Marketplace sellers & custom goods
Books and taxes for eBay resellers.
An eBay payout already short its final value fee, a lot bought at an estate sale, promoted listing spend, and a return that ships back weeks later. Your own bookkeeper keeps it straight, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
March came in at $4,600. The estate lot you bought in February finally sold through this month, so I matched what it cost against what it brought in.
- eBay Managed Payments payoutItem sales
- Estate sale lot purchaseInventory purchases
- eBay final value feesMarketplace fees
- eBay promoted listingsAdvertising
- Return shipping refundReturns and refunds
Why your books are different
eBay reselling books go wrong in a few specific spots.
A generalist sees a payout and a bill. Your business is one-off sourcing runs that stock hundreds of unique items, a final value fee taken from every sale, and a promoted listing spend that only pays off on some of them. When the books do not know that, you cannot tell which sourcing habits actually make money.
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1
A sourcing lot covers dozens of future sales
An estate sale haul or a bulk lot bought at auction lands as one purchase, but the items inside sell one at a time over the following weeks or months. Booked all at once, that month looks like a loss and the sell-through months look artificially strong.
What we doKeeps sourcing purchases visible against what has actually sold from them, so a big buying trip does not read as a bad month. -
2
Final value fees and promoted listings blend into one deposit
eBay's payout already has its final value fee and any promoted listing spend taken out. Booked as the deposit amount, both your real sale price and your real selling costs disappear.
What we doBooks the full sale price as income and eBay's fees as their own cost, so pricing and true margin both stay visible. -
3
Returns land weeks after the sale and the fee refund
A buyer return means the sale, the final value fee credit, and the refund payout can all land in different months, making it hard to tell if a month was actually strong or just looked that way.
What we doMatches every return back to the original sale, so it reads as what it is instead of a random loss. -
4
Per-item cost basis gets lost in one-off buys
When every item comes from a different lot, garage sale, or auction, it is easy to lose track of what each individual piece actually cost, which makes it hard to know your real margin item by item.
What we doKeeps sourcing costs tied to the lot they came from, so margin stays visible even when every item is unique.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for an eBay reseller.
Set up once for how you source and sell. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Item salesRegular eBay listings sold through Managed Payments.
- Best offer salesItems sold below list price through eBay's offer system.
- Bulk lot salesSelling a group of items together to another reseller.
- In-person salesFlea market or estate sale table sales rung up outside eBay.
Money out
- Inventory purchasesEstate sales, auctions, thrift runs, and liquidation lots bought for resale.
- Marketplace feeseBay final value fees and payment processing.
- AdvertisingeBay promoted listings spend.
- Shipping and packagingBoxes, bubble wrap, and postage for outbound sales.
- Returns and refundsBuyer returns and the fee credits that come with them.
- Sourcing travelMileage and travel to estate sales, auctions, and thrift stores.
- StorageA storage unit or extra space to hold sourced inventory.
What we watch for you
- Sell-through rate
How much of what you source actually sells, so cash does not sit too long tied up in stock.
- Margin per lot
What a sourcing lot actually returned once every item sold, so you know which sourcing habits are worth repeating.
- eBay fee percentage
How much eBay keeps in fees on average, so pricing can account for it.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things eBay resellers ask Gus.
Text him like you would text anybody. He answers in plain English, and when a question is above his pay grade, an accountant looks and gets back to you.
I keep that lot cost tracked against what has sold from it so far, so it does not just read as one bad month back in January.
Final value fees and any promoted listing spend came out first. I keep those tracked separately so you can see the real number behind each sale.
I match returns back to the original sale, fee credit and all, so you can see whether it came out even or actually cost you something.
The tax side
The tax side of an eBay reselling business.
Most of what goes wrong here is tracking cost basis on one-off items and timing sourcing buys against sales. Get those right and the rest is straightforward.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Inventory and cost of goods soldWhat was actually paid for items sold during the year, tracked lot by lot where individual receipts are not practical, is what counts against sales. Unsold sourced inventory at year end changes what the return shows as profit.
- Form 1099-K from eBayeBay issues a 1099-K once you cross $20,000 and 200 transactions. All income is taxable whether or not the form arrives, including items sold as a side hustle.
- Hobby versus business resellingReselling done with the intent to profit, with real records and consistent effort, is treated as a business. That affects what expenses can be deducted against the income.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when the books are right all year.
Deductions eBay resellers miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Sourcing lot and auction purchases
- eBay final value fees
- eBay promoted listings spend
- Shipping supplies and postage
- Storage unit rent
- Mileage for sourcing runs
- Cleaning and repair supplies for resale items
- Scale and measuring tools
- Photography equipment and lighting
- Business insurance
- Home office space
- Listing and inventory software
General information about 2026 federal rules, not advice for your business. Your accountant looks at your actual numbers before anything gets filed.
All year, not just April
An eBay reselling year, kept every month.
Sourcing happens whenever a good lot turns up. Your taxes come on a schedule. Your team keeps you ahead of both. Every month in between, your bookkeeper closes the books and speaks up the moment something looks off.
- January
Plan the year
Last year's return gets started, unsold inventory is counted, and you get a monthly set-aside so April is already handled.
- April
Filed. Done.
Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January.
- July
Halfway check
Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether summer garage sale season changed your sourcing costs.
- October
Before the holiday rush
Buyer demand and prices often rise before the holidays. Before it hits, Gus looks at what sourcing to lean into and what to hold off buying.
What you get
What you pay depends on what your business needs, and it does not move after that, busy season or slow. No hourly bills, no surprise invoices, no setup fee.
Book a call- Monthly bookkeeping
Every transaction sorted into categories set up for eBay resellers. You never categorize a thing.
- An accountant checks every transaction
Real review, every month, before your books close. Not a spot check.
- Your business tax return, filed
Prepared, reviewed, and signed by that same accountant every year.
- The monthly number
What you made, what you spent, what to set aside for taxes.
- Your own bookkeeper
A real person assigned to your business, in the app whenever you need them. No hold music.
- On your books all year
Every month, not just in April. Your team speaks up whenever something is worth your attention.
- Cancel any time
No contract. No cancellation call. Your books are yours.
Straight answers
Questions eBay resellers ask first.
I buy lots where I don't know the exact cost of each individual item. How does that get tracked?
Gus keeps the lot's total cost tied to what sells from it, using a reasonable split across items rather than needing a per-item receipt for something bought as a group.
Do I owe sales tax on my eBay sales?
eBay collects and remits sales tax on most of its own marketplace sales as a facilitator. If you sell outside eBay too, that part may still be your job to register and collect.
Is my eBay side hustle actually a business for tax purposes?
It usually is once you are sourcing with the intent to profit and keeping real records, even if it started as a hobby. The accountant can walk through where you stand.
I got a 1099-K from eBay but I don't think I made that much profit. What happens now?
The 1099-K shows gross sales, not profit. Gus tracks your actual costs against those sales, so the return reflects what you really earned, not the raw total on the form.
How does Gus handle a big storage unit lot I'm still selling through months later?
It stays visible against what has sold from it so far, so the purchase does not read as a bad month on its own while the rest of it is still sitting in inventory.
My books are a mess because I never tracked what I paid for anything. Can that get fixed?
Yes. Send whatever records or receipts you have, even rough ones. Gus works with what is available and the accountant makes reasonable estimates where nothing else exists.
Is a real accountant checking my books?
Yes. You get your own bookkeeper, Gus does the first pass on every transaction, and an accountant checks every one before your month closes. That same accountant prepares, signs, and files your business return. Goatkeeper is not a CPA firm, and we never pretend a person looked when they did not.
What does it cost, and can I cancel?
It starts at $197 a month, depending on what your business needs. No setup fee, no hourly bills, no contract. Cancel any time from the app, and your books go with you.
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What makes a bookkeeper worth paying for Every business we keep books for
Book a call
Pick a time. That's the whole signup.
Fifteen minutes with a real person on our team. They look at where your books are, tell you straight what it takes to get caught up, and get you set up on the spot if it fits.
- $197 a month to start
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever