Apparel, resale & collectibles
Books and taxes for liquidation and bin stores.
Pallets of customer returns bought sight unseen, a bin that drops in price every day of the week, and a manifest that never quite matches what actually showed up. Gus sorts all of it, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.
- From $197 a month
- An accountant on every transaction
- Cancel whenever
February came in at $11,000. Two pallets came in well under their manifest value, so I flagged the shortfall for the accountant instead of just eating the loss quietly.
- Bin and register salesRetail sales
- Bulk lot resale to another dealerWholesale resale
- Liquidation.com pallet invoicePallet inventory
- Freight, inbound palletsFreight and shipping
- Dumpster and disposal serviceWaste and disposal
Why your books are different
Liquidation and bin store books go wrong in the same few places.
A generalist sees a store full of cheap goods. Your business buys pallets sight unseen at one blended price, prices a bin lower every day it does not sell, and disposes of a real share of what arrives as unsellable. When the books do not know that, a bad pallet looks like a normal slow month and the true cost of what gets thrown away disappears.
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1
A pallet buy wrecks the monthly number
A $3,000 pallet of customer returns bought sight unseen lands as one invoice, even though the items inside sell over days or weeks as they move through the bin cycle.
What we doKeeps pallet purchases visible as inventory against what has actually sold from them, so a big buy does not read as a bad month. -
2
The daily price-drop cycle blurs what is actually selling
The same item might sell on day one at full bin price or day five at a dollar, and without tracking which day it sold, the store cannot tell if the price schedule is too slow or too fast.
What we doKeeps sales visible against the bin cycle where the store tracks it, so pricing days can actually be judged. -
3
Unsellable and damaged goods disappear without a number
A real share of every pallet is broken, missing parts, or simply trash, and without tracking it, the true cost of a pallet buy looks lower than it actually was.
What we doFlags disposal and shrink costs as they show up, so the real cost of a pallet includes what had to be thrown away. -
4
A manifest mismatch gets absorbed without anyone noticing
A pallet's manifest promises a certain value or item count, but what actually arrives is often less, and without tracking the gap, the store keeps buying the same lots at the same price without knowing the real return.
What we doFlags a manifest shortfall the first time it shows up, so buying decisions are based on what pallets actually deliver.
Your categories
The categories Gus keeps for a liquidation and bin store.
Set up once for how pallets come in and how bins price out. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.
Money in
- Retail salesBin and register sales across all price tiers.
- Wholesale resaleBulk lot resale to other dealers or flea market vendors.
- Online marketplace salesHigher-value finds listed on eBay or a similar marketplace.
- By-the-box bulk salesEnd-of-cycle leftovers sold off by the box or truckload.
Money out
- Pallet inventoryPallets bought from B-Stock, Liquidation.com, or Direct Liquidation.
- Freight and shippingInbound freight for pallet deliveries.
- Waste and disposalDumpster service for damaged or unsellable goods.
- Rent and utilitiesThe storefront and any sorting warehouse space.
- PayrollSorting and register staff, kept apart from owner draw.
- SuppliesBins, shelving, and pricing signage.
- Forklift and pallet jack costsEquipment and maintenance for moving pallets.
What we watch for you
- Sell-through by pallet
How much of a pallet actually sold before it was cleared out, so buying decisions can be judged.
- Manifest recovery rate
What a pallet actually delivered against what it promised, so weak suppliers show up.
- Disposal share
How much of each pallet had to be thrown away, the real cost hiding inside a cheap buy.
- The set-aside
What you will owe, tracked every month, so tax season is a number you already knew.
Ask Gus
Things liquidation store owners 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.
No, I am keeping it as inventory against what actually sells from it, so it will not read as a loss just because you paid for it all at once.
Yes, I flagged that shortfall so you and the accountant can see it clearly instead of it just quietly eating into your margin.
If you pay him $2,000 or more this year and he is not on payroll, he gets a 1099 by January 31. I am keeping that total as we go.
The tax side
The tax side of a liquidation and bin store.
Most of what goes wrong here is a pallet buy or a disposal cost landing without context.
What your return has to get right
Your accountant signs it, so it gets done right the first time.
- Inventory and cost of goodsWhat was paid for pallets actually sold during the year, allocated across the items inside them, is what counts against sales. Unsold pallet inventory at year end changes what the return shows as profit.
- Contractor 1099sAnyone not on payroll paid $2,000 or more in 2026 for sorting or hauling help gets a 1099-NEC by January 31. Gus keeps that list all year.
- The pass-through deductionMost owner-operators can take up to 20 percent of business profit off their taxable income. It comes out right when pallet costs and sales are counted in the right month.
- Self-employment taxAn owner running the store solo, as a sole proprietor or single-member LLC, pays 15.3 percent self-employment tax on top of income tax, on earnings up to the $184,500 wage base for Social Security.
Deductions liquidation and bin stores miss
Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.
- Forklift and pallet jack maintenance
- Dumpster and disposal fees
- Bins and shelving
- Freight on inbound pallets
- Storefront and warehouse rent
- Pricing signage and tags
- Card processing fees
- Business liability insurance
- Cleaning supplies for sorting
- Security cameras and monitoring
- Phone and internet for the store
- Business licenses and permits
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
A liquidation store year, kept every month.
Pallet supply and holiday returns both shift through the year. 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, the 1099 list for sorting and hauling help is ready, 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 recent pallet buys are returning what they should.
- October
Before the holiday returns wave
Post-holiday returns flood the pallet market soon. Gus looks at buying decisions before December and what the season will owe.
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 liquidation and bin stores. 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 liquidation store owners ask first.
How does Gus handle a pallet I bought that has not fully sold yet?
He keeps it as inventory against what actually sells from it, so a big pallet buy does not read as a loss just because it landed all at once.
A pallet's manifest did not match what actually arrived. Does that get tracked?
Yes. Gus flags the shortfall the first time it shows up, so you can see which suppliers deliver on their manifest and which do not.
How much of a pallet's cost is really the stuff I have to throw away?
Gus tracks disposal and shrink costs as they happen, so the real cost of a pallet includes what could not be sold, not just what you paid for it.
My bin prices drop every day of the week. Can Gus track that pricing cycle?
He works from your bank statement totals, so the day-by-day pricing cycle itself lives in your point of sale. Gus keeps the money side accurate either way.
My records are a stack of pallet invoices and register tapes. Can Gus work with that?
Yes. Hand over what you have, pallet invoices and register tapes included. Gus builds the picture from your bank statements, the accountant reviews it, and most owners get clarity within a week.
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.
More in apparel, resale & collectibles
We keep books for the business next door too.
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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