That profit is taxable from the first dollar, even though selling your own used things for less than you paid isn’t. A marketplace has to report your sales to the IRS on Form 1099-K only once it pays you more than $20,000 in more than 200 transactions in a year, so report the profit yourself whether or not a form arrives.
Flip regularly as a business, and you also owe self-employment tax once your net earnings reach $400. Most flips earn a few dollars to a few dozen, so a fee or label you didn’t count can turn one into a loss.
Say a vintage Pyrex bowl costs you $6 and sells on eBay for $40, and the buyer pays $10 for shipping and $4 in sales tax while the label costs you $10. eBay takes 13.6% of the whole $54 plus 40 cents, or $7.74, so the $50 you collect drops to $32.26 after the fee and the label, a $26.26 profit on your $6.
- Books and textbooks resell best as a complete set of one series, or as a textbook in its current edition, so look up a textbook’s barcode number in sold listings. Pay $1 to $3 a book, and sell on eBay.
- Picture frames sell for the frame, not the art, so look for solid wood or ornate gilded styles in large sizes, with no cracked corners. Pay up to $10, and sell big ones locally on Facebook Marketplace.
- Video games for older consoles sell for more with the original case and manual, so open the case to check for the manual and skip any disc with deep scratches. Pay up to $5 a game, and sell on eBay.
- Brand-name clothes resell when sold listings for the brand run well above the store’s price and the piece has no stains or worn spots. Pay $3 to $8 a piece, and sell on Poshmark or Mercari.
- Pyrex and other glassware are worth checking against sold listings when the pieces are vintage and colored or patterned, with no chips or faded paint. Pay $5 to $10 a piece, and sell on eBay, packed in plenty of padding.
- Sporting equipment such as golf clubs and bikes resells to buyers trying a sport before paying full price, but skip pads and cleats, which rarely lose their smell. Pay up to $20, and sell bulky gear on Facebook Marketplace.
- Records and record players sell when the vinyl isn’t warped or deeply scratched and the player spins. Pay $1 to $3 a record or up to $20 for a player, and sell records on Discogs and players locally.
- Anything with its tags still on can be listed as new with tags instead of used, which buyers pay more for. Pay up to a fifth of the original tag price, and sell on Mercari or eBay.
- Check sold prices on your phone before you pay. On eBay, the sold-items filter shows what the same item sold for over the last 90 days, and Discogs shows each record’s recent sales.
- Look for brand markings, such as a maker’s stamp under a dish or the label in a jacket, and search the mark before you decide a piece is ordinary.
- Shop thrift stores in well-off neighborhoods for better brands, and go on each store’s discount days, when the same finds cost less.
- Buy only what will clean up, since a stain or smell that won’t come out makes an item hard to sell, then wash or polish each find before you photograph it.
- Count packaging and shipping before you buy, since a heavy or fragile find costs more to box and ship, and sell it locally when the label would take most of the profit.
- eBay takes 13.6% of the whole sale in most categories, shipping and sales tax included, and 15.3% on books, movies, and music other than vinyl records, plus 40 cents on an order over $10.
- Poshmark keeps $2.95 of a sale under $15 and 20% of one at $15 or more, and the buyer pays a flat rate for shipping.
- Mercari takes 10% of the price and of any shipping the buyer pays, with no separate payment processing fee.
- Facebook Marketplace charges nothing when a local buyer pays you in person, and 10% of the total, shipping and tax included, with an 80-cent minimum, on an order paid through its checkout.
- Local consignment shops do the pricing and selling for you, and typically keep 40% to 60% of the sale price.
Log each find’s cost, sale price, fees, and shipping in a spreadsheet as you go. The log shows which kinds of finds pay you, and it’s the record that proves your profit at tax time.
Choose where to list each find from the best places to sell your stuff.
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