Starting a ebay business

[jayvechi]

Hi guys,

I know i could ask a accountant this question but thought id ask here as its free

Say if i was to start a ebay business would i need to print out each and every sale from paypal or ebay?

Thanks inadvance

 

[KRange]

Both systems keep records for you. If you wanted to be highly organised then print them out for your own file or just store them on both sites

 

[JessicaAutumn]

Paypal is very organized and easy to use.

 

[BizzyB]

You need to remember if you are effectively trading as a business then 'everything' needs to be accounted for in your trading so it is good practice to ensure you have all paperwork, printed and filed.

 

[Sky Racer]

The monthly EBay invoice is quite well detailed. You can print a copy plus they are stored online for you too. They show listing charges and final value fees.

 

[digmlm]

You need to keep in mind if you are successfully dealing as a company then 'everything' needs to be included in your dealing so it is sound exercise to make sure you have all documents, produced and registered.

 

[johnnysheffield]

In short yes you would and if you start to make some serious money you'll need them for the VAT return too! Just one bit of advice with PayPal and using the inbuilt reporting, output regularly to PDF (at least monthly) as the online app loves to crash once you have more than 50 entries to output, found this to be the case whether it's on mac or pc, home or works broadband.

 

[a4labels]

Its up to you to keep records. How you do it is pretty much your own business.

Previous answers about Paypal being easy to use are correct, but what when people start to pay by other methods?

 

[Jayser100]

Make a separate invoice for each sale on your bookkeeping software (you do have that, don't you?). Print two copies of each invoice as you make them - send one to the customer, and file the other.

If you do this then you won't need to print out copies of the eBay stuff, or separate packing slips (the invoice will suffice).

In your bookkeeping system you will need to set up the Paypal account as a bank account, then you can record all of the commission payments they take. Set eBay up in the same way to handle their commission payments.

Once you have done that you will have all you need in the bookkeeping, which is a far neater and more efficient way of keeping your back-office in order.

If your business does well and you start finding you sell hundreds of items a month, reconcile the bookkeeping often to keep on top of it.

 

[silvermusic]

Do some of you have shares in Paper companies. Why all the printing? I've been selling on eBay since 2003 and never once printed out an invoice for a sale. http://pages.ebay.co.uk/file_exchange/ is you're friend, you can download all your sales data, be aware though that it only goes back 3 months so you need to download it on a regular basis.

You then have all your ebay sales data, PayPal can be downloaded in a similar fashion to a CSV. Unless you need all the ebay charges invoice detail just print out the top page of each months ebay Invoice which has the total charged on it.

 

[Jayser100]

We print it all out because, if you have an HMRC inspection, they expect to see a complete paper trail.

Ask any professional bookkeeper or accountant and they will tell you this is essential practice.

 

[Jayser100]

Silvermusic, if you ever get the dreaded HMRC inspection you'll find out why.

Any professional bookkeeper or accountant will tell you that you must keep a full paper trail of EVERYTHING, both on the sales and purchasing sides.

 

[silvermusic]

Silvermusic, if you ever get the dreaded HMRC inspection you'll find out why.

Any professional bookkeeper or accountant will tell you that you must keep a full paper trail of EVERYTHING, both on the sales and purchasing sides.

Perhaps I ought to inform my Accountant that they've been advising myself any many other eBay/internet based businesses wrongly for many years then.

 

[Hire Centre]

If ur doing an eBay business. I remember there's some software u can get which will tell u what's the best selling items and the average prices they go for and how cheap u can buy them to. People basically use this to work out what to buy and sell on eBay... Very clever but unforuneately I can't remember it's name,
Pete

 

[Jayser100]

Yup, I guess you should.

 

[jayvechi]

So paypal and ebay have a easy to print out statement for each month?

I need to create these docs for when i do tax returns in future

 

[Nichesuite]

if you are planning to stat ebay business go for Nichesuite ebay integration. Nichesuite ebay integration offers you the functionality. it will supports for all the channels like f-commerce, m-commerce etc. consolidates all user reviews, make more user-friendly solutions, increases the profits.

Try Nichesuite.

 

[14Steve14]

Years ago when i started selling on ebay, my accountant told me it would be cheaper if i had a paper copy of every transaction that they could see rather than have to trace sales trough a monthy csv list.

 

[amac]

Years ago when i started selling on ebay, my accountant told me it would be cheaper if i had a paper copy of every transaction that they could see rather than have to trace sales trough a monthy csv list.

Not sure how it could be cheaper? Printing would be more expensive though I agree it's still a must. (when we'll go completely paperless is still unclear, I guess the original paypal mission of becoming a currency of sorts hasn't quite transpired)