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[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Hey Jay… That’s not how it is working on my end. Take the Main Category DOING TAXES.. I went there but had to subscribe again [using the fine type face subscribe] and OK, fine. It changed to “unsubscribe”. Then I clicked on the first topic. It was only one topic “Cogs” at the time. But now it said “Subscribe” again, in this mini topic. So I did and engaged in a few posts. Now I see there are two more mini or sub- for lack of a better word. Those are Needful things… and also tax effects of your building, having 3 voices-posts in each. I never got any of those posts even though I had Subscribe to the Main Category “Doing Taxes” and also the COGS sub-topic. Upon viewing each of those two new topics, it now shows the “Subscribe” text in those. This indicates to me I now have to “subscribe” to each of those seprately.

This is happening in several of the other main topics. I would think that if one subscribed to the Main Category that all sub-topics would be inclusive. And if you didn’t want to get a whole bunch or all posts like you told Linda Sheields, that you would just NOT SUBSCRIBE to the MainCategory and just subscribe to the mini-topics under the Main Heading that you were interested in. But mine makes me Subscribe to the Main Category and then also each and evey new sub topic created by new voices under that main category. This makes for a situation by which I have to go to every main category, click on it, then go down the sub-categories one by one. Most it shows I have already subscribed to, but some don’t because they are new mini-topics and show “subscribe”. This creates a situation by which one has to “monitor” all of the sub-topics [new voices] under each Main Category. It will be somewhat time consuming.

I hope this paints a clear picture of the situation. thanks mike in Atl.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Jay.. Question or clarification please. There are 15 Major Sections [at least at this moment I believe]. Within those there are topics that have been created. I have subscribed to all of the MAIN FORUMS [those 15]. Then I subscribed to some of the sub-topics created by individuals within those. Is there a way to just subscribe to the whole forum that will also include all of the sub-topics?
I noticed that after a few days I went back to a few Main Topics and new sub-topics had been created along with some replies and I never got notification of those. I also see that on each of those “New” topics there is the “Subscribe” button. Am I going to have to visit each of the 15 Main topics everyday and then look for the newly created sub-topics and “Subscribe” to them.
In the old “Blog” all I did was subscribe to the RSS Feed for the main topic such as the Monday Post and then all off the replies, regardless of topic came in my MS Outlook Program. I then just deleted those of no interest and flagged the ones of interest and dragged into a SL Sub-folder.
Today I found several newly created sub-topics I was interestd in but had to look at each of the sub-folders, open it and then subscribe. I found about 8 folders that were not sub-scribed too. Is there a master was to just “click” and then get all newly created topics within that main category. Do that one time for all 15 main categories you & Ryanne created and from that point on, all new topics, replies, questions [everything] gets sent to my Outlook program?

BTW… A suggestion for the 16 Main Category.. A section for just Administrative questions on how to navigate, how to do things within the forums, ask you guys just technical stuff about the forums such as this topic, etc. Sort of a Contact Us section only instead of a PM to you guys, a place to “post” it in the forum.
Hey.. you guys still in Atlanta? You going to get to do anything besides your contract work?
Anyway mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Yes, they are clear. Here is the exact wording…”Sales of Appreciated Assets at an Online Auction …

Examples of appreciated assets often include art, antiques and collectibles. If you have online auction sales of property where the sales price is more than your cost or other basis, you usually will have a reportable gain. These gains may be business income or capital gains.

I am a sub-S corporation for years. Have sold for years. A whole lot of stuff we bought and have paper work on it, BUT also have many items that are personal. NOTE the words art, collectibles, antiques. We have some of that. Almost everything in our $12,000 costed inventory is collectible. We advertise that we sell collectibles, most of our listings have the key word word collectible in it. So according to IRS statement above, the sale of a “collectible” especially since we are a corporation and doing this for years is a full fledged business venture for profit, then this is a taxable event.
The $20 coffee pot is a vintage collectible item which someone paid $40 more than it was bought for. Thus guess it appreciated to the point of being worth more. A taxable event. So what would you recommend that I put down as a cost so I won’t have to report the full $60 as a taxable event? I put this exact question to the IRS legal department and got transferred several times and no one knew. Told this to my accountant and the 50/50 rule was born. Claim half of the sales price and report the other half as a taxable income and pay taxes on that.

So, I am completely open for a recommended number to enter into that line item coffee pot, that is collectible, is an asset in my inventory count, [if my storage burned down, I am going to say I lost a $60 item] and I don’t want to pay taxes on the full amount. What do I enter?

By the way my CPA is older, owns his own firm and has two sisters who have had antique booths for decades and he seems fairly familiar with the used, antique and vintage resale market.

Oh and also .. Fully aware of all the deductions that go into lowering the adjuted gross income figures. In certain cases with a good COA and itemized expenses I was able to not pay any taxes on my total sales for a few years. That is aother discussion, Deductions and how to lower your reported income. Yes, home office, sq. foot deductions of all utilties, expenses in procurement, handling expenses. Those are business deductions and not COGS. To be more accurate, COGS is more applicable to the Mfg. sector whereby I calculated the total Cost of Mfg. our goods that we sold. That company was 18 million dollars per year sales. In a home based vintage resell business there is, as you have stated, not really much in the way of REAL Cost of Goods Sold that classifies as a COGS. Most of it is business expenses and deductions which should be detailed in your COA [Chart of Accounts]. My COA has about 50 line items and are numbered according to the standard accounting lines used by most CPA’s.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.
• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Think you missd the point Retro WV. I was talking about personal items you have owned for years, have no receipt for proof of purchase but you did buy it new at some point, you did pay for it, you did pay sales tax on it and now 25 years later you sell it. You did have a cost of that item, what do you put down. That is the question.

The inherited items Listing again was talking about is covered by the IRS rules Ecommerce linked to.

So, if I paid $20 for a coffee maker in 1985 but the receipt and paper work is long gone AND now I or my wife don’t remember what we actually paid for it, and sold it for $60 in 2016 what would you put down for a cost on it? That is where the recommendation of the 50/50 split came from. mc in atl.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Granted on inherited property.. a value was used to settle. But on personal items one has owned for years and years and receipts or written value doesn’t exist , do you think the 50/50 split that my CPA suggested is a proper application? Most people that start on Ebay start by selling personal items [minus those that they inherited] that get pulled from drawers, closets and their garages.
What’s your opinion on that. I called the IRS several times, even spoke with a rep in their legal department and no one at the IRS seemed to be able to provide an answer. Basically they were stumped as to how they would like to see a figure on the cost of an item sold arrived at. Even the whole concept of buying and reselling used items seemed to be out of their arena. That’s why I went with the 50/50 split suggested by those couple of individuals.
Now also we all know that just the cost of item itself is not everything that may go into the real COGS, but that is another matter and discussion for later, and usually is covered in your COA if set up properly.
Your thoughts on the 50/50 concept?… mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Losing it. See above reply. If you put zero down, especially for personal items, then you will be reporting the sale at 100% profit with no offsetting costs. You did pay something for it, you just can’t produce a receipt or written proof of it. If you report that you paid half of the sales cost for it [and you probably paid way less than half], it becomes difficult for the IRS to also prove you didn’t. So stalemate and a win-win at claiming 50% of the cost.

Example $20,000 in sales and no cost of the item for, then IRS wants taxes in the 15% bracket paid of $3,000
>>> If $20,000 sold and you subtract half [a 50-50 split with the IRS], then they want 15% of only $10,000 because you state it cost you $10,000 to buy the items. You then only pay $1,500 in taxes. This way you show you are not trying to avoid paying but at the same time you are not having to pony up and pay taxes on the full amount of your sales and let the IRS get away with not allowing you to claim something for what you sold.
Then if ever audited you duke it out with them, but at 50/50 there is only two ways for them to go, they want more money or less money from you. Most auditors will just let it ride at the 50/50 split because they can’t prove one way or the other any more than you can.
So that’s what two CPA’s finally came to the conclusion of. mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

This has been touched on a couple of times over the past year or so. I will pass along what the final conclusion was.
This final solution was stated by my accountant who is a CPA, an online consultant and an online member here at SL who I think his name was Mark, and he is an accountant and also his dad was an Auditor for the IRS.

Here is the outcome.. If you claim a “zero” cost, then the sales amount shows as all profit and you pay taxes on the total sold amount at 100%. Great for IRS, bad for you. If you claim the cost of the item at the same as the sold price you then you pay the IRS zero amount. Great for you but bad for the IRS and they frown on not getting a share of the pie.
So the conclusion is to claim half of the sold price for your cost of goods sold. That way you pay taxes on only half of the sold amount, good for the IRS and you reduce those taxes by half which is good for you.
Without a receipt for anything you can’t prove that you paid that amount for it, but also an IRS auditor can’t prove you didn’t because he has no way to show the cost of a rare, vintage, desirable, collectible that has increased in value through the years.
So my CPA said that would be the best way to create a win-win situation, show you are not trying to avoid paying any taxes on the items yet you get to claim half of it as a COG. mike @ MDC Galleries in Atlanta

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Yes, absolutely. Your accountant would even prefer it that way. You could even use the formula above and just give him the starting year [Jan. 1st] inventory cost, the total of what you bought the whole year, the total of what you sold for the whole year and your final year end, Dec. 31st, inventory count [which BTW will be your starting inventory for the following year starting Jan. 1. From that your accountant calculates your cost of goods sold using the above formula. The bear is getting your very first, ever inventory cost you spent for everything you currently own if you have not kept or use any kind of system or tracking method.

J&R are going to have an interesting time coming up with that one. LOL. I would love to be a fly on the wall. Ryanne, hey Jay when did we buy this, Jay, I dunna know. Jay, well what did we pay for it, Ryanne, I dunna know, .50 cents maybe? Maybe?? Maybe only works when you throw ice water and hand grenades not accounting. LOL :-).

Now I am detailed so I do keep a small clip board-register form I designed and printed out to use when I don’t get a paid receipt from somebody, but that is part of administrative bookkeeping skill set that most business people need to have. When I am at an auction, estate or yard sale I create a line item mini hand written receipt for myself containing what eCommerce states above. I use those to reconcile my petty cash register monthly. But what you state is also fine. $10 spent in TOTAL divided by # of items = AVG. Cost per item. Accounting wise it’s the $10 that counts, whether it was 3 items or 14 items. $10 bucks is $10 bucks and it is an asset until you offset it by selling something. Mike @ MDC Galleries in Atlanta

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

And if you use the Easy Auction Tracker” spread sheet it does all of that for you automatically. as a spread sheet it actually draws down all of that information and does all the calculations for you. The user only has to put in a few entries in a few key spots. See the demo here:

http://www.easyauctionstracker.com/

The cost is $50 for it on an annual basis. I personally have my own spread sheet that I developed that does a lot of what this does, but my Spread sheet is more of a back up system. I use Quicken for Home and Business which also downloads automatically from BOTH Ebay and PayPal, plus I have my Petty Cash [yard sale account] set up. I get all the reports for year end plus a running Profit and loss statement for any time period. I also combine that with WonderLister which handles all of my listing templates, Drafts in Process and also down loads all of the data from Ebay, item by item.

And by the way, if you enter your purchases into your accounting software and categorize them correctly along with your monthly sales, you do not really need to figure a COGS on every single little item you sell. Annual COGS for your accountant only needs to be as follows: ….
The cost of goods sold formula is calculated by adding purchases for the period to the beginning inventory and subtracting the ending inventory for the period.
Go to this link here and it is explained very simply…

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

Now the trick is one getting your first Inventory Count-Cost. The spread sheet helps you do that. But from that point on, if you track all your purchases and use one of the tools above you should be good to go.

You are running a business and need to use business tools to cover the basics, but you don’t have to bury yourself in minute by minute little details. If you reconcile all your accounts monthly you will know you are staying on track.

But take a look at the Easy Auction Tracker demo, You can even download for free and then click on all the tabs to see what it offers BUT JUST AS GOOD is by looking at all those tabs, you will get a good idea of what you should be tracking and how it is compiled to give you a business over view of your business. I would think though that a hobbyist might not care too much about this type of stuff.
Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Ryanne … Yep I am listening. Late today because of Drs. appt. and errands.

Jay is correct. Atlanta is a big, flat circle and not impeded in growth by any natural bounderies. Atlanta is circled by a 360 degree circle [I-285] Called the Loop built back in the late 60’s. Atlanta used to exist mainly Inside the Loop. Roswell as Jay pointed out was Outside the loop. It was a country town. Now gobbled up along with everything else.
I live Outside the Loop and it takes about 30 minutes to get to the loop then another 20 minutes or so to get dead center. So from here to dead center downtown is approx. 45 min. then to go that distance on the south side to the airport it is about another 30 minutes. So a straight Diameter line from either North to South or East to West furthest points out will be about an hour and 15 or 20 minutes straight none stop at about 55 MPH.
Now throw in a factor if anything and I mean anything happens on any of the main roads, you’re dead in the water. If you live out here and work in the city, you need to be inside the loop before 6:00 in the mornings or you won’t get to work by 8:00 AM.
But all those towns Jay mentioned, Roswell, Tucker, Alpharetta, Lawrenceville, BuckHead, Mid-Town, Sugar Hill, Buford, Sandy Springs, Decatur, and on and on, offer great thrifting, auctions and estate sales. We have all three going on almost 365 days per year round. Never hardly a week without numerous of those any week or month and in any type of weather.

So going inside the Loop for us [Downtown], is like you guys driving to another town around you. Only we have dozens of small towns all within about 30 to 45 minutes [one way].

Ya’ll come on down ‘ya hear to HotLanta. 🙂 Mike in Atlanta.

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Zach … None of your links are attached. can’t see any of them, just your verbal text descriptions with a double line space between each description.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Go to USPS.com, then Postal Store, then shipping supplies. The two tabs Shipping supplies and FREE shipping supplies will show you everything the Post Office has to offer in the way of shipping boxes and envelopes. There are 107 items listed. They also show you the sizes of each, how many come in a pack if ordered and if there is a cost involved. Of course the “FREE” tab shows all items that are at no cost to you.

Then may I suggest a bookmark of that location for future reference. Always good to go to to check out what’s what.

The link is: https://store.usps.com/store/browse/subcategory.jsp?categoryId=free-shipping-supplies&categoryNavIds=shipping-supplies%3Afree-shipping-supplies

Then also make sure to find, use and bookmark one of the SL members great tools .. Fitshipper to find out the best size box, and what it will cost to ship something in the USA and which is the cheapest carrier to use.

Good luck … Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Couple of options. If it is because of delicate items just box each separately then go to a Uhaul or Storage Center and get big boxes. I always keep several around. The ones I get are 36″ across and 48″ high and 24″ deep. They are only $3.75 each. Or if you need real large ones get a “wardrobe” box for about $7.00. But I have never had to go that big.
Then put all of your packages into one box. stuff a little [no need for big stuffing because you have already packed each separately. Then cut the box down [re-size it] to a few inches all around. Label with the one Label and you are good to go.
Next Option is to box each separately, then stretch wrap and tape those multiple boxes all together, then wrap that whole bundle in 8 mil, heavy, black contractors plastic just like a Christmas present and tape it up. Label and send as one box.
The customer wants the combined shipping lower cost, but in some cases, combining packages so large they hit DIM WEIGHT Price tiers, one large box can get costly. Use the online calculators that are available, and email your customer to let him know the big box cost. Then just do as he wishes, he will just have to pay up mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

.. Thanks and Appreciate the details OmFug. We won’t let this report hold us back, because it seems like it is such a “so seldom” type of occurrence, and we all know that we make errors at times, even on Ebay, so those we all just have to live with. Bonanza messes up some stuff for us occasionally also.

We will probably have to also be extra careful because everything we are going to put on Etsy will be a cross listed item that will still be in our Ebay store. And in a few months, our own private domain store. We will have to take extra care to make sure that items get unlisted fast when it sells in a particular venue.

We will start with the items that my wife, Susan has taken the extra care to curate in various props and backgrounds into the photography. Those look really nice and will fit in with the spirit of Etsy. We’ll see how juggling three online e-commerce venues goes. Probably a whole lot more attention to detail than we had to do at those 6 antique booths we had at the Antique Mall.
>> Mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta

[MDC Galleries & Fine Art]

Hi Sharyn.. Fairly easy questions and answers.
First, yes there are tons of “How to Ship Rugs” instructions and Videos. To borrow a phrase from Jay [Trash Elf 3000]. Make sure you always use the obvious research tool we all have and that is to Google your questions first so that you can get the basics down, then from there fine tune the more specific points for digging up Forum responses. But I saw 64,700,000 results from “How to ship a rug” just now on Google.
Next, Make sure you visit the FedEx and-or UPS web site and view there video(s) on how they want you to prepare your packages for shipment through their system. Great info. on there about their drop tests on breakables.

Either roll your rug or fold it, depends on how big and thick your rug is. Folds sometimes create creases. I then use a 5″ wide x100′ spool of thin stretch wrap [You can get a roll for about $3.50 at WalMart.]. I then use a few wraps of that in several spots going down the roll to secure the roll together. [almost like putting cable ties or rubber bands around your roll for a mental picture]. Then wrap it up in the 8 mil plastic like a present and secure with either clear packaging tape or use the new Ebay tape. I use the Ebay tape just for brand recognition.

Next: You can go to Home Depot [or a Lowe’s or Ace Hardware] and get 8 mil or heavier plastic. I use 8 mil black construction grade poly. It costs about $35 for that giant roll. They also have smaller rolls but make sure it is 8 mils thick or more. Less rips through too easily. 8 mil is what construction guys put down on the ground then pour concrete over it. Just like you may have saw in J&R new shed video. It comes 12 ft. wide x 100 ft. long [folded up in a box about 2 ft. wide]. Unfortunately it only comes in clear or black. Never been able to find white, which looks more professional.
>>> You just cut a piece off of this just like Christmas wrapping paper and proceed to wrap your package in it just like a Christmas present. The 8 mil will do as a single layer, but big packages get fairly beat up on conveyors, so a second layer may be in order.
Then weigh yourself while holding the package on your scale. My shipping scale will go up to 600 lbs. but for an 8′, 10′ or 12′ long roll it is ackward, so I do just as you do. Then create your label, most likely FedEx because USPS has it’s “DIM WEIGHT” restrictions and something real long and over the limit will drive the costs way up.
Then attach your label to the plastic roll and make sure you also put some clear tape over the whole label, to extra secure it. Now also put your packing list in one of those stick on “Packing List” envelopes [also get at Walmart] and you are ready to call or take your package to FedEx.

Think that about covers it unless others have better suggestions. Hope this helps somewhat … mike at MDC Galleries in Atlanta

• This reply was modified 9 years, 7 months ago by MDC Galleries & Fine Art.

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