Either way, you will be disappointed. Regardless of what anyone says. Here are some fun facts. I do my own account, business rules, software development, etc.
Paypal numbers perfectly match: income = paypal reports = what paypal report to the irs. They have always been flawless for the all the years I have used paypal.
Ebay AND Amazon are both inaccurate. Amazon is has been an obvious mess for the entire time I have used them, there reporting never matches, even in their own systems. eBay on the other hand I expected to be better then Amazon, and actually I imagined they would be as least as good as paypal.
Amazon: incomes DO NOT = their own reports and also DO NOT = what they report to the irs.
eBay: incomes DO = reports, but do NOT = what they reported to the IRS. No possible way.
My advice, keep accurate records throughout the year, compare with monthly reports downloaded from the marketplaces, compare your reports with marketplace reports, compare all reports to 1099k. With Amazon, each week/day you are certain to see when they account for sales on the WRONG DATES at least 20% of the time, they are complete disaster and their entire system is complete useless in my opinion. Even though their API will give the sales on the correct dates. Ebay, at least their reports will match the actual account period in which the sales should be accounted for, but for sure to 1099ks are not accurate at all, not a single month, no matter how you run the math.
Wrap up:
--PayPay, who has been doing this the longest, has it down perfect.
--Amazon will never get it right, they don't need to since the world seems to have voted that a less then mediocre service should be number 1. I will be reporting to the IRS MY numbers since I am confident that they are true and accurate. Note: I can fully prove to the IRS if I am audited that Amazons reports are flawed, not in the correct accounting periods, and flat out inaccurate.
--eBay, have faith that they will get it figured out, but this I will be reporting to the IRS MY numbers since I am confident that they are true and accurate. Note: I can fully prove to the IRS if I am audited that eBay reports are flawed, not in the correct accounting periods, and flat out inaccurate.
They are only off by less then 1%, but math is math is math is math. Its that simple. Wrong is wrong. Inaccurate is inaccurate, even if its a penny. (IRS DOESN'T CARE ABOUT PENNIES THOUGH SO ITS FINE TO BE OFF BY A BUCK, but its not fine to have unreliable reports to those who are reporting our supposed income to the government inaccurately.
Please do not reply, as I turned notifications off for these boards many years ago, they are no place to find help. They are as bad as the public amazon questions/answers sections. You will only be left more frustrated and confused, and that is if you get luck enough to have some "MOD" edit your post without letting everyone know that they cut half of your message out leaving it so it makes no sense, which trust me happens often and will make you want to smash your PC and quit eBay.
Unfortunately, the "ask the community" section is no place to get ask a question or expect a good answer. I am just doing my taxes today and realizing now, there is absolutely no way these reports are accurate.
See ya!
