Your eBay sale price is not your profit.
Revenue looks exciting. Profit is what remains after the actual selling costs and the money you originally put into the item. A useful eBay profit tracker connects both sides.
Example sale
Start with the transaction, then add the costs only you know.
Marketplace reporting is good at telling you what happened inside the marketplace. Your reseller system should add the information eBay cannot know automatically: what you paid for the stock, sourcing/bale allocation, preparation costs and any postage you track separately.
The exact accounting treatment for tax can be more nuanced, but that operational calculation is much more useful for deciding whether an item, supplier or sourcing method is actually making money.
Why payout is different
A payout tells you how much money eBay transferred. It can bundle multiple transactions and adjustments together. It should not be treated as an expense when calculating profit simply because money moved from one account to another.
What becomes possible once costs are attached to stock
Profit-safe offers
Compare an eBay offer against the actual landed cost and your chosen minimum profit.
Bale ROI
Measure how much of a bale or supplier order has been recovered and what remains.
Safer price reviews
Know how far you can reduce a stale listing without destroying its margin.
Supplier decisions
Compare actual realised profit rather than buying more stock based on revenue alone.
Know what each eBay sale actually made.
MyCost combines item cost, selling costs and sale price so revenue does not get mistaken for profit. Keep eBay stock and cross-marketplace inventory in one workflow.
How do I calculate profit on an eBay sale?
Start with the money attributable to the sale, subtract actual marketplace charges, refunds or other sale-related costs, then subtract your item acquisition cost and outgoing postage or other direct costs.
Why is eBay payout amount not the same as profit?
A payout is a movement of money from eBay to you. Profit also depends on what the item cost you and any other expenses connected to acquiring, preparing and shipping it.
Can MyCost use actual eBay fee data?
For connected accounts, MyCost can use supported eBay financial data and combine it with costs stored in MyCost to calculate a more useful reseller profit view.