Q: I made extra money selling things on eBay last year. These were items I picked up at yardsales mostly. My husband says I am responsible for paying income tax on the money I made, but I disagree. This is just my hobby, not a business. What do you think?

Gladys A.

A: With so many people selling on eBay these days this is a question I get all the time. To many eBay sellers the thought of running an actual business is about as appealing as getting negative feedback, so they go out of their way to convince themselves that selling on eBay is really “just a hobby” and therefore, should not be susceptible to income tax laws.

While you might think selling on eBay is just a hobby and the extra money you’re making is not reportable as income, depending on the circumstances, the IRS just might disagree with you.

The IRS rules are clear: you must pay taxes on all personal and business income and that includes money you make selling on eBay.

In its most basic sense, the IRS rules mean that if you buy a vase at a garage sale for $10 and sell it on eBay (or elsewhere) for $20 you made a $10 profit and therefore must report it as income and pay Uncle Sam his fair share. Read the rest of this entry »

As most of you know I have spent tons of money on so-called dropship/wholesale lists, that give you information about companies that are either out of business or don’t have contact information.

How are you supposed to build a profitable business with that kind of crap? You can’t!

However for the last year I have been using the dropship source directory to locate many of the items I sell on ebay and I must say that the Dropship Source Directory is worth every penny you pay to get it and more.

The Dropship Source Directory is The most comprehensive online tool on the Internet for finding Name Brand and Specialty items to sell online with NO INVESTMENT.

They personally contact every company in their database to make sure they are legitimate and reliable dropship companies. Currently there are over 3900 companies listed with more being added on a weekly basis. Read the rest of this entry »

Q: eBay just pulled on of my auctions and gave me a warning about listing prohibited items. Prohibited items? I didn’t even know there were things that couldn’t be sold on eBay. I don’t want this to happen again so is there anyway you can tell me what items are prohibited on eBay?

Thanks,

Steven

A: Yes, unfortunatly there are quite a few things you are not allowed to sell on eBay. Here is an example of some of the types of

Items prohibited on eBay: Read the rest of this entry »

Q: Tanner,
I just recieved a Negative Feedback from a lady I sold a camera to last week. She recieved the camera and imediatly went and posted a negative feeback for me stating that the product was not as described in the ad. She never even contacted me first to tell me there was a problem or that she wanted a refund.

I dont think that my camera was misrepresented in the ad and I have a refund policy that was posted on the same ad. I would have been happy to return here money if there really was a problem, but she never even gave me a chance.

What do I do in this situation? Is there any way I can get that negative feedback removed?

Need advice,

James

A: Don’t you hate when that happens!!!!!

Is the person a “newbie”? This quite often happens when someone is new and nervous. You know the type that sends four emails between 11:30pm and 11:45pm on a Saturday night and doesn’t know why you didn’t respond.

Your first step is to count to ten and do a few deep cleansing breaths to remove any traces of revenge chemicals that are flowing through your veins.

Next, contact the person. Try to find out what happend and what went wrong.

If you solve the mystery and the person and you come to an agreement then good. If the person is a newbie, then try to explain that it is bad eBay manners to give a negative without warning.

It is very difficult to get eBay to remove a negative feedback. Click on the following link to read their policy for doing so. Read the rest of this entry »