Sell on eBay or Amazon marketplace? (tax accountants please help)

mbstuff

mbstuff

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I need to sell off a pretty large collection of games. My guess is it's around 500 or so games. :cry: I was comparing ebay, where I have pretty good feedback (100% on close to 100 feedback ratings), with Amazon marketplace. I have some questions for those of you who have sold on both.

1. By my calculations, Amazon fees are much better than eBay fees. I plan on listing them as purchases, not auctions, so I'd rather go with lower fees. Am I correct?

2. When I started to set up a seller account on Amazon, it gave me a notice about 1099 forms and to use the correct company name if I have a registered company. Do I have tax implications on selling on Amazon? For the items I sold on eBay, I never reported any of the sales. My thinking is that though a portion of the games had become collectibles and increased in value since I bought them, the vast majority of the games were sold at prices lower than at the prices I bought them. I didn't report any of the money because I wasn't making any money. Does this logic still hold for sales on Amazon? Or do I have to start figuring out cost and profit on each item sold and fill out tax forms, as an individual trying to clear out a collection.

Thanks for the help. :cool:
 
Sadly, taxes and death are two givens in this life. Over $600 income, you are required by law to report and pay taxes. There are pros and cons in selling in both amazon and ebay. Although you may get a higher selling price and a better deal fee wise on amazon, it may take months or even years to sell your games. On ebay you can sell much quicker, usually 7-21 day auctions. However you may get less then the market value for your games. Overall, I recommend selling on ebay.
 
I don't think you are required to report games that fall under "personal possessions"--i.e. games which you sold for less than what you paid for them and therefore do not realize a profit. If you really want to go nuts, keep track of how many games you took a "loss on" as an investment and deduct that from any profits over original cost that you might earn.

Just keep a record with pen and paper, and if there is any sort of inquiry; it should become apparent that you're a collector and not a business.
 
Here's some other advice too, aside from passing along some of your games to other CAGs under the table at wholesale prices *cough*

For your higher end games (see the RPGs many CAGs have on their want lists) I'd say do amazon with a proseller account. Or if you have some strategy guides to pair with games, try your luck selling them as package deals on craigslist (where the shipping cost won't eat you alive).

The lower end stuff you might want to stick with ebay, make them into bidable box lots. This can range from your Grand Theft Auto 3 (millions of them) to your RPG Maker 1 for Playstation--at first glance a $15 dollar game, but who wants it?
 
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