Reselling for profit: how much you really make and how to track it

Why the “spread” lies

Reselling looks easy on paper. You find a jacket at a thrift store for $8, you see similar ones listed at $35, and the $27 gap looks like profit. It isn’t. Between those two numbers sit platform fees, shipping you may not fully recover, packaging, gas, the items that never sell, taxes and, above all, time: sourcing, cleaning, photographing, listing, answering messages, packing and drop-offs.

None of that means reselling doesn’t pay. It means you only know whether it pays once you’ve counted everything, item by item, for at least a month.

The honest maths on a single item

Jordan buys a brass table lamp for $8 at a thrift store and sells it on eBay in the US for $35, charging the buyer $6 for shipping. The buyer is in Oregon, which has no state sales tax, so there’s no tax in the total.

eBay’s fee page (checked September 2026) is the key detail. In most categories, the final value fee is 13.6% of the total amount of the sale, plus $0.40 per order over $10 ($0.30 for orders of $10 or less). And the “total amount of the sale” includes the item price, the shipping charged to the buyer and any sales tax.

Three takeaways. First, the fee applies to shipping too, so charging exactly what the label costs still loses you 13.6% of it. Second, where eBay collects sales tax, the fee is also charged on that tax. Third, $20.27 is before income tax and self-employment tax, and it says nothing about the 40 minutes the lamp took. For the formulas behind markup and margin, see our guide on how to calculate profit margin.

In the UK, the numbers shift. Private sellers based in the UK now sell on eBay without final value fees (eBay, updated 1 October 2024); the buyer pays a Buyer Protection fee instead. But that’s for private sellers clearing out their own things. Registered business sellers pay a final value fee on the total including postage, for example 11.9% in Clothes, Shoes & Accessories, plus £0.30 or £0.40 per order. Amira in Manchester buys a jumper for £4 at a charity shop and sells it for £22 plus £3.50 postage: 11.9% × £25.50 = £3.03, plus £0.40 per order, is £3.43 in fees. After postage and £0.40 of packaging she keeps £14.17, before eBay’s regulatory operating fee and before tax.

Time and unsold stock: the hidden costs

One sale doesn’t tell you much. Here’s an example month for Jordan, with round numbers, ignoring sales tax to keep the arithmetic simple:

• 30 items bought for $240 ($8 each on average).
• 22 sold at an average of $32, plus $6 shipping charged on each: $704 in item sales and $132 in shipping collected.
• eBay fees: 13.6% × $836 = $113.70, plus 22 × $0.40 = $8.80, so $122.50.
• Shipping labels: 22 × $6 = $132. Packaging: 22 × $0.75 = $16.50. Gas for sourcing and drop-offs: $20.
• 25 hours of work.

But Jordan paid for all 30 items, not just the 22 that sold. The money actually left in the account is $836 − $240 − $122.50 − $132 − $16.50 − $20 = $305.00, or $12.20 an hour. The $64 difference is sitting on a shelf as 8 unsold items. If they sell next month, great. If they never do, that’s a loss.

Hence a simple rule of thumb: set a maximum shelf life, say 60 days. After that, cut the price, bundle it, or sell it at cost to free up the cash. Our guide to inventory management for small businesses covers how to track turnover.

When it becomes a business: US rules

Form 1099-K. According to the IRS, a payment app or online marketplace must send you a Form 1099-K if the payments you received for goods or services total over $20,000 in more than 200 transactions, though they may send one for lower amounts. The IRS is equally clear that, whether or not you get the form, you must report all income on your tax return, including personal items such as clothing or furniture sold at a gain.

Personal items versus inventory. If you sell something you owned for personal use at a loss, the IRS says there’s no tax liability and the loss can’t be deducted. Buying items specifically to resell is different: that’s goods sold, reported with your costs, typically on Schedule C if it’s a business. The IRS has a separate hobby-versus-business page if you’re unsure which applies.

Self-employment tax. If your net earnings from self-employment are $400 or more, you owe self-employment tax and must file Schedule SE. The rate is 15.3% (12.4% Social Security plus 2.9% Medicare), on top of income tax. That’s why net profit, not sales, is the number to watch.

This is general information, not tax advice. A tax professional or the IRS pages linked below can confirm what applies to you.

When it becomes a business: UK rules

HMRC’s position, restated in December 2024 when platforms started sharing sales data, is that people occasionally selling unwanted items owe no tax. Those who may need to register for Self Assessment include people who buy goods for resale and whose total trading income is more than £1,000 before expenses in a tax year.

That £1,000 is the trading allowance. If your gross trading income is £1,000 or less, you may not have to tell HMRC, though you must keep records. Above £1,000, you can either deduct the allowance or deduct your actual expenses, not both. For a reseller with real stock costs, actual expenses are often the better choice, which is one more reason to track costs item by item.

Separately, platforms report sellers who sold at least 30 items or earned roughly £1,700 (€2,000) in a year. HMRC stresses that being reported does not automatically mean you need to complete a tax return. The reporting threshold and the tax rules are two different things.

If you’re starting out, keep reselling money apart from personal money from day one. Our guide to separating personal and business records shows how.

A tracking sheet that answers the right questions

You need one row per item, not one total per month. Copy this layout into a spreadsheet or notebook. For a full version with formulas, see our inventory spreadsheet template.

RESALE TRACKER (one row per item)

SKU  | Item         | Bought  | Source        | Cost   | Buying costs
L-07 | Brass lamp   | 09/02   | Thrift store  | $8.00  | $0.00

Listed | Platform | Sold  | Sale price | Shipping charged | Label cost
09/03  | eBay     | 09/14 | $35.00     | $6.00            | $6.00

Platform fees | Packaging | Profit before tax | Days in stock
$5.98         | $0.75     | $20.27            | 12

Profit before tax = Sale price + Shipping charged − Cost − Buying costs
                    − Label cost − Platform fees − Packaging
Days in stock = Sold − Bought

Three columns do most of the work. Source tells you which thrift stores, estate sales or car boot sales are worth the trip. Days in stock flags what isn’t moving. And Profit before tax, sorted high to low after a month, shows which categories to buy more of and which to drop.

Logging sales and stock in one sentence

Binome360 is not connected to eBay, Vinted, Poshmark or any marketplace, and it doesn’t connect to your bank or move money. It won’t import your sales. You set up your products and log purchases and sales by typing or dictating a sentence; the app drafts the sale, the stock movement and the margin, and nothing is saved until you confirm.

Frequently asked questions

How much can you really make reselling?

It depends on your buying prices, how fast things sell and your hours. In the example above, $836 collected left $369 on the items that sold, about $14.76 an hour before tax, and only $305 in the bank while 8 items sat unsold. Track a full month of your own numbers before scaling up your buying.

Do I have to pay tax if I didn’t get a 1099-K?

In the US, yes, if you had taxable income. The IRS says you must report all income whether or not you receive a Form 1099-K. Selling your own used belongings at a loss creates no tax liability, but buying to resell is income.

Does selling on Vinted or eBay mean I have to tell HMRC?

Not if you’re occasionally selling your own unwanted things. If you buy goods to resell and your trading income is over £1,000 in a tax year, you may need to register for Self Assessment. Being reported by a platform doesn’t by itself mean you owe tax.

Which platform has the lowest fees?

It depends on who you are. UK private sellers pay no final value fees on eBay, while US sellers pay 13.6% in most categories plus a per-order fee, charged on shipping too. But fees are only one factor: audience, prices and speed of sale matter as much. Compare profit per item, not the commission.

In short

Reselling can pay, but far less than the gap between buying and selling prices suggests. Subtract fees, shipping, packaging and unsold stock, divide by your hours, and you’ll know whether it’s a real side income or poorly paid work. If you’re buying to resell, it’s income, and the tax rules apply.

First step: start a sheet with the columns above and enter the last ten items you bought, with what you paid and when. In a month, you’ll know which ones were worth it.

Sources

• IRS, “Understanding your Form 1099-K”, last reviewed 28 June 2026: irs.gov; “What to do with Form 1099-K”, last reviewed 27 July 2026: irs.gov; “IRS issues FAQs on Form 1099-K threshold under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill”: irs.gov.
• IRS, “Self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare taxes)”, last reviewed 27 June 2026: irs.gov.
• HM Revenue & Customs, “No tax changes for online sellers”, press release, 4 December 2024: gov.uk.
• HM Revenue & Customs, “Tax-free allowances on property and trading income”, last updated 8 May 2019: gov.uk.
• eBay (US), “Selling fees”, accessed September 2026: ebay.com.
• eBay (UK), “Fees for private sellers”, last updated 1 October 2024: ebay.co.uk; “Fees for business sellers”, last updated 4 August 2026: ebay.co.uk.

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