Advice needed from anyone with an eBay business please!

[sevensevenseven]

We've just started a business selling on eBay. I have a book on small business bookkeeping but it doesn't mention anything about online sales or paypal sales. How do people record their sales?

The bookkeeping system I'm using uses a detailed cashbook which revolves around the business bank account. Do I need another cashbook to record all paypal/eBay transactions and treat paypal as another bank account for record purposes or is there an easier way? For example we sold an item but then bought something for the business from ebay so the money was gone before it could be transferred into the business account. As the money never went into the business account I haven't recorded the transaction in the cashbook but obviously I know that I need to record somewhere that the transaction happened.

Any help gratefully appreciated!

I would treat PayPal as a bank account and keep all the records on a spreadsheet.

But I might be biased; I love spreadsheets

I dont hae an ebay business but we get paid in cash alot,I do spreadsheets recording what comes in and what goes out even if the money doesn't hit the bank account.

no ebay business but a spread sheet, for sales
columns for
1.what it sold for

1. difference between postal charge and postal cost ( ie your packing fee but packing charges are an expense much easier to call it postage profit rather than working out exact packing cost per item)
2. insertion fees
3. ebay fees
4. paypal fees
5. what you paid for it
6. your profit per item ( 1+2 -{3+4+5+6})

separate spreadsheet with your costs

1.packing materials

1. mileage/car allowance if going out solely to post office ( technically you can not claim this is you combine it with your weekly supermarket trip)
2. postage

any other costs just a few ideas not conclusive

OP
have a look at my ebay me page
cgi3.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=talkinpeace
has lots about how to run your business