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I can speak to what I did in my state of NJ. I registered my business in the state, and then registered with the Division of Revenue for resell/tax exempt status. It also gives me the authority to collect taxes. I registered as an LLC, but you could register as a sole proprietor. I registered online, and it was very easy.
Since I buy the majority of my items at auctions within NJ, either live or online, it was in my best interest to not have to pay taxes on my purchases. Then, I have eBay set up to collect NJ taxes only. From what I researched, I only have to collect taxes in the state where I have a “presence”, which, of course, is my NJ house. When I collect tax, I have to collect on the total, which includes shipping.
I don’t know whether you can collect tax without being registered. You would have to look at up. If you buy the majority of your items at garage & rummage sales, then perhaps you don’t need the resale certificate. It’s not a big deal to get one. Paying taxes has been easy as well. I use GoDaddy to find all the NJ tax I collected, and then I look up the prices for those items. I ran into one glitch where NJ had a small decrease in the sales tax at the beginning of the year, and I collected a slightly higher amount of tax for a few months. I know that there will be another one at the begging of next year, so I will be prepared this time.
I’ve thought about buying one of those kits. Is there a reason why the kit comes with CFL bulbs? I would think that LEDs would be better.
07/27/2017 at 10:44 am in reply to: What Sold On eBay: Dictaphone, Weather gauge, Coleman cooler, Cobalt blue bowl, Transparency film, Leather Duffle bag #20913Steve – looks like a good week of sales! I had thought that maybe your difficulty listing the draw bars with the GSP had to do with the word “organ”, but I see you didn’t have that in your listing. So, seems weird.
My interesting sales from the past week:
These golf shoes were used once. They were purchased by a relative visiting my parents, but he recently passed away (didn’t put that in the listing). I was contacted by the buyer requesting local pickup. Sold on sale for a bit under $30.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182411480001This vintage carving of Don Quixote always had a number of watchers, but didn’t sell quickly. I listed in the fall. Paid about $2, sold for full price of $29.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182357772086Two more Pantone books sold. The first for best offer of $45, and the second for full price of $35. Paid about $5 each.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182628865147
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182628951052This wasn’t a big sale, but the story is kind of funny. My sister gave me this large size Elvis T-shirt she bought when she was in Nashville years ago. I asked her why she didn’t want it any more, and she said that it didn’t fit her. I asked her if she realized it was a youth size! Anyway, sold for $15 including shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182459797838What camera did you go with?
I have a Panasonic Lumix. It is good quality, but it is several years old. Maybe 5 or more?
07/25/2017 at 9:12 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 320: Spinning Plates, Keeping It All Going #20804DoublyThumbs, I was so dismayed when I saw this post last night. Your more recent posts sound much more upbeat, so I’m sure you will be up and running soon.
My previous house was built on top of marshland, and we had a sump pump that seemed to run all the time. When we bought our second house, one of our requirements was that it had to be situated on top of a hill. Like Brian from Hoboken, I also live in NJ and had to deal with “Superstorm” Sandy (and Hurricane Irene before that). We had no issues except for having to deal with no electricity for 5 days.
I recently purchased a self-install alarm system from SimpliSafe to replace our old ADT system. I purchased a water detector alarm. I’m not too concerned with a flood, but I am concerned about the water heater. Except for a stash that I keep in the office, all of my boxes are in the furnace room. If the water spread beyond that, I would also be dealing with a loss of inventory.
Now, if I can just get off my butt and get the system installed.
Yes, in the beginning of my eBay store, I wasn’t aware of the controls. Every once in a while, when I decide to edit one of my older listings, I will fix those dark photos. I take most of my photos in one of the brighter areas of my home, but my setup isn’t good enough where the photos don’t need a touchup.
I think that the magic wand was added somewhat recently, within the past year maybe. I know that the triangle, which is sharpens up detail, was added even more recently.
During my research today, I came upon a listing where the seller had used a flash for the photos. So, yeh, I think many people aren’t aware of the post-processing that eBay has there for you.
07/24/2017 at 2:54 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 320: Spinning Plates, Keeping It All Going #20681Week of July 16-22
* Total Items in Store: 953
* Items Sold: 16
* Cost of Items Sold: $19.80 + $6.50 Commission
* Total Sales: $347.33
* Highest Price Sold: $75 Vampire Tarot Card & Book Set
* Average Price Sold: $21.71
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $155
* Number of items listed this week: 33The tarot card set that sold this past week was my second to last. The last one sold on Sunday, so I will speak to it next week. Sorry to see this little cash cow go, but I will find new ones!
I finished listing the many, many books that I had to buy in order to get the tarot card sets. I then set up a discount for multiple purchases that I hope will help with getting these out the door quicker. However, I forgot how limited eBay is in offering a discount with invoicing. I had a very nice lady from Alaska buy four books, but I had to adjust the process a couple of times until I came up with something that worked within the confines of eBay software ability (basically a refund through PayPal). I very much appreciated her patience.
I don’t think that many people will bother reading down to where I have the discount explained, so I will also be gathering 10 +/- books in a lot and selling them at a greater discount. I will keep the lots in general subject areas and pick out the books where I have multiple copies. Hopefully, I will start moving them out faster. In the meantime, I have people buying just one book at a time. It will take years to get rid of them that way!
My husband says it’s not Russian. You might try Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Belorussian, etc. with Google Translate.
It looks like Russian to me. My husband speaks Russian, so I can ask him when he gets home from work.
07/20/2017 at 9:47 pm in reply to: What Sells On eBay: Hats, Briefcase, Glass mugs, Fender amp, Jansport, Hood emblem #20571My highest sale of the week was my 2nd to last Vampire Tarot card set. This one sold for $75. I raised the price of the last one to $99 or best offer.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182612727671I bought a box lot of flatware at auction for some silverplate items, but, of course, the first thing to sell was more mundane. This is a set of various stainless steel flatware & serving pieces in the same vintage pattern. Bought for $4.50, sold for $40.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182659778494I bought a lot of pantone books and color fans at an online auction. This is the first to sell, a color fan from 1963. Paid about $6.50 and sold for full price of $60.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182628171737Along with those tarot card sets, I bought boxes upon boxes of books, overstock/remainder books, that are selling very slowly. I’m valuing each book at about 20 cents. I will be finding ways to sell them more quickly, but this workbook for artists sold for $16, which includes shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182612604278This set of 10 silverplate spreaders came from an auction lot of various small kitchen items. Paid $2, sold for $29.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182598704212First off, you can tell her that she needs to combine the hats into one package in order to stay within the shipping costs. That is the easiest solution. If she still gives you trouble and continues to ask for more money, then it is certainly a scam. (Even if it isn’t a scam, it seems like she is using her situation to obtain more money).
What they are asking is outside of eBay policy. The seller is supposed to use the provided tool to accurately calculate shipping costs. You can then chose between a few options:
You can cancel the purchase. eBay will certainly back you up.
If you still want them, you can say that her request for more money is against eBay policy and she needs to ship them to you anyway.
Lastly, if you feel bad about her situation (and believe it), then you can just pay up.
I’ll be interested in what path you chose.
07/17/2017 at 12:37 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 319: Being Adults, Making Decisions #20431Week of July 9-15
* Total Items in Store: 936
* Items Sold: 16
* Cost of Items Sold: $34.60 + $0 Commission
* Total Sales: $372.98
* Highest Price Sold: $75 Vampire Tarot Card & Book Set
* Average Price Sold: $23.31
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $97
* Number of items listed this week: 109In this summer’s tradition of alternating good/bad weeks, this was a good one!
It may look like I was really cooking on the listing, but, in reality, I was listing the book cache that I purchased last month. Basically, I had bought 13 boxes of books in order to get the Tarot card sets such as the one that is my high sale this week. Most of the other books are not that interesting, but I needed to get them listed. I used eBay’s stock photos & information, so they were super easy to list. I still have two boxes left. When I’m done, I’ll add in a quantity discount, which might not work all that well, and I’ll gather lots of 10 or so books and sell them at a much lower price/book. I think that the latter method will work much better. Either way, the purchase was worth the tarot card sets that have already provided a decent profit.
Steve – I’m surprised eBay sent a VERO on the IG-LO refrigerant. The company appears to be out of business.
Last week was very slow, but I did have a few good sales:
I bought many Judaica items in the first quarter or so of this year. For some reason, they started selling about 4-5 weeks ago. This is a nice enamel on copper mounted on a wood plate. Paid $1 in an online auction lot, sold for $30 best offer.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182549540930This is a vintage bunny candy mold that I bought in an auction box lot. I paid so little for the box that I assigned a 25c price on it. Sold for $34.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/182613690549Earlier this year, I bought an online auction lot that included many vintage Free Mason books. I sold a few right away, but the rest are taking longer. This one is a 1973 lodge manual for NJ. I paid about 75c. The $18 price includes the less than $3 shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/18248431002807/11/2017 at 8:29 am in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 318: Spending Money Should Be Painful #20236Week of July 2-8
* Total Items in Store: 843
* Items Sold: 8
* Cost of Items Sold: $4.65 + $0 Commission
* Total Sales: $145.25
* Highest Price Sold: $34 Vintage Eppelsheimer Candy Mold
* Average Price Sold: $18.15
* Returns: 0
* Money Spent on New Inventory This Week: $0
* Number of items listed this week: 17Not a good week for sales. I’m somewhat back in the groove with listing now that our vacation is behind us. This current week seems better.
I’ve always been careful with my money, but I enjoyed going shopping. Now that I no longer work for a regular wage, I don’t have that desire to shop for myself like I used to, but I can get my shopping rush for the business. We did do some outlet shopping during our recent vacation. I was able to get some off-season winter boots and coats at greatly discounted prices, so I felt good about it. But, normally, I don’t like to spend money anymore.
07/10/2017 at 10:57 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 318: Spending Money Should Be Painful #20219About the emails, I am getting them again in my inbox. It took a few days of marking them “not spam” in order to get things into running order.
I had a thought. I really know nothing about this, but I’ll just throw it out there. I read some information on a website once about creating websites and newsletters. The guy stressed the importance of having a one-step unsubscribe link. When someone wants to unsubscribe but can’t find a quick link, they will label it as spam. If enough people do that, the spam filters will decide that this email address is spitting out spam.
Perhaps a few people were too lazy to log onto the forum and unsubscribe, so they clicked the spam link. Again, don’t take my word for it, but perhaps you should add a one-step unsubscribe link to the bottom. Maybe your webmaster will know.
Of course, now there will be people who will accidentally press the unsubscribe link and then will wonder why they aren’t getting the emails. You can’t win.
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