I think it is the seller protection portion of it that makes it worth while.
Back in the day there was a big international scam where people would buy off eBay (especially trading cards) and would claim they never arrived or were sent the wrong thing.
This leaked over to comics as well.
I bought a box set of Rick and Morty and sold the ash can that came inside of it. It was the left 3 staple copy and the box set was purchased from Target.
When it got to Canada it suddenly became the two staple copy and the buyer claimed I sold a bootleg item. The copy they sent back to me was a photocopied two staple knock off.
eBay sided with the buyer and I was out money plus the international shipping costs to and from.
I guess I would feel differently had I been scammed in the past and would taint how I feel. Truth is bad apples can happen anywhere. When I send out a copy of Ultimate Spider-Man 1, the buyer can always easily claim they didnât get it even with delivery confirmation or was sent a damaged item. Itâs always a risk when you send anything out.
Iâm just looking at the low percentages of sales that actually turn out to be scams (international or domestic) and that number is so low that itâs something that I will never really worry about.
Maybe it was more prevalent in the past so it was something to consider, nowadays it just isnât an issue for me.
I can second what SpicyWasabi is saying, I rarely buy a comic from US if it is using the Global Shipping program. It is cheaper to get comics from the UK than from the US which I find pretty crazy. There are scammers domestically as well but I think maybe it feels like you have more recourse in your home country. Also, it is not like Canada is a giant market, so I understand when sellers will trade slightly less sales for more assurance they wonât be scammed.
VAT shows up in the data reported. You can see itâs 25% of something for NorwayâŠIâm not sure what total 25% is taxed to.
But that seems to make the data. What it doesnât do is account for other unknown costs by the seller. Although Iâm questioning whether EBay actually âcollectsâ these costs, or if theyâre just âpaidâ. If they do, itâs not showing up on the reports as such. See below (and follow me down the rabbit hole a little further).
I know this is a bit confusing, but these are two summaries that can be exported from ebay seller hubâŠIâm also showing a few more sales to identify some trends. The top is an âOrders Reportâ. The bottom is a âListing Sales Reportâ. I added the âSeller Hubâ and âDeltaâ columns in purple to highlight the discrepanciesâŠ(these are not columns in the reported data).
In the Orders Report, itsâ odd that nothing is IDâd as âglobal shipping programâ, but they all were international shipping. I donât ship other than through the global program. So I find that strange. It does show what EBAY collected for tax for Item 1 ($18.01), and you can see VAT was applicable. Total price was $90.05. The other three items it was not, and ebay apparently did not collect any VAT.
Now go to the Listing Sales Report, and youâll see under total sales the item is now $98.77. And Taxes and âGovernment Fees paid to Ebay by the buyerâ is $26.33. This is not consistent with the table aboveâŠso it must be government fees amounted to ~$8âŠone report provides it, the other does not.
I guess I can only assume EBAY is not collecting those additional fees from the buyer, otherwise they should show up in one or both of these reports. Why these other fees paid by the buyer are added to the total order elsewhere in seller hub (without definition) is unknown, but hopefully they donât get included in the 1099K total. Otherwise Ebay has to disclose that to us in these reports (Iâd consider it fraud if they did not).
Hopefully this helps others be informed of Ebayâs shortcomings on this topic. Iâll be keeping tabs on it and probably bring it up again when the 1099s come out. Otherwise thereâs not much else that can be done.
Is the $5k not $600 grace year still happening for 2024? That means eBay wonât send one if sales are under $5k for this yearsâ sales. The $600 starts for 2025 sales.
Unless congress changes course, the national limit drops to $2500 for tax year 2025. Basically itâs a phased approach for the next few years until it his $600.
I know, I know I know - pay your taxes regardless
But for the old ladies in the group selling their used couch, old clothes, and other stuff on Ebay, I just Grokâed this as I thought I heard it this morning:
Yes, the âOne Big Beautiful Bill Actâ passed by the House includes a provision to revert the Form 1099-K reporting threshold for third-party payment processors like eBay back to $20,000 and 200 transactions per year, effective for the 2025 tax year and beyond. This reverses the changes made by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which had lowered the threshold to $600 with no minimum transaction requirement.
Not entirely sure itâs true; but if it is, the little old ladies are back in business boys!!
Yup, you donât want to find yourself in an audit and then have to explain âfundsâ that you never reported on⊠and now youâll owe interest on a great payment plan with the IRS tax man⊠And if you donât want to file whatâs not reported, donât publicly talk about it. Theyâll find out and you canât claim âignoranceâ and only make it worse for yourself.
The only rule one should talk about taxes publicly is, âI report all my incomeâ⊠and leave it at that!
My father in law passed away in December. We started a new eBay account for my mother in law to sell some of his stuff. Cell phones. Cameras. Stuff like that. Not extreme value but things that have some worth. She is 80 and everything is essentially being sold as a loss. Online yard sale essentially. She has surpassed $600. And with no original receipts it is all taxable.
And this is a real world example why that $600 was B.S.
If I may be serious on this finally, $20K is a bit much. It can and will invite those that choose not report.
But the alternative of $600 for reasons like this, is just batshit nuts too.
A compromise somewhere in between would have made a whole lot more sense.
I actually agree too but the problem is, what turned into the miscellaneous selling of items you are likely selling at a loss (like garage sales, yes the IRS doesnât care about your 1 or 2 garage sales each year, they know most of the time you are selling off stuff at a loss from itâs original price tag), has turned into a full fledged business for a lot of folks who now sell on sites like eBay, etc. So itâs impossible to tell whoâs selling to run a business and whoâs just dumping old crap. This is why I think it should be a case by case basis and likely based on how often you sell on eBay or other sites. If you got hundreds of items listed on average each month, month to month, youâre a business. If you sell a hundred or so items once during the year and then you donât touch eBay thereafter, you should be given a pass on the sales, even without receipts.
Iâll wait for the eBay announcement before I claim victory for Grammy and Gramps. eBay was all over this (for obvious reasons) so Iâd expect them to have an announcement to let people know to not let their forced 1099-k get in the way of people listing items. Since it happened over the holoday weekend probably wonât be until later next week.
I think Iâll also move this discussion to the 1099-k thread as well to keep the history together. So donât be alarmed when it all disappears here.
