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Keeping records of your Ebay business: Part 3
Up to this point we have educated you on a few basic important
tips when it comes to keeping good records of your ebay selling
business and a detailed journal of your expenses and receipts.
You were also given the basics on learning what a balance sheet
and an income statement is in relation to your ebay selling
business, as well as understanding gross profit and your gross
profit margin.
Most importantly, you were also introduced to the cold hard
truth about the power of the IRS and what would be expected of
you should an audit of your ebay selling business come your way.
Your transactions, purchase records, and receipts should ideally
be all laid out and ready to be prepared on a day's notice.
Forming these kinds of good habits with your paperwork is one of
the greatest 'non-financial' investments that you will ever
make.
By now you are probably asking yourself, "Is there a simple way
for me to keep track of everything pertaining to my ebay selling
business?" The answer is yes, there is. In fact you are
encouraged to read the following information and advice about
how to create a system for keeping track of your sales and
expenses.
You need a bookkeeping system!
Before you read on it is important to understand that there is
no single system that is better than another when keeping
records of your ebay selling business. Amazingly, some people
can do well enough with just a pencil and a set of legal pads.
But for the majority of us we need a little more help then just
pen and a blank sheet of paper.
If you are like me, then you need all the help you can get to
better organize your ebay seller business. And although I will
give you some basic advice on some helpful tools, you will
ultimately have to form the paperwork habits then best suites
your needs. You may use whatever methods that best keeps you on
top of your numbers and properly report the transactions of your
ebay seller business.
As a general rule of thumb, you will need the following parts of
a bookkeeping system:
1. You will need to keep track of your ebay seller business's
list of accounts or categories that you will record in a general
ledger. This is called a Chart of Accounts. Some examples of
"accounts" would be your rent, utility bills, insurance,
advertising costs, Internet and home office costs, etc.
2. Your ebay seller business bookkeeping system should have a
detailed record of your business's income and expenses, your
assets and liabilities, and of course the owner's equity. You
can easily keep track of these items with a General Ledger.
3. Any office store will be able to provide you with an Accounts
Receivable Statement. This record-keeping tool will help you
keep track of any amount of payments that are owed to your ebay
seller business for amounts uncollected.
4. No ebay seller business, or any other business for that
matter, can be properly tracked without an Inventory Listing. An
inventory listing is just a matter of easily keeping track of
the items that you have for sale to your ebay customers.
Any of the above types or record keeping tools can just be
created with a blank sheet of paper and pencil but it is wise to
just invest in the office supplies that are already made for
such records. In general, all you want to do is create a system
that is easy to use and will make both your life and your ebay
seller business as simple as possible. The easiest way to keep
track of your sales is to list your totals for each day. Then
you will be able to total sales for each month and set goals of
your ebay seller business grand total for the year.
About the author:
Jason James website 'The Auction Resource Network' reveals his
inside secrets and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 a
month on eBay.
Claim your FREE 'Top 10 eBay Selling Secrets' eBook: www.auctionresourcen
etwork.com