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I agree, that’d be great. Technically, you could put those dollars in the Custom SKU field. Then at the end of the year you could download your listings from file exchange and total those dollars up.
Personally I like to keep all that stuff in my sheet.
@Inglewood, gotcha, but how do you know what fraction of your “items for resale” cost is COGS at the end of the year?
E.g., only half the money I’ve spent on inventory in 2018 will actually be COGS as of today. The rest is COGUS and therefore not a deduction.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by
simplicio.
Ah, I see, so you do have an itemized COGS sheet. Cool! Seems like COGS vs COGUS is a stumbling block.
Yep, so far things are running fine.
…Which, as a strike tactic, I don’t quite grasp the point of.
Jay – I happened to recall today as I was doing a preview of my taxes, that you had said you don’t keep a record of expenses item by item. And listening to an old episode, it sounded like you guys mostly work by categorizing bank transactions.
If that’s the case, how do you know what’s COGS versus Cost of Goods Unsold (COGUS) for tax purposes?
I’ve never officially counted but I think my buyers are 50/50 US versus Canadian, with like every 20th sale international. Expedited is fine for both IMO, usually shipping costs are a small fraction of the sale so it’s easier just to keep it simple.
However, I would say it’s crazy to use Canada Post for truly international sales. I recall one item I sold to Russia, Canada Post was $400 (which the customer paid), I sent it with DYK Post via their carrier… APC I think? for like $75. Split the difference with my customer. 😉
Nick, that locker cleanout is awesome. It’s perfect. Optionality. Most of those gigs, you’re obligated to take all or nothing. Nice going!
Just parachuted in to say, I find it kind of amazing that we have such different approaches to CAN-US shipping. Probably just down to the kind of stuff we sell!
I basically just eat Canada Post’s high rates.
Cool! I thought it added up to several hundred dollars, was all.
J&R – surprised you didn’t mention all the vintage markers it looked like you guys sold last week. Did the buyer not pay?
Great week for sales!
Sales: CAD$2297, 10 items, COGS: $193 –> Item profit: $1797
Expenditures: $284 –> After-tax cashflow: $1240
Listed: $2820, 8 listings
Hours: 8, $155/hr
Notable sales: sold a snowblower we got from a family friend for free, for $350. Found I like to shovel better. Lightbulbs for $210, rubber abrasives for $260, VOIP phones for $210, lots and lots of electrical receptacle covers for $566 (I had almost given up on these after a year listed with no bites – paid $50).
Scavenge of the week: paid $170 for 19 pressure switches – each should be worth about $250.Selling in Canada. Shipping is pretty simple, really. There’s not a lot of choices – I ship anything under 30 kg=66 lbs to Canada or USA with Expedited Parcel/Expedited Parcel USA. That’s about 95% of shipments.
Yes shipping is expensive, this is part of what prompts me to go for high dollar items. Shipping a knicknack domestically is usually about CAD$14, which eats into your profits if a buyer is only willing to be $30 or $40 all in.
There are services that ship to the states by carrying stuff across the border. DYK Post and Chit Chats. I don’t use them for shipping to the states but I DO use them for international – DYK Post usually costs about 1/3 of Canada Post for international.
I just sell on ebay.ca. Don’t know why you need to do .com as well, it’s just extra hassle and you still reach US customers through .ca anyway, as long as you ship to the states.
Like I say – no big deal, BUT I wouldn’t want to try to sell cheap stuff from Canada because shipping would eat me alive.
10/27/2018 at 9:05 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 382: Treasure Hunting with a Fishnet #50806Damn, those Clint Eastwood posters are cool. Hope you guys do well on those.
10/25/2018 at 2:50 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 382: Treasure Hunting with a Fishnet #50762I agree. There are many things that are necessary to make money on ebay (listing, shipping, pricing etc.), but what you buy is the only amp knob that doesn’t max out at 10. Scavenging good stuff for cheap is key. And it’s not usually repeatable or automatable or anything like that. It’s just you and your wits, every week, over and over again.
10/23/2018 at 7:57 pm in reply to: Scavenger Life Episode 382: Treasure Hunting with a Fishnet #50630In the long run, I gotta believe it boils down to how many expected dollars I list per week. (Conservatively estimated, not the dollars I hope I might get.) If I list stuff that’s honestly worth $500 every week, eventually my sales will get to an average of $500 per week. (Or else the stuff I listed wasn’t really worth $500.)
A big inventory is like making your listing stream go into a reservoir rather than drinking it right away. You’re still limited by the inflow, there’s just a lag to the payout.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by
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