posted on February 18, 2003 08:27:39 PM new
Hi- I was wondering what is the best way to keep track of all your auctions if you're a seller? Do you use Quicken or do you create your own spreadsheets to keep track of all of your costs (PayPal fees, Hosting Fees, eBay Fees, etc.)? I'd appreciate any help. Thanks!
posted on February 18, 2003 09:00:20 PM new
Your email inbox, and Auction Watch's Auction Manager (free) are all that's needed. You can copy and paste any emails from winning bidders from your email program into the "notes" section of Auction Manager. Plus a physical printout of each sale for IRS tax records, with the date mailed noted by hand on each one, and kept in a file.
Once an email is pasted over to Auction Manager, delete it from the mail program unless needed for reference to handle a rare problem, or to keep track of a repeat customer's info. Once fulfillment check list in Auction Manager is completed to the point that I left feedback, I archive that sale. I don't bother with asking for feedback anymore. ( I have 400+)
Anyway, this will all make sense if you look at Auction Manager. It saves so MUCH time and confusion.
Stay on top of keeping it updated every day if you receive payments daily. use Auction Manager daily and all the confusion will end.
Good luck,
Patty
[ edited by meadowlark on Feb 18, 2003 09:01 PM ]
posted on February 18, 2003 09:08:19 PM new
WHAT! You buy something at a Yard sale for $5.00 and end up getting $100.00 on e bay, who cares about any of those fees....Paper Jungle. I read these, the fees are sky rocketing posts. Who cares. I don't. Try putting your stuff in a fancy smancy ANTIQUE or Collectables store, Brick and Mortar,,,50% some of them. Just my two cents. E bay is Cheap to sell on. As long as I am paying e bay at least $500.00 a month then I must be doing something RIGHT....
posted on February 19, 2003 07:02:12 PM new
If you record your purchase price & then get your expenses from P/P, eBay & AW, you acn easi;ly keep track of your P & L.
posted on February 19, 2003 08:50:39 PM new
I still do it the old-fashioned way--by hand. I print out the first two pages of everything I sell, attach my short check list to the front of this, and work my way down, from starting price, shipping, notification to buyer, all the way down to money received, feedback left, buyer notified and thanked. There are about 7 steps altogether. Of course, if I sold a lot of stuff every day, this would be impossible. I sell maybe 20 items a week, three weeks a month.
posted on February 20, 2003 10:04:14 PM new
slshato: Whoa there, big fella!
"PayPal fees, Hosting fees, eBay fees..."
I'm really afraid the perception out there among newer sellers is that they MUST have all these frills to be successful. It just ain't so, Joe.
PayPal fees? None. We use a Personal account. It is free.
Hosting fees? $24.95 a month to my ISP for my domain, email and virtually unlimited disk space for pictures or whatever else I want to put up.
eBay fees? Minimized. I pay 60% of the fees I paid two years ago and I sell much, much more.
Spreadsheets? Why bother? Yikes, if you want to know what fee you paid for an auction, just look at your eBay account history. I don't care that much; I just print out the monthly summary page for my records.
The way to success is to start small, keep it simple and keep it cheap.
--
Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all the more. --George W. Bush, 02/01/03
posted on February 21, 2003 01:19:21 PM new
I don't track fees on an item by item basis, just on a month to month basis, so I can run monthly financials to see how I'm doing.
I keep my Paypal & ING accounts in Microsoft Money, so I can generate a report at the end of the month showing my Cashback bonus, Dividends, interest, and fees.
I have freeware accounting software that I data enter the info for all the stuff I did that month and it kicks out a balance sheet & income statement. Huge time savings come tax time.
posted on February 21, 2003 05:53:25 PM new
fluffy, after a certain amount of transactions it WON"T be free. Free personal account was to get you hooked. Eventually they will send you a notice that you have personally been selected for thier PREMIUM account. hahaha....reality. And once you click that button,,,,,,they ain't no more steps bam. you'll pay. curiousity,how many pay pals have you done?
