Local Business  » Keeping records of your Ebay business: Part 3

Keeping records of your Ebay business: Part 3

Welcome to Ebay seller business bookkeeping 101. In case you are

just now catching up to speed with this article series about

keeping good financial records of your ebay company, you may

want to check back with part part I and II of this article.

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

pen and a blank sheet of paper....

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