Since I’m not registered as a business. Does anyone have experience with this? I just want to sell my collection, and then I’m done. Granted, my collection is huge, and I plan to sell roughly 30-50 items per month. Does that make me a business? Does the user have any grounds to threaten me with? Or is he just bluffing?
Why would an user even threaten you with this? What could his/her motivation be?
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The person in question is also selling a lot of cards. I’m guessing, they want to maybe rid themselves of a competitor? I don’t know, really.
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you can sell your personal collection tax free…based onw hat I ahve read.however if you buy to sell you are classed as a business. I think…so unless you are buying cards and selling on for a profit…tell him hell has space for one more.
I am not in the US so I don’t keep track what the limit is, but I am pretty sure eBay has a limit before the report your sales to the IRS.
I would politely respond to the seller you are just selling off your collection and paying taxes on it.
I would report them to eBay for threatening behavior. Maybe you can get rid of a competitor.
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No you can’t. You have gains and losses.
Think of it. You owe me $100,000,000 dollars. I sell you a Picasso from my collection for a $100,000,000 profit, no tax. Not going to happen. Sure, stupid example, but it illustrates the point. If you could just say something was from your personal collection people would be using collectibles to pay no tax.
I don’t know the limits for the US, but it is like income, you can only make so much before you have to pay taxes. Also, the Government might ask for receipts, which most collectors don’t have.
I’m not from the US either. I’m from Germany. I tried googling around, but what makes or doesn’t make you a business seems pretty arbitrary. Stuff I found was vague, like “you’re a business if you sell a high quantity of items” → What’s a “high quantity” to them?
I would say that restocking items would be a good test. If I am selling what I already own I am a collector, if I keep buying and selling items, then it is a bit more murky. Collectibles is hard as there are a lot of collectors who buy and sell, and may or may not be dealers.
If you are getting out, then your for sure a collector. If you are staying in, maybe not so much. Really, up to your local tax office and/or courts if you had and issue and fought it.
You might also want to try to find tax rules if the cards you are selling are expensive, you might want to sell over a few years instead of one.
*Everything below is for the US only*
This is very wrong. Tax man wants his cut on EVERY DOLLAR YOU MAKE. There are very few exceptions to this and in most cases anytime you gain a dollar for nearly any reason, part of that is due to Uncle Sam. Very small things like an annual garage sale may be exempt in some cases, but realistically you are legally supposed to pay taxes on every dollar you bring in. Find a $100 bill on the ground? Yep they would want that reported as “other income” and it would be taxed. Selling a collection you bought years ago? They would want you to estimate what you have into it as your cost basis. Then you subtract that away from your net sales and viola you have your profit that you need to pay taxes on.
Now many people do get away with tax evasion every day simply because the IRS can’t track a lot of these different small transactions, but it still doesn’t change the fact that you are legally supposed to pay on them. What you do is up to you, but remember that if you go over 200 transactions AND $20,000 then Paypal will send a 1099-K to the IRS and they will surely be awaiting a profit/loss from business form on that money you handled. Also note that the 200/$20,000 is the threshold where Paypal HAS to report a 1099-K, but they can also do it at their discretion for people below the threshold.
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Call the German tax bureau and inform about what you legally can and cannot do.
I know that you actually have to declare your profits if you’re selling stuff on eBay in high bulk since, face it, every country wants to make as much tax as possible. But there are thresholds, and only the tax bureau can tell you what the limit is.
www.ebay.co.uk/gds/When-does-eBay-selling-become-taxable-/10000000004494855/g.html
www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/09/ebay_uk_traders_tax_guidance/
The nine ‘badges of trade’
1.Is your primary motive to earn a profit? If HMRC thinks you intended to make money, rather than selling items for fun, your selling activity is considered to be a business.
2.The number of transactions matter. If you repeat very similar transactions in a short period of time, this might be considered a badge of trade.
3.What type and quantity of goods are you selling? Are you buying so many that you profit from an economy of scale? Did they yield an income while they were in your possession? To demonstrate that your selling activity is a hobby, you may need to prove the goods gave you “pride of possession”, for example, a picture for personal enjoyment.
4.If your online transactions are similar to an existing type of business, such as a clothing retailer or specialist collectables seller, this may be used by HMRC as evidence that you are trading.
5.If you modify items before selling them, again this is a badge of trade. Ask yourself: do you repair, alter or improve items to make them more saleable and, therefore, achieve a greater profit?
6.How did you carry out the sale? If you sold an item in the same way as a shop or auction house – where customers agree to buy something at a fixed price – you could be classed as a business. This is known as an “undisputed trade”.
7.If you borrowed money to buy an item, especially if this loan could be repaid only by selling the items again, this is evidence of trade.
8.The period of time between when you bought the item and sold it again will be looked at by HMRC. Any assets that are the subject of trade will normally, but not always, be sold quickly. This suggests that you only bought an item with the intention of selling it. By contrast, an asset that you bought with the intention of owning it, but then decided to sell after a period of time is much less likely to be suspect.
9.How did you acquire the item? If you received something as a gift, or an inheritance, you’re far less likely to be seen to be running a business when you go on to sell.
I have only briefly looked into the UK as thats where i live. I looked into it as I want to sell alot of my things to clear space up…and if i make 1000, 2000,3000 or whatever I wanted to see if the UK tax man will steal it from me.If I purchased and sold quickly for profit yes…but sellign your things laing around the house you can sell…just make sure you abide my the 9 badges and that you arent buyign and selling quickly for profit.Old stuff you already own in the uk should be tax free.
That’s why I suggest; call the tax bureau.
Better inform and know what you doing, than get the fine for evading taxes.
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Also if you live in the UK and are gaining over a certain amount (I think it’s £11,300 currently) from sales of assets/personal property in a tax year, even if you are not doing so as a business, you may have to pay capital gains tax:
I’m not sure if there is a similar thing in Germany.
Tax evasion? 
If Donald Our honorable president does it, I think you should be fine. Jokes aside, contact eBay, let them know you are being harassed by another member just to be safe. It also doesn’t hurt asking members here who have sold big portions of their collection.
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Thanks for all the help. I decided to call eBay and the person at the phone took a look at my account and said that, while she is no expert on the specific laws, that to her, it looks like I should be fine. She also filed a complaint for the user since they were needlessly threatening me. Thanks again.
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Awesome, 
glad to hear
You shouldn’t be taking tax advice from anyone on this forum or anyone working at eBay. If Paypal ends up 1099’ing you (or the equivalent in your country) which basically means they send a form to your government tax collectors of how much money you handled then you could be in a really bad spot with them trying to collect taxes on the full amount.
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I would assume he has been on his local hmrc or equivalent in his country to see.also the links are useful
A total stranger messaged you and said “Quit selling or I’ll report you to the taxman”? Competition?
I don’t buy this story😒
I have been audited twice and used personal collection , trade strategys, and inheritance as defenses and got off scott free.
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