Marketplace sellers & custom goods

Books and taxes for retail and online arbitrage sellers.

A clearance haul from a closeout run, a prep center invoice, mileage from store to store, and an Amazon payout that lands weeks after the item sold. Your own bookkeeper keeps it straight, an accountant checks every transaction, and you get one number a month.

Book a call What we handle
  • From $197 a month
  • An accountant on every transaction
  • Cancel whenever
JanuaryExample month
$4,600
what you made

January came in at $4,600. Post-holiday clearance runs meant a bigger sourcing spend than usual, so I kept it against what actually sold instead of counting it all against this month alone.

  • Amazon Seller disbursementMarketplace sales
  • Target clearance haulSourcing purchases
  • Prep center invoicePrep and labeling
  • Mileage, sourcing runsSourcing travel
  • Amazon referral feesMarketplace fees
Money in$13,800
Money out$9,200
Set aside for taxes$1,000
An example month. Yours will have your numbers.

Why your books are different

Retail and online arbitrage books go wrong in a few specific spots.

A generalist sees a store receipt and a marketplace payout. Your business is sourcing runs that stock dozens of unrelated items at once, a prep center that gets stock ready for FBA, and a payout that lands long after the item was actually bought. When the books do not know that, you cannot tell which sourcing trips were actually worth it.

  1. 1

    A sourcing haul covers weeks of unrelated sales

    A single clearance shopping trip can fill a car with dozens of different items that each sell on their own schedule over the following weeks. Booked as one expense the day of the trip, that week looks like a loss while the sell-through weeks look artificially strong.

    What we doKeeps sourcing buys visible against what has actually sold from them, so a big shopping trip does not read as a bad month.
  2. 2

    Prep and labeling fees get lost in shipping cost

    A prep center charges to poly-bag, label, and box items for FBA, but if that fee is not tracked apart from freight, it is easy to lose sight of what prep is actually adding to your per-item cost.

    What we doKeeps prep center fees in their own line, so the real landed cost of each item stays visible.
  3. 3

    A payout lands long after the purchase that funded it

    An item bought on clearance in January might not sell and pay out until March, making it hard to tell from the bank alone whether a given month was actually profitable.

    What we doTies sourcing purchases to what they eventually sell for, so profitability reads by the item, not just by the calendar month.
  4. 4

    Mileage from store to store adds up unnoticed

    Sourcing runs to multiple stores in a day rack up real mileage, but without tracking it, that cost quietly disappears instead of counting toward what the business actually spends to find inventory.

    What we doKeeps sourcing mileage as its own line, so the real cost of finding inventory is part of the picture.

Your categories

The categories Gus keeps for a retail and online arbitrage seller.

Set up once for how you source and sell. You never pick a category. He does, and an accountant checks it.

Money in

  • Marketplace salesAmazon, eBay, or other marketplace payouts, net of their fees.
  • Bulk lot salesSelling a group of items together to another reseller.
  • Wholesale sourcing resaleItems bought at a wholesale discount and resold at a markup.
  • Local pickup salesCash or app payment sales arranged directly with a local buyer.

Money out

  • Sourcing purchasesClearance, liquidation, and wholesale buys made for resale.
  • Prep and labelingPrep center or in-house work getting items FBA ready.
  • Marketplace feesReferral fees, FBA fulfillment fees, and final value fees.
  • Sourcing travelMileage and travel between stores and sourcing locations.
  • StorageA storage unit or extra space to hold sourced inventory before it ships.
  • Software subscriptionsScanning apps and sourcing tools used to check profit margins in the aisle.

What we watch for you

  • Return on sourcing spend

    What a sourcing trip actually returned once everything from it sold, so you know which stores and categories are worth repeating.

  • Sell-through rate

    How quickly a sourcing trip's haul actually clears out, so a slow-moving category gets caught before a storage unit fills up with it.

  • Cost per unit landed

    Purchase price, prep, and fees added up per item, so pricing keeps up with rising costs.

  • The set-aside

    What you will owe, tracked every month, so April is a number you already knew.

Ask Gus

Things arbitrage sellers 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 spent $800 on a clearance run in January but most of it hasn't sold yet. Does that make January look bad?

I keep that purchase tracked against what actually sells from it, so January does not read as a loss just because the sell-through takes time.

How much is my prep center actually adding to my cost per item?

I keep prep fees in their own line apart from shipping, so you can see exactly what they add to your landed cost.

I drive to five or six stores some days. Does that mileage actually matter for the books?

Yes, it is a real cost of finding inventory. I keep sourcing mileage tracked so it counts toward the full picture.

The tax side

The tax side of an arbitrage reselling business.

Most of what goes wrong here is tying purchases to what they eventually sell for, since sourcing and selling rarely happen in the same week.

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, including prep and freight, is what counts against sales. Unsold sourced inventory at year end changes what the return shows as profit.
  • Mileage for sourcing runsBusiness mileage between stores and sourcing locations can usually be deducted at the standard rate, 72.5 cents a mile through June 2026 and 76 cents from July.
  • Form 1099-K from marketplacesAmazon, eBay, and similar marketplaces issue a 1099-K once you cross $20,000 and 200 transactions. All income is taxable whether or not the form arrives.
  • 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 retail and online arbitrage sellers miss

Your bookkeeper knows what to look for in your statements. You never have to.

  • Sourcing purchases for resale
  • Prep center fees
  • Mileage for sourcing trips
  • Marketplace referral and fulfillment fees
  • Storage unit rent
  • Scanning and sourcing apps
  • Packaging and shipping supplies
  • Business insurance
  • Home office space
  • Repair and cleaning supplies for used items
  • Phone plan used for scanning in-store
  • Vehicle maintenance for sourcing trips

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 arbitrage reselling year, kept every month.

Clearance cycles hit at different times all 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.

  1. 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, right as post-holiday clearance season peaks.

  2. April

    Filed. Done.

    Your return is filed and signed. No surprise bill, because the set-aside has been running since January.

  3. July

    Halfway check

    Where you stand, what you will owe, and whether your sourcing spend is actually returning what it should.

  4. October

    Before the holiday rush

    Buyer demand and prices often rise before the holidays. Before it hits, Gus looks at which categories to lean into and what to hold off buying.

What you get

Starts at$197a month

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 retail and online arbitrage sellers. 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 arbitrage sellers ask first.

I buy from a lot of different stores with no receipts kept in one place. Can Gus still track it?

Yes. Send whatever receipts and bank or card statements you have, and Gus sorts through what was spent on sourcing versus everything else.

Does mileage from store to store actually count for anything on my taxes?

Yes, business mileage for sourcing runs can usually be deducted at the standard rate. Gus keeps it tracked as its own line so it is part of the picture.

Do I owe sales tax on my arbitrage sales?

Amazon and eBay collect and remit sales tax on most of their own marketplace sales as a facilitator. The accountant checks whether anything beyond that applies to you.

I bought a big clearance haul that is still sitting unsold. Does that count against this month?

It will not read that way. Gus keeps sourcing purchases tracked against what actually sells, so a big buying trip does not make a slow sell-through month look like a loss.

Is my reselling a hobby or a real business for tax purposes?

It usually counts as a business once you are sourcing with the intent to profit and keeping real records, even if it started small. The accountant can talk through where you stand.

My books are a mess because I never separated business and personal purchases. Can that get fixed?

Yes. Send the bank statements you have. Gus sorts out what belongs to the business, and most sellers know where they stand 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.

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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