eBay Bookkeeping Tools
by Jerry
eBay Staff Member

During the early months of every new year, many eBay sellers want to know about their past performance. They often ask questions like, "How much did I make?" and "How much did I pay?" Perhaps you're wondering this yourself.

Many of these types of questions can be answered quickly and accurately with the help of tools available on eBay. These tools can help you determine your yearly Gross Merchandise Sales (GMS), total eBay fees, and your complete Billpoint and PayPal transaction history.

Gross Merchandise Sales (GMS)

eBay's Sellers Assistant Pro (SAP) program can determine a seller's GMS and other important financial information with just a few clicks. The standard Profit & Loss Report automatically calculates total figures for sales price, shipping charged, actual cost of item and shipping charges, and eBay fees.

From the SAP Listings window, click the Windows menu, and select 'Show Listing Reports'. Then from the Report Studio window, check Sales Reports, select "Print Profit and Loss Report", and enter the date range 01/01/02 and 12/31/02. Voila! You have your GMS for 2002!

The quality and accuracy of the total figures from the P&L Report, however, is only as good as the raw sales data. Before you take the P&L Report as truth, you should ensure that each sales record is accurate. eBay recommends that sellers check the validity of their P&L reports at least quarterly, although monthly would be ideal. Sellers know that exceptions happen, and part of doing business is making sure that they are reflected in the sales records.

Flexibility is one of the cornerstones of SAP. Not only is the program designed to accommodate the many different ways sellers run their businesses, it is also able to interact easily with other existing business applications a seller may be using. In addition to the automated P&L Report, SAP provides the following export options: export all the data in the Sales table and export only the selected records. At some point in an eBay seller's career, when the volume of transactions and the number of exceptions becomes large, exported files replace the P&L Report in order to calculate their GMS.

eBay Fees

The monthly invoices normally delivered to a seller's email address can also be found online. Each invoice contains a 'total amount' figure for Payments and Credits, and Fees and Debits. A seller can copy these figures into a spreadsheet on a month-to-month basis to track their total eBay fee payout. This information is useful for income tax calculations, and also to gauge the effectiveness of sales strategies. As a leading indicator of your eBay business's success, the percentage of monthly eBay fees and GMS can signal when different strategies are needed. To view each of your monthly invoices:

1. Click the "Check my seller account status" link from the Site Map;
2. Check the "View past invoice" box;
3. Select "January" and "2002" from the pull down menus, and click the Submit button;
4. Repeat the above process for February through December.

Billpoint and PayPal Transaction History

Every transaction conducted through the Billpoint and PayPal systems has been archived for your bookkeeping needs. A seller can easily download their entire 2002 transaction history into a comma separated values file, which can then be loaded into most common spreadsheet and database applications. Sellers can also download their PayPal transaction history into Quicken and QuickBooks.

The transaction history download provides detailed information for each of the payments that you have received electronically. This information can be used for income tax calculations, to reconcile your accounts, and to perform other key financial reporting tasks.

This information includes all payments received, transaction and deposit fees, refunds, rebates, and any adjustments made to your account. To download your Billpoint Transaction History (Sales and Deposit):

1. Click the "View My Payments (Billpoint) account" link from the Site Map;
2. Click the "Sales History" link;
3. Enter the date range 01/01/2002 and 12/31/2002;
4. Click the Download button;
5. Click the "Deposits" link in you're my eBay Payments account, and repeat steps 3 & 4.

To download your PayPal Transaction History:

1. Log in to your PayPal account;
2. Click on the History sub tab;
3. Click on the Download My History link;
4. Choose the file type and date to download;
5. Click Download History;
6. Name your file and click Save to download it.

Additional Information

To learn more about the Sellers Assistant Pro P&L Report and Exporting capabilities, please click here to view the online documentation. To learn more about Tracking Payments in PayPal, please click here.