Ebay taxes and item liablity

[DisabledGeek89]

What is the name of your state? Virginia

I am considering selling some items on E Bay to make some extra money. What are the general things I should know. Also some items include expired soda, which I plan on selling as a collectable. How do I minimize liability? A disclaimer? I mean people sell soda past its sell by date on E-bay like old cans of Surge and to my knowledge they generally are able too. I could post in the sale listing, "This item is meant for collection purposes drink at your own risk" Also how would this affect my benefits, I am on SSI and SSDI as a disabled adult child.

 

[zddoodah]

What are the general things I should know.

Could you ask a more vague, general question?

How do I minimize liability?

Liability for what?

I'd suggest you google something like, "how will my income affect SSI and SSDI benefits."

 

[not2cleverRed]

How do I minimize liability?

Read the rules and be truthful in you descriptions.

Also how would this affect my benefits, I am on SSI and SSDI as a disabled adult child.

It depends on how much you make.

 

[Taxing Matters]

What is the name of your state? Virginia

I am considering selling some items on E Bay to make some extra money. What are the general things I should know. Also some items include expired soda, which I plan on selling as a collectable. How do I minimize liability? A disclaimer? I mean people sell soda past its sell by date on E-bay like old cans of Surge and to my knowledge they generally are able too. I could post in the sale listing, "This item is meant for collection purposes drink at your own risk" Also how would this affect my benefits, I am on SSI and SSDI as a disabled adult child.

If you are going to sell food items, cosmetics, or anything that may be potentially dangerous, either adults or children, I recommend you consult a business attorney near you, preferably one familiar with online sales of goods. You will want to also make sure you have insurance coverage for this. Both the attorney and the insurer will advise you on what you should do to mimimize your risk of being sued overe a defective product. The attorney should also advise you on ways to limit your exposure to liability to loss, whether from a product that causes harm to others or for debts of the enterprise. It only takes one transaction going very bad for you to end up owing someone a very large amount of money and taking these steps will help you avoid the worst of it. It will cost you some money to do this but you will at least get tax deductions to use against your taxable income.

As I recall, eBay takes care of charging customers for sales tax in the U.S. But check to find out exactly how that is handled. That's important because eBay buyers are located all over the country and doing sales on your own for each state that has a sales is very time consuming and there is a risk you might screw on one or more of them.

Ebay will send you an IRS Form 1099 in January with its record of your total sales. It'll be up to you, though, to keep track of your expenses. IRS Publication 583 is a good guide to record keeping. Keeping good records of the income and expenses is extremely helpful if are audited by the IRS or a state or local tax agency.

If eBay allows you to restrict the reach of your offers to the U.S. you'll want to do that, at least in the beginning. Selling goods to people in other countries brings with it an additional layer of tax and other requirements, particularly customs duties and tarriffs, regulations in each country regarding the products that may be brought in their country, and more.

While there are a number of things to do, most of it is not very hard to do. The important thing for you right now is to learn everything you need to do to do this the right way.