I don’t think inventory tax laws are dependent on the business type (i.e. individual, individual with a fictitious name filed with the state, LLC, etc.).
Without researching I would suspect whether items are for sale or not may factor in whether they are personal or business inventory.
Is the irs going to come flip through my collection and make sure it’s for sell are they going to grade each comic as well to make sure I’m not lying about condition or maybe they should just stay out of my comics.
All my comics are for sale. It’s a matter of when and where.
Nope, they’re just gonna tell you to prove you paid what you said you paid for each and every book while then auditing every single penny that hit your bank accounts (all of them).
I had a co-worker once who got audited, his hair over the course of like 3-4 months went from brown to almost silver I think during that time due to all the stress.
All I know is you do not want to get audited. Do not put yourself into a higher risk to be audited.
As long as eBay does not send your information on sales to the irs, what you do on ebay is very low risk of being audited.
Once they send that to the irs, better be ready to claim it as income (personal or business) and defend every single deduction with indisputable evidence.
Gonna start filling a drawer with printed receipts in case the IRS comes calling…
I haven’t read all of these posts yet. I am a finance / tax guy and still consult and do taxes as a side gig.
@Bill claiming cover as cost will bring less heat since when you sell for way more they’re getting their $$. That’s just a generic example.
However, I would discuss more specifics via DM and ONLY upon approval from the site. With that, anything more than simple examples I would have it engage in a business / consulting relationship in order to protect both parties. Would I discount my rates / jobs to CHU members, yes. But only to protect both sides and only with approval from CHU it applicable.
If it’s all PM/DM, by all means… you all can do whatever ya’ll want as long as it’s nothing illegal. 
I don’t have time to be illegal haha
If someone buys Star Wars lego sets for $100, they pay taxes at the store. If they sell them for $500, Govt can’t double dip on taxes again. Or can they?
Yes… One is sales tax where another is income tax.
Collectibles are max 28% capital gains tax if held over year, but if you are flipping books short-term and in a higher income bracket, that is going to put a hurt on your profits even more. It does kind of make sense they’d go after possible collectable sales given higher tax rate.
I see this as doing further damage to ebay. People will use facebook marketplace, instagram, etc.
As someone self-employed, they already removed a few deductions this past year. They really are going after gig workers. So many gig workers were already seriously hurt by the pandemic, i just don’t get it, considering all the other options they have.
Its been so long since i looked at the laws(why i have an accountant); However, if something isn’t your primary source of income there are a lot of things you can’t write off as expense associated with it.
What’s the fun in that?! Lol.
I am going to start an LLC. How do I get my current collection in to the LLC? Can you just contribute? Or is there some complicated accounting stuff? I have been thinking about an LLC for years (to have online store, Diamond account, TCG account) and this seems like a good time to do so. For example, I would want to contribute my comic collection to sell and re-invest proceeds within the LLC. Thanks!
Ps: for those with LLCs. How do you access the administration? Is it really difficult? Or is there some software to buy and manage? I don’t mind spending a little $ to be sophisticated. Ideally, I would be able to scale this business to make it worthwhile. 
I know. Was making a joke. I guess not a very good one at that.
Looks like you can just treat each comic as you would a stock purchase/sale. Gains=profit-costs
When I had the small shop in the antique mall. I started off with an inventory of $2,000. I would say that you would put the cost of what you spent on your collection as the initial cost of inventory.
What I am planning is to start a ledger of each item I list. First the cost of item and then the sale price. Then each month I will add the expense from eBay. At the end of the year I will add up all the other expenses of paper, boxes, tape and other stuff involved. Then added everything up. I am going to do my taxes this weekend. I have been doing them for over 30 years. I will look at the new tax laws and take a look at the Sch C form.
I was thinking of getting a new computer this year, I might write that off too as an expense. Everyone should start keeping track of what you spend and keep records of transactions.
How does one calculate storage costs? Sq ft of area of home used for storage divided by total sq ft x home costs?
There was someone on this forum talking about starting an LLC, getting a Diamond account, etc. there was a very useful post but I can’t find it. All the steps that were taken.
