Can’t wait to get the 1099-K next year, finally, as I always experience issues generating the proper paperwork come tax time. (Serves me right for doing all my bookkeeping at once!)

I can’t get it to download the CSV. All I get is a blank document for February despite “last year” being chosen. I guess I’ll just have to take their word for it and write down their figures off the summary. I really am a fan of CSV with all its detail. Waaaaah : (

The eBay 1099-K includes all sales paid (settled by Managed Payments) in the calendar year. Sales tax and VAT collected by eBay are excluded and do not figure into Schedule C income or expenses. The 1099-K for the prior year and the year before that can be found under the Payments tab at the top of the Seller Hub window in Taxes (select in the left margin). Total sales booked in the calendar year will not match unless every sale that year and in the year before was paid in the same year.

Finally, are sales on non-US eBay sites are included in 1099-K reported income? US-only sellers should find that the sum of paid order sale prices should match the 1099-K. Sellers on multiple eBay sites who download payments transaction reports must contend with amounts entered in foreign currencies in the same columns as US dollar amounts. Unlike PayPal which zeros out foreign currency amounts and includes a converted US dollar amount, eBay leaves it to the seller’s accountant to figure out what happened. eBay flags foreign currency amounts in order level rows but fails to flag in item level rows.

is it ‘net sales’ (Net of taxes and selling costs)
or is it ‘Total sales’ (Includes taxes)

thanks!

Sellers who elect to use Performance data instead of Payments data may find differences related to end-of-year transactions. Cash basis taxpayers may incorrectly report sales posted at the end of the year and paid in the following year. Accrual method taxpayers can use the sale dates from performance reports. The date funds are committed to a payout from Managed Payments can be used by cash basis taxpayers. Managed Payments reports remain difficult to process.

Totals for gross sales and fees are missing from payout reports.

Non-item specific costs are missing from performance reports. They could be added as separate lines at the end of the report with descriptions like “Insertion fees” and “Monthly store fees” to match the “Selling Cost” total in the web report instead of the cryptic note in a footnote above the header line in the csv file.

And to top it off, it’s impossible to get the 1099-K to match the Sales Data page in the Performance tab. That’s the real problem.

I am relieved, however, that Ebay finally changed their sales reports from mid-month (the 15th), to the 1st thru the 30th reporting. It won’t take effect until May 2022, but they finally realized that reports generated from the 15th to the 15th were totally useless. Businesses need data on a monthly basis.

I had been breaking down each Payout into the gross sale amount, fees, postage, and other amounts that would sum to the payment amount. In 2020, total of gross amounts matched the 1099-K amount. In 2021, foreign transactions and an uptick in business late in the year has made the process of breaking down each payout infeasible. A recent payout included more than 300 detail lines payout breakdown totals and some amounts in the wrong column. With the new report, it should be possible to reconcile monthly and enter rolled up fees and item sales into the accounting system. If a replacement can be found, one criteria would be the ability to import downloads from eBay and PayPal.

Unfortunately, the new reports still contain bugs. Specifying “last year” attempts to report the entire year 2022. Attempts to download reports from one account fail with “Error downloading report” in Microsoft Edge. The report for the other account downloads successfully in Google Chrome. Reports do not go back far enough. It is not possible to report the entire year 2019, Reports downloaded at the time lacked eBay collected sales tax data for part of the year. The two-year comparison of 2021 and 2020 specified as a custom report omitted 12/31/2020.

The downloaded csv may not be useable without Excel or database skills. Like Payouts reports, extraneous lines above the headers must be moved to the end or somewhere else to produce a coherent looking spreadsheet. Ebay item numbers must be reformatted as integers. Again, as stated above, to be truly useful, the Custom Label (SKU) should be included for those who track their inventory before listing it on eBay.

Are there other discrepancies or disconnects? This was concerning:

“• This report ONLY includes listings sold within the selected time range. Any fees charged or credits applied to listings sold outside this time range are not included in this report. These fees and credits are included in the selling costs number shown on the Seller Hub Performance sales report dashboard.”

I would hope to see the report-period totals for monthly store fees, insertion fees other fees not associated with a specific sale or order. during the reporting period. Subscription fees and account level fee amounts were listed as the same amount. What happened to insertion fees? What happens to postage fees paid outside the reporting period? Finally, what about refunds? Schedule C requires that total sales and refunds be listed on separate lines.

I guess this report is still a work in progress. Will it ever be completed?