Fretting about Ebay

[DivorceRuinedMe]

Back in 2004 I started selling on Ebay. I bought inventory on CCs. I didn't keep very good records if any at all. All I knew is that if I had enough money to pay my minimums each month with Ebay sales, I was good. Stupid, stupid, stupid but it's how I ran my little "business". I know now how utterly ridiculous this is but no one ever said I was smart with money. I learned from my father and he's on the road to BK right now too (both business AND personal!!)

I had to stop doing Ebay when I left my ex-husband about a year ago. I left him with just the clothes on my back. I went back for some of my inventory but by the time I got back to get it all, he had stolen most of it. That left me with little to no inventory and big CC bills. I tried to revive my store. I took what I had left to sell and tried to sell it. I did this for as long as I could. I had our baby (I left him when I was 2 months pregnant due to abuse) and it became too much for me to handle working full time and being a single Mom to a 2 year old and a newborn and trying to do Ebay too. I closed my store last month. I had a few stragglers pay me this month that owed me money for stuff I sold in March. I plan to wait at least 6 months from March to pass the means test without Ebay.

Questions:

I'm confused about disclosing Ebay on the means test b/c hopefully by the time that I file, I will have had zero income from it in the past 6 months (or very little from the month of April and then nothing for the next 5 months or 6 if I can hold off till November to file).

Ebay is one of the reasons that I am in this BK predicament so I would guess it would need to be disclosed somewhere even though I'm not doing it anymore correct? My divorce is the catalyst for the downfall of Ebay and the subsequent BK but the fact that I had a baby and couldn't do Ebay anymore also played a role in the BK. I was able keep everything afloat with Ebay but now that I can't do it anymore and I don't have any of the inventory to make it work, I'm stuck. I'm just not sure how to explain all this when/if it even comes up.

I'm afraid I'm going to be asked for Ebay records and I don't have any to speak of!! I couldn't show a profit or loss even if I wanted to b/c I didn't keep track. Like I said before, if I could pay my minimums on my CCs each month with the sales from Ebay, then I was happy. It was a fun little hobby for me at the time.

I have so many different scenarios running through my head right now as to how I'm supposed to disclose Ebay I just don't know what to do with it all. I had a store at one time with inventory. The ex took most of it leaving me without any way to pay the minimums. I tried to scrape together some stuff to sell and make a go of it one more time but it didn't work b/c I had a baby and also not enough stuff to sell to make the minimums anymore due to the ex stealing all the stuff. I decided to close Ebay down and won't have any more income from it for the next 6 months. (I'm 4K away from median income on the means test so "income" from Ebay had to stop anyway). I've stopped paying my CCs b/c no more Ebay.

[BKTango]

Honestly speaking, since you are no longer doing Ebay, and you are going to wait 6 months so there is nothing to even show for income from Ebay, unless someone asks you directly I do not see how it would even be brought up. They only hitch I could see, is when the trustee asks you if you have sold anything of value in the last year. I am not sure if you would have to say "Yes I sold some things on Ebay for $$$ amount" Now that you might want to ask your attorney about. But as far as it being an income source past the 6 months mark or the reason you got into debt, I don't see how that would even be looked at. Maybe someone else can come along and give some more advice on that.

[goingunder]

I looked up the ebay question in the questioneir from our trustee. here is exactly what it asks:

Have you bought or sold more than $1000.00 on the internet (EBay , for example) in the past year? If so, attach a purchase and sale activity report (no more than 10 Pages) for the past year.

Then there is this one:

In the past one year have you received money, income or benefits from any source other than your employment?

I didnt have some of the stuff they wanted copies of and my attorney just told me to write in there I dont have it. But I dont know about ebay records, I sold stuff on a website I had, didnt keep records of buyers, just on income. So Im sending a copy of my accounting. I really hope this will do. I have no way to verify anything either. I honestly wasnt even thinking of bk last summer. My 341 is May 22, so that is all i can tell you for now. Guess we will see what happens then. Im sure your attorney will tell you what to do. Maybe a guestimate will do? Or if you were to maybe write down what you remember selling and the amount in the past year. If you used paypal for payment, you might be able to pull your records there.

Hope this helps, good luck to both of us!

[robivi3]

I also did ebay, Most sales were storefront and from my 800 number though. I will reread the post after work tomorrow and get back to you. I kept bad records also, just laziness on my part.

[SinkingFast]

If you used PayPal for your transactions, there's a lot of info available there. Look in your History.

If it's a newer eBay transaction, the Auction page may even still be available. Any info/notes sent via the PayPal transfer form will be there too.

[DivorceRuinedMe]

Thanks everyone .

My problem is that I didn't keep records of how much I paid for any of my inventory. I could have sold it for $10 but let's say I paid $20. Therein lies my problem. It was a loss and I can't prove it. ARGH. I want to kick myself right now.

I also sold some things for my Dad's company. My mom is the bookkeeper and after I sold the stuff, I just wrote her a check for all the money that was made after the fees. That was back earlier this month before I shut down Ebay.

Do you all think I should try to wait until November to file so that I don't even have to worry about these transactions done this month with Ebay?

[stopthebleeding]

even if you wern't gonna go bankrupt you have to keep records for taxes.

Di you keep records for taxes. I understand your dileema i have a job and sell on ebay not relizing it would get so big for me ending up having to figure out my taxes with ebay and it is so frustarting to do business taxes and eveing more frustaing to get records ready for bk cause they ask more.

[DivorceRuinedMe]

Di you keep records for taxes. I understand your dileema i have a job and sell on ebay not relizing it would get so big for me ending up having to figure out my taxes with ebay and it is so frustarting to do business taxes and eveing more frustaing to get records ready for bk cause they ask more.

I never filed Ebay as part of my income on taxes b/c I never was making any money. It was always just a hobby to me. I was always in the red b/c I never paid off any of the ccs I was using to make the purchases, therefore I was never *making* any money. I kept no records really - I just knew I was never ahead. If that makes any sense.

[robivi3]

Believe me it makes sense even though i did file including my ebay stuff once incorporated.

[stopthebleeding]

I here you but the state called me in and said my hobby was a business. Now i pay all taxes on my hobby and it sucks.

[DivorceRuinedMe]

I here you but the state called me in and said my hobby was a business. Now i pay all taxes on my hobby and it sucks.

When you say the state called you in, what do you mean? The IRS or was this something to do with your bankruptcy?

I have since stopped Ebay alltogether so it's a non issue for me now.