Selling Stuff on EBAY

[Prester_John]

This month will mark the 3rd anniversary of the end of my marriage. It was a really tough time, with repercussions that still have yet to be seen. To mark this dark sad period, I plan on...






SELLING MY WEDDING RING AND MAKING MONEY SOME MONEY BACK!

us:WOO HOO! ower: YAY! YEEE-HAAWWWWW!

What the hell - it means nothing to me (and the maudlin-ness at the top is VERY tongue-in-cheek ). I paid $1,500 for it back in 1994. If I can get a grand out of it, I'm happy.

To that end, I'd like to sell it on EBAY, which gives me the potential to make more of a profit off of it. However, I have never sold anything on EBAY before.

Does anyone here know of the potential problems of selling such an item on EBAY? If I actually get a grand out of it, what are the taxes involved? I wouldn't mind NOT paying any tax on it, but I wont go above and beyond trying to get out of whatever applicable laws there are covering this. What sort of things apply? Being that its EBAY - and public - there has to be some sort of record that the IRS can access at some point (and also they can wonder how I got an extra grand in my bank account on the off chance I get audited).

I'm such a novice in such matters. BLAH!

Come on - someone help a long haired white boy out here.

Thanks all.

PJ

[Lexi]

@ the introduction and smileys. LOL

Good luck! Im gonna check the auctions out.

[Devastating Divyne]

I know that NYCJacqueline sells one ebay so you may want to ask her. I believe though that by state law like mail order and online you only have to pay sales tax if you are selling it to someone in your state. You still may want to document it on your income tax though,but who knows. Perhaps buzz over to the Dollar Den.

But hey u're not the only one in this position. There was a guy on ebay selling a size 12 wedding dress from his divorce. He modeled it himself, and I think the thing was worth like $500-1000 or something and the dress sold for in excess of $3000. His description was so funny and he talked such crap about his ex-wife people felt bad for him or enjoyed his sense of humor so much that he is in the process or starting his own website. He's gotten marriage proposals and funnier offers. I'll try to find it and add the link, but his auction sounded just like ur intro above and people ate it up.

[Bridgette]

Since it was a personal item you bought, isn't it excluded from tax? I wouldn't worry about it. People buy and sell stuff like this ALL the time.

If you sell it on ebay, I'd advise you to take advantage of your creative writing skills to draw more attention and up the bids - remember the dude selling the wedding dress?

To sell on ebay now you have to have a seller's account, which involves verifying your ID via credit card/bank account/credit report. It's somewhat complicated but nothing very difficult. You should have no problems. When you sign up and click a 'sell your item' link for the first time, the site sends you to the verification pages.

Since this is a high value item, I'd recommend requiring escrow for the payment. Ebay uses escrow.com - I used that when I sold my car through ebay and it was smooth. Buyer sends payment to escrow.com, they verify the funds and notify you it's available, you ship the item, buyer receives and has a set amount of days to inspect, buyer accepts the item at escrow.com, payment is sent to you either in the form of a check or bank deposit. You can have the buyer pay the escrow fees. This protects everybody from getting screwed. I would NOT recommend you take any other form of payment, unless buyer is willing to send you a direct wire transfer, in which case buyer takes all the risk. Don't use paypal for this.

HTH and good luck with the sale!

[scarlett_vancouver]

He modeled it himself, and I think the thing was worth like $500-1000 or something and the dress sold for in excess of $3000.

whaaaa? Jeez, I need a shtick like that, lol!

Re: taxes- up here, anyways- sporadic eBay sales fall under a 'garage sale' law, where under a certain amount (don't know how much) you don't have to claim or pay taxes. I'd assume that $1000 would be cutting it close though- it might be worth looking up what the similar law (if there is one) in your state is, and pricing it as a 'buy it now' just under that amount.

If you do end up having to pay tax on it, your deductions will even it out- I mean, you'd suddenly be able to deduct home office expenses, wouldn't you??


modified to add:

agree with B, DON't use paypal

[raelene]

I'm also interested in selling on Ebay. Do you mean don't use PayPal ever? or just not for high priced items?

[scarlett_vancouver]

Personally, I'd say don't use it ever, but I've had bad experiences with it. Basically, paypal's great until the day that something goes wrong, and more often than not something WILL go wrong. You always have to remember- they are NOT a bank, they are a private, profit making business. They WILL NOT protect you if something goes wrong. Check their BBB rating (California)- it's insane.

But for low-priced and infrequent sales, it's probably fine.

[Bridgette]

Don't use paypal for high priced items. For small sales it's fine. I use it all the time but I wouldn't dare use it for anything over a couple hundred$ or so.

[raelene]

Good to know. I'm up in Canada so I already will have customs issues,don't need addtional aggro

[Lexi]

Off topic...

Raelene, that dog is hysterical! What kind is it? Its adorable. It loks like a minipin....but im not sure. I have one myself. hehe

[raelene]

He's a Xoloitcuitntle aka a mexican hairless dog I posted his pic under furbabies. He also has his own website http://yodatheskindog.tripod.com/

[whirlerz]

Wonder if he sold it...

[Bunny]

I've never paid taxes on anything I sold on ebay. But I don't have a store or anything. I just sell stuff I already had and want to get rid of. therefore I already paid taxes on the money that I used to buy it.

-------------
and oh shit, I just realized after I replied this post is from 2004. oh well, I'll leave my response anyway.

[raelene]

It's funny this popped up now.I finally got my act together and just listed some things on E-bay this past week. Sold 2 things, big item has 7 bids so should sell (have reserve price)Totally forgot about the Paypal thing.Funny thing is the 2 items I sold got won by Canadians so I don't have to deal with customs yet.When I get around to listing a costume I will post a link.

[Head Boy]

PayPal reversed a $200 payment on me to "protect the seller" - interesting that they took my money to protect me. I've spent 5 months trying to discuss this with them, and I can't get a sensible answer out of them, they want me to phone a rev share number to discuss it.

Fortunately I knew they are scammers, so I'd already moved the money straight into my account with my domain registrar.

I've been using Money Bookers as an alternative, and it's working well for me as I'm in the UK. I gather if you're in the States, it's best to withdraw cash by cheque, or to use it to pay off your Visa though.

[krys]

Just looking at Money Bookers now Head Boy ..... I have been using paypal for transactions but sounds like I need to switch!

[Head Boy]

It's a shame about paypal because their 3 currency option is a great advantage, although they do charge "retail" rates of exchange. I thought they were going to start to behave when they moved their non-US business to the UK, but it looks as if that was just a way to avoid some of the damages they were ordered to pay when they lost their misuse of clients funds case.

The best way to use PayPal is to have a regular supplier that you trust, and transfer the money into a prepayment account with them. I used to do this within 5 minutes of receiving my cash, and that's how I beat PayPal to it. I also switched cards on them, so that they can't claim it from my bank. It's a lot of work though just to safeguard yourself from a scamming pseudo-bank.