Is eBay Selling Worth Your Time Anymore?

While I wait on tax documents to get here so I can power through the taxes, and the much dreaded FAFSA(yes, I said that word!), I've been going through and calculating my eBay numbers.

Yes, if you sell stuff on eBay it's income and you had better report it.
I'm just sayin'.....

Even with just selling stuff for 2 months last year, the amount of paperwork and numbers I have to wade through is mind numbing.  It took me three solid HOURS to get through it tonight!
Ugh.

After deducting all the fees, supplies and the costs of the goods I sold, I netted a whopping.....you'd better sit down for this!......$1710.10.

And that's not deducting for the portion of the storage unit fees I incurred to store the things I sold.  I "could" deduct that IF I could come up with an acceptable formula to divide the storage unit fees between the square footage the eBay stuff occupied and the square footage where all the non-eBayed stuff sat.  I could also try deducting lots of other things too....like part of my internet connection cost, part of the cost of my computer/printer/paper/ink/etc.  But all that takes documentation and effort and sends up audit flags.   I'll just take that hit and not even bother.  I am beyond caring to go there.lol

So in the end all the fees I paid to sell this stuff?
It almost cost me as much as I netted!

I will not depress myself by figuring what my hourly wage was to make that $1710.10.
But I suspect I'd be better off wearing a paper hat and asking if you want fries with that! lol

This all just confirms my belief that selling on eBay as an income stream is so not worth it.  Might have been years ago but now?.....nah!

It's a great way to get rid of things you have laying around the house and such.  Or selling off things you don't want anymore.
But as a sustainable fulltime job?  Not so much.

I'll stick to Focus Groups and some Survey work.....though my patience for that stuff is wearing thin too lately.  ;-)

I need to find someone who wants to pay me to sit around and drink adult beverages!
Yah, now THAT'S the kind of work I could so get into!!  8-)

Sluggy

Say Hello to My Little Friend!

Let me introduce my new, close, personal friend........

He may be very one dimensional but we enjoy each other's company.lol
The downside is that Uncle Sam will want a cut of my new buddy here, come next April. 8-(

I brought Mr. Franklin home on Monday night.  He was my "thank you" for participating in a Focus Group/Mock Jury session held at a local hotel.  We also got some "parting gifts" as Monty Hall use to say but this was the incentive to get me to leave my house, drive 5 miles down the mountain and give my opinion on a case. 

The company I am registered with is turning out to be a good gig for me.  It took a year or so to get things rolling but this is the 3rd group event I've been selected for(2 have been online/1 in-person)since last Fall.  They also send emailed surveys but I seem to get dumped out of them before I get to the end so I only have $2 or so in my account for those so far.  It will be sometime before I can request a $20 check on that.lol
 
If you'd like to sign up with Focus Forward, I'd appreciate if you'd use my link HERE.
They are a nationwide LCC corporation.  Signing up is free and you will never be asked to pay for anything in order to participate in a group.  I highly recommend them.

Another company Hubs is involved with is Pinecone Research.  They send out online survey invites on average of 2-3 a month.  Each completed survey is worth $3 and you can have a paper check sent or request payment through a Paypal account.  Last year Hubs did 20 surveys so made $60.  Of course, Uncle Same also got a cut of that since it IS income.  You won't get rich participating but $60 is a utility bill or a week's worth of groceries, right?

Pinecone doesn't recruit or do referrals.  You have to wait until they have openings and go sign up.  They will advertise openings on various website via banners but there are no set sites or times so it's a matter of keeping your eyes open online and if you hear from some's blog or website that Pinecone Research is taking applications, you need to jump on it.
Hubs didn't get invited right away when he applied.  He had to wait until his demographic fit the profile they were recruiting from so if you don't get in right away, keep trying.

And there is good news on the TOLUNA front as well.  TOLUNA is an online survey company I signed up at the behest of my bloggy buddy SonyaAnn.  If these 2 survey's incentive points every come through from 2 Pending studies I did, I may just actually have enough points to request a $20 check...woohooo!

Sluggy