Marketplace
Just out of interests, is your eBay business affected by the recent eBay free selling change for yearly turnover of $25000 or less sellers?
Is Your eBay Business down Due to The Free Selling?
Aerith-Waifu on 02/06/2026 - 18:33
Poll Options
- 21:about the same
- 02: down 10 - 20%
- 03: down 20 - 30%
- 04: down 30 - 40%
- 15: down 50%+
- 196: Mine actually went up
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Comments
the likes of Gumtree
Really?
Fee Free Selling
- 1
Is this still available? Cheers
- 1
i'll give you a quarter of what you are asking if you delivered it to me 3 hours away.
why aren't you answering me!!!- 1
Facebook Market Place.
- 0
ATO should focus on NDIS scams which is rife in Australia
- 3
The free plan doesn't let you sell items with quantity greater than 1. Its not really good for businesses, only private selling?
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doesn't let you sell items with quantity greater than 1
True…
My shoe selling ebay business is now restricted to selling only to amputees…
- -2
I wqs pretty sure most people with their prostetic leg still wear shoe on their fake leg aswell
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Not an accounting or tax expert. In fact, I'm not an expert in anything, so do with the following what you want, but always rely on or seek your own independent advice. (Disclaimer for checkmate who gets the shits if you don't include them).
Be aware, that for taxation purposes, anything done with regularity moves from the classification of a private or hobby seller into the business classification (as in "in trade or commerce".
ATO does not treat "selling off my second hand stuff" as a mere hobby (so no tax or reporting obligations), if a pattern of regularity can be established.
Note, that means, an artist who sells one painting for $50k may not have any income repirting obligations, but a seller who sells a $2 item once a month for a year, definitely meets the required qualifications for regularity.
One, maybe two garage sales… this is likely to be private selling with no income reporting obligations, but three or four garage sales over a year, you've now likely established regularity and acquired income reporting obligations.
(BTW, eBay used to have to notify ATO of anybody who turned over $10k in sales per year. Not sure if they still have this mandatory reporting or, if they do, what those reporting levels and obligations look like now).
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The ATO can bite my shiny metal ass.
- 3
Hahaha, fair enough.
But:
Audits cost a lot of money, take a long time and can be very stressful (apparently) even if the end result is that you did nothing wrong or don't owe any money.
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@Muppet Detector: Stuff them. They should be focussing on the corps that gets away with murder, instead of some guy selling knick knacks on eBay. Until they start spending it wisely, I will continue to avoid as much tax as possible.
- 6
@brendanm: I too believe that the ATO should focus on the big end of town. By pure coincidence, I define "big end of town" as anyone wealthier than me.
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They should be focussing on the corps that gets away with murder, instead of some guy selling knick knacks on eBay.
Unfortunately it's much easier for them to go after the millions of little guys, than it is to go after big corps who have armies of lawyers and can stall proceedings for years while they figure out how to get out of being taxed, if the government doesn't just give up in the meantime.
It also doesn't help the politicians with no real employable skills get a cushy "consulting" gig with one of those big corps after they get out of politics.
I agree, though.
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It also doesn't help the politicians with no real employable skills get a cushy "consulting" gig with one of those big corps after they get out of politics.
I don't understand how this can even be allowed. So many of them do it, and they've obviously only got these jobs by doing "special favours".
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@brendanm: There's actually supposed to be an 18 month cooling off period, but none of them seem to follow it, and none of them get punished for not following it.
Also, 18 months is piss weak, it should be 18 years, minimum, with heavy fines (along the same lines as means tested speeding fines in Finland) for people breaking that rule in particular.
Here's an excerpt from a post by Peter Lyndon-James:
Christopher Pyne — Defence Minister. Had discussions with EY about a job while still sitting in cabinet making defence decisions. Left parliament and joined EY’s defence consulting practice nine days later. Nine days. The 18-month cooling-off period? Ignored. Consequences? None.
Julie Bishop — Foreign Minister. Left parliament and joined Palladium, one of the government’s biggest private aid contractors. The company that receives millions in foreign aid contracts from the department she used to run. Cooling-off period? Ignored. Consequences? None.
Andrew Robb — Trade Minister. Personally defended the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to Chinese-owned Landbridge while in office. Left parliament in July 2016. Immediately took a role as “high-level consultant” to Landbridge. The same company. The same deal he approved. Consequences? None.
Martin Ferguson — Resources and Energy Minister under Labor. Left parliament. Went straight to lobbying for the resources and energy sector. The industry he regulated. Nobody blinked.
Mark Arbib — Labor Senator. Left parliament. Went to lobby for Crown Casino. The gambling industry that donates to both sides while the government delays gambling reform.
Ben Wyatt — WA Treasurer under Labor. Resigned from parliament in 2021. Joined the boards of Woodside Energy and Rio Tinto, two of the biggest mining companies operating in the state whose budget he controlled.
Mark McGowan — WA Premier under Labor. Resigned in 2023. During his time in office, WA’s mining and resources sector had a major boost. Now on the speaking and advisory circuit, why he left, swept under the carpet.
Former ASIO boss Duncan Lewis — appointed to the board of Thales Australia, a weapons manufacturer, barely making headlines. The nation’s former top spy joining an arms company.
191 of 538 registered lobbyists are former government representatives, more than a third. The people paid to influence government decisions used to be the people making them.
And the lobbying code that’s supposed to prevent this? Zero breaches recorded since 2008. Not because everyone follows the rules. Because the rules were written to be impossible to breach.
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@tubeidea: It's absolutely bonkers that they keep getting away with it. It's quite obvious what's happening, but no one bats and eye. At least old mate at punters politics is starting to put a bit of a spotlight on it.
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@brendanm: Just be aware, that it is becoming much easier for them to track, monitor and compare your online activity these days.
Between the likes of payment methods such as PayPal, Zip et al, online banking statements, and other digital footprints and tracking opportunities, flying under the radar is becoming much harder to achieve.
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@Muppet Detector: My general rule is:
If I can't claim it as a capital loss, I'm sure not going to be paying capital gains.
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Some do it to make money on the side. I'm doing it just so people have access to the hobby goods at basically cost price (+ fees, postage etc). Plus a few deductions since it is a 'business' and its practically zero profit.
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Yes.
As you say income minus expenses might not trigger a taxation payment obligation even if your regularity pushes you into the required reporting category.
In Australia, we generally only pay tax on our profits (added to other income sources of course). We are required to report everything that classifies as income (except for hobby/private/ one off type selling), most of which can be countered or off set with allowable expenses.
But there are quite a few people who think that their little online side hustle is classified as a hobby (for taxation purposes) whereas the ATO, has quite a different interpretation for that and they are more than likely classified as a business "in trade & commerce" for not only taxation purposes, but ACL compliance and obligations as well.
- -1
Note, that means, an artist who sells one painting for $50k may not have any income repirting obligations, but a seller who sells a $2 item once a month for a year, definitely meets the required qualifications for regularity.
The second one depends. Ignoring that the ATO will not care about whatever profit can be made from $24 of sales, if you're buying things to resell then it's definitely a business, but if you're selling stuff you already own then it's not necessarily business income. Selling my old clothes regularly doesn't mean it's reportable. It is more than likely the cost of items in the garage sale example far outweigh the selling price, so that's not taxable income either (if anything, you'd report a huge loss and the ATO would tell you you can't deduct that).
The first the $50k is almost certainly likely to be taxable. The transaction itself is probably enough to make it deemed reportable income, even if it's a childhood drawing by someone with no intention to create art for a profit that someone deemed the next Monet.
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When I started selling on eBay my accountant put it like this: If profit is your motivation, you have to declare every single sale no matter how small it is, right from the first $1 of sales.
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I think you know that the $2 was an extreme figure. The point I was attempting to make was regularity.
not necesarily business income selling stuff you already own => yes => though I used descriptive words such as "likely", and "may", I don't think I used "it will" more than once, maybe twice. Some things depend on other factors, but apparently, some things do not.
Anything done "regularly" is of interest to ATO and is reportable, whether that be second hand or brand new, or low cost or high cost.
No, the number of garage sales established regularity. It had absolutely nothing to do with whether you sold a lot or nothing. (Same as any business, some days you may make a ssle, some days you might not).
The $50k painting one off sale, was a specific example given to us including the case law and established precedent. I didn't pluck that figure or scenario out of thin air.
As it only happened once, it is more than likely classified as a hobby (CGT may apply in some circumstances though).
It is the regularity that triggers the reportable event, not the revenue it creates.
When a person sells their car in a one off private sale, this is not deemed to be a reportable event, even if you sell a $1 million supercar.
But, if I start selling one a few times in a year, the trigger seems to be on four occasions, this now triggers a reportable event, regardless of revenue because of meeting the regularity threshold which transfers the activity from a hobby to a business.
Of course, where you are obliged to report income, you are legally entitled to claim allowable expenses if you can verify these. Even if this means operating at a very large loss.
You are talking second hand clothes, I happen to have quite a few Oroton and Chanel handbags and other accessories which will have increased in value quite significantly. Strangely some dinnerware and cooking stuff too apparently, and a few other collectible things. Some things from great grandparents (if I ever decided to sell that sort of thing, of course).
These are all treated exactly the same as your second hand clothes that may sell at a significant loss.
Keep in mind, there are quite a few second hand clothing resellers on eBay for example (as in large continual stores) who likely source many items quite in expensively from op shops and resell at profit. No doubt quite a few others who do this on a smaller scale.
Markets are another area of particular focus for both food and goods.
When you are selling your secondhand clothes (and other goods), you need to establish/defend the ATO's allegations that this is not what you have done/are doing. Ergo, produce receipts and proof of purchase if regularity is established and reporting obligations are triggered.
Just because you trigger a reportable event, does not mean you will incur a payment obligation.
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not necesarily business income selling stuff you already own => yes => though I used descriptive words such as "likely", and "may", I don't think I used "it will" more than once, maybe twice. Some things depend on other factors, but apparently, some things do not.
Anything done "regularly" is of interest to ATO and is reportable, whether that be second hand or brand new, or low cost or high cost.
Pick a lane dude, is it anything done regularly or is it "likely" or "may"?
Regularity is simple one part of the test, it's not the whole test. There is also that the test is more designed around losses from a hobby vs business losses that can be deductable. And simply doing things many times does not make it regular, regular in tax terms means fixed schedule. It's unlikely anyone is running a garage sale on fixed dates 3-4 times a year.
Anyway, my point was the regularity in itself does not mean it's reportable tax income. I have no idea where you got that from. Particularly if you're selling your own second-hand items at a loss.
The $50k painting one off sale, was a specific example given to us including the case law and established precedent. I didn't pluck that figure or scenario out of thin air.
Who is "us"? And what established case law and precedence? The ATO has been very clear that intention matters and recognises that the sale of art may not be regular or consistent.
The laws are mostly based around when you can start deducting your losses.
These are all treated exactly the same as your second hand clothes that may sell at a significant loss.
You're not taking into account intention. Buying expensive handbags with the expectation it will increase in value means it is taxable, even if you're not selling them regularly.
It feels like you got way too hung up on the regularity thing and missed all the other parts of tax law.
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Pick a lane dude, is it anything done regularly or is it "likely" or "may"?
Regularity is the key. That is indisputable. However legislation has not specified when regularity is recognised in all situations and largely has left that up to the ATO and courts to determine and create guiding precedent. (Same as id done for ACL guarantees for example).
Words such as likely and May are used to show when and how the courts and ATO have determined regularity was established at those very low levels of activity when determining when an activity moves from being classified as a hobby or business for income reporting obligations.
You know when you are charged with a crime/offence? Never even know if you will be found liable until legal determination, so the allegation results in you "may", or you "are likely" etc to be found guilty of that offence including each element of the offence and defence relevant to that alleged offence.
Regularity is simple one part of the test
It is the primary requirement.
it's not the whole test.
Now you're catching on…. hence the use of terms such as "may" and "likely" in those lower levels of regularity.
And simply doing things many times does not make it regular,
This is the literal definition of regular.
regular in tax terms means fixed schedule.
Nonsense. You just made that up. I have provided quite a few examples of the ATO & courts have established regularity.
You're not taking into account intention.
Umm I did. I addressed that when I talked about being able to defend yourself against the ATO's allegations.
Ie:
ATO: "hey, we've detected a pattern of regularity in your selling, but your tax assessment does not reflect this activity - provides whatever evidence they have that supports their allegations
YOU: "well yes, that is true, but I can provide evidence that proves that your allegations are incorrect" (known as a defence).
*provides relevant evidence that you believe supports your defence".
It feels like you got way too hung up on the regularity thing and missed all the other parts of tax law.
It feels like you are wrong.
My position was always that a pattern of regularity triggers a reporting obligation.
I then provided some examples of how that regularity is established.
In fact, I referred very minimally to any tax law (only income - defence, I think)
I only referred to how the ATO and courts determined whether an activity was a hobby or a business, with the primary trigger of a reportable event to be regularity.
You're not taking into account intention.
I didn't need to as it has nothing to do with the required element of regularity.
Who is "us"?
Taxation specialists attended an eBay seller's conference in NSW (Powerseller Australia Wide) to specifically lecture/provide information about this topic when eBay was required to begin reporting seller's turnover of more than $10k, who was a hobby vs a seller for reporting purposes.
As you can imagine, when eBay announced this legal requirement amidst privacy concerns, it caused much angst among sellers, who began making claims of "but this is just my hobby, as I'm just doing xyz, so I don't need to declare my activity" and so on.
(Remember the directive is to turn over information about revenue of $10k, not profit and not any other information such as fees, postage costs etc, registered as a store (what level) etc.)
This evolved into a variety of other associated concerns around that entire autumn release including the introduction of ACL and then the resulting eBay's (and PayPal's) updated buyer and seller protection policies and programs.
"But I'm not a business, I am just a private seller, so you can't force me to comply with ACL return policies (among other things, but this was the biggest concern), my listing clearly states that I do not accept returns"..
(also relevant to GST collection for eBay introduced fees on postage amidst arguments of "can't charge me for a service I don't provide" apparently, and other points of interest at that time.
Taxation representatives, eBay head office staff, legal representatives then carried out smaller workshops to smaller groups of sellers via conference calling over the following months.
They also oversaw one of the eBay member groups on the forum (about 200 members) where they responded to specific posts/questions etc made by those posters in the forums.
They also provided specific word templates that members who were active on the buyer & seller discussion boards could use to respond to questions/situations raised by other general members as they created queries and made comments about these topics.
Lithium Technologies forum moderators were also included in these workshops, the closed group and the appropriate word templates as they too were involved in the dissemination of the correct information and removal of or correction of, incorrect and misleading information.
Oh, and it was covered in an intro to accounting subject at uni in both business and commerce degrees and in tax law elective of llb and my accountant confirmed too through on numerous occasions when I sought his tutelage etc
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Business is booming again yayyyyyy.
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I just spent a heap on some Tupperware lol. (Are you the Tupperware seller? lol)
Of course, I only realised that I needed more once they stopped trading in Aust, but for now, there are quite a few BNIB sellers around on eBay, though Australian stock is dwindling and quite sporadic.
Bought a few Lego sets that I wanted but somehow missed/never got around to buying when available that weren't priced too much higher than their last selling price (but some are bucketloads more expensive - I didn't want them that badly, so muppet didn't buy any of those lol).
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Long time eBay seller here.
My sales took a dump in late March/early April, well before eBay announced the fee changes. As I mainly sell collectables like coins and banknotes, my theory is people stopped discretionary spending as war uncertainty and fuel prices increased. Sales have recovered since then however, regardless of eBay's changes.
I'm concerned that people may think eBay selling is now free for everyone. It's not. My costs have increased since the changes as I sell more than $25k per year.
- International transaction fees have increased by 1%
- I now have to spend $28 per month (previously $0) on a higher 'Pro' plan as eBay disabled selling multiple quantities of items at a discount for all free plans
Yes, on the paid Pro plan I have lower fees. For everything I sell, it's a 0.3% drop from 13.4 to 13.1%. Yay. I have to sell around $6000 of goods per month just to recoup the new monthly fee.
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i sell on fbmp and dont need to report to the ato
cash money baby- -1
FBMP has its own tax, your sanity.
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its better than ATO tax
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Is this still available? $5 ok? What's your address looking to pickup asap. Phone number and bank account pls I send money now.
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Hahaha, eBay just spent 15 years or so chasing away all the smaller sellers in favour of the big boys and now their chickens have come home to roost and they need to beg all of those smaller sellers to come back.
Sorry for those sellers who are negatively affected by this, but sucked in eBay.
You tried so damn hard to change it from the vibrant auction site featuring used but often quaint or unique products mixed in with new product sellers, to enter the market to compete with the likes of Amazon and all the other major marketplaces as they transitioned into the digital space.
Now that you've destroyed the very purpose for which you were created by chasing all those sellers off to the likes of Gumtree & Facebook, your hip pocket is crying foul to the ref because so many of your larger sellers have been able to independently transition themselves into the digital space, drawing sales and income away from you.
Bwahahaha