all of you who ask those questions as well as those who respond to them.

[lane-ends]

It i s important to keep a track of cancelled transactions etc, as ATO will get Ebays 'total' so if they audit you and your total and ebays total dont tally, then you can show where the balance of sales went.

Bootom line it is money in  vs money out equals earnings. It is up to you to tally totals, Ebay info is just sales made, whether concluded or not.  Be clear whether postage included or not, especially if you have a mix of free post items

[staypeachy]

i know judgemental lot arent they can be so arrogant and rude  i dont post for advice anymore as last time i did  they shot me down.

[clarry100]

We use the "Paid and Posted" report for income (sales) purposes.

This report only includes items that you have been paid for and that you have posted out.

So if a buyer never pays then that transaction will not show on this report.

Keep in mind that all payments, including remuneration for postage, is considered an income.

This is regardless of if/not your items are listed as FREE postage, it's all income.

These PandP figures we keep in a spreadsheet as our income (total sales).

The only expense (from within ebay) are fees so we record these as well from the monthly ebay invoice we pay.

Other external expenses such as postage, stock costs etc are recorded too.

At the end of the tax year this is all totalled up by our tax accountant and we end up with a taxable income (before tax profit).

Ebay do report sales over a certain threshold to the ATO (last year it was $10K).

But our tax accountant informs us that they do not take this figure as gospel, its only a threshold for tax reporting purposes.

If you are on the list of ebay reports then they will look for a tax return from you. No tax return you will get a please explain letter from the ATO. Its your own records you have to be able to justify if audited, not ebay's report to them.

[everard6920]

I keep my own spreadsheets, and I just check the figures against my Paypal payments for each month (because I only accept Paypal. Flame away, but that's how I like it).

[chameleon54 · Accepted solution]

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@davewil1964 wrote:

Surely you keep your own profit/loss records?

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OP the short answer is that ebays figures do not reduce when a sale is cancelled. ie. item will show as still sold.

I use the ebay 30 day and 120 day figures as the basis for tax my reporting. I figure these are the figures ebay are going to be forwarding to the ATO. I just make a note of any transactions that are cancelled each month and note these on my report to be reconciled by my  accountant. I figure this is going to give me very accurate figures and takes very little time. I use an average % over the full years sales for paypal fees.

I use a seperate credit card for my ebay postage which keeps perfect records of postage costs, and only buy stock a few times a year by the pallet load or trailer load., so keeping track of stock purchases is simple. Stock is stored in a shipping container and once levels start to drop, I find a couple more pallet loads.  Very simple and very effective.

I record ebay total monthly sales, ebay monthly fees, any stock purchases and adjustments in a small note book. A seperate page for each store, each month. It takes maybe ten minutes per month and maybe an hour or two to reconcile at the end of the year.

I add a small amount to postage for self insurance and whenever a problem arrises I just refund. No arguing, just give them their money back and move on. It doesnt happen often and it is very rare that I think I,m being scammed. You can waste a lot of time and energy arguing with buyers and all of my accounts have 100% positive feedback, powerseller status and very few defects which further helps sales.  

This system is much quicker than keeping seperate cash book records for every transaction and I have not had any problems with the ATO or the accountant since using this system.

I can understand why some choose to use a cash book system, but really I,m not concerned with chasing every last dollar. I work on turning over the most stock I can in a limited period of time with minimum inputs and maximum profit mark ups. I rely on bulk turnover to make enough money that I can afford a bit of wastage along the way. Chasing every last dollar takes A LOT of time and personally I dont find it cost effective. 

This is the only way I can make houly wages from ebay which are comparable to those of full time, average wage employment. If I start getting bogged down with small details and systems that are not efficient use of time, my average sales and profit per hour drop considerably and I only end up making a few dollars per hour. KISS - KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID.