In need of help major EBAY question

[Leemiller37]

A few months ago I had to sell an expensive record collection on ebay to pay bills.


Does this count as income?

I don't have an ebay business, but did make $6,000 on it, and it will ruin me for the median income, at least for these past 6 months.


Thanks so much guys. What a nightmare all of this is. I love this forum and feel a lot of help here.

[TEW]

when are you filing wait it out if you have to. BK planing is everything

[ready2puke]

Tew if he shows that he spent it on rent, utilities, and such..wouldnt he be ok?

[willsurvive]

I agree, we showed $19,000 check come in June for a house that we sold (but still lost money). Our lawyer said as long as we spent it on living expenses we were fine, which we did.

[AngelinaCatHub]

Leemiller: The other's are accurate, but please dig up your reciepts and history of your payments. 'Hub

[floridian]

would it matter what he spent it on, as long as he didnt know he was going bk?

[Leemiller37]

I did spend it on bills, mainly back rent to my roommate. I have lived with him since last December, and he would let me pay him when I could. My rent with utilities was $750. When I got my tax return of $1400 I gave it to him for rent for the earlier two months, then in the summer when I started making all of the money from the record collection I gave him two separate checks totaling nearly $4,000 for past rent, and used the rest this fall as I started drowning. So I have receipts in the form of checks I wrote to him.

I just know these ebay items show up as deposits in my account from Paypal. It didn't even hit me until today because I am below the median by $500 but then I just realized "How can that not hurt me that I made that money?"

My attorney just wants to wait until my appt with the paralegal on January sixth. My only concern is that they will try to offer for me to go into chapter 13. I am not making payments for five years, and if I am below median now I can be again this time next year and will put this off somehow.

I will just have to deal somehow, some way in the meantime, because it is chapter 7 for me or nothing.

Thanks to everyone, any continued advice is much appreciated. It sucks that this ebay thing could ruin my chapter 7. I have worked so hard to be aboveboard and my numbers without the ebay legally and fairly put me below median.

[ready2puke]

I wouldnt think the checks to him would not be good enough...It could be considered preferential payments...Can you get a notorized receipt saying it was for rent, both of you sign it in front of the notorary...Thats what I would do just to be safe.

[Help!]

PayPal proceeds can definitely be counted against you as income. When we filed, I interpreted the words "income received from all sources" to mean money we had earned from all employment, savings and investment accounts. I thought that if it was something that wouldn't be reported on an income tax return, it wouldn't be counted as income on the means test. Not so.

The US Trustee interpreted those words to mean "all money received from all sources" during that six month look-back period on the means test. When we were asked for more documentation on all accounts, PayPal was specifically spelled out. Whether it (or any other non-employment money you received) is counted against you depends on the case trustee, US Trustee (if involved in your case) and your district.

The PayPal account was really a minor factor in our case, but it illustrates that a BK petition is really more of a proposal than anything else, and what will or will not be allowed is impossible to predict with any certainty. This is where a good attorney familiar with case law in your district is supposed to advise you. I didn't have one of those.

[Leemiller37]

Thank you for your input. I feel like I am just going to have to wait. There are too many loose ends that need to be tied up and if I can work out some payment arrangements I can revisit this at a later date with no charges on accounts, no ebay sales, nothing for someone to read into, and my case will be more straightforward. I wish I had not already paid my retainer, but oh well. I will go meet with the paralegal in January, but chapter 13 is NOT an option for me. I just don't have the money left over after my bills are paid to pay what they will expect me to pay since they look at gross income and I have very few exemptions. It sucks, but I will just have to survive until I am in a better place.