Big Brother is watching you on eBay - and documenting

Haaretz ^ | February 21, 2003 | Yuval Dror

[stuartcr]

Can this info be used for tax collection purposes?

[P.O.E.]

You mean the guy with the teapot?

[I_Love_My_Husband]

That url does not work, in addition, haaretz' url is not haaretz.com but haaretzdaily.com. I went to the website and did not see any news about ebay.

[I Believe It's Not Butter]

Try this

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=264863&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

[Sir Gawain]

-

[Lael]

Better not offer your collection of Dr Marvel decoder rings...

Might be violating 'Crypto' regulations!!

LOL!!

[alnick]

Attorney Nimrod Kozlovski, author of "The Computer and the Legal Process"

Nimrod??

[sharktrager]

"The consent given in the user contract should be seen as `coerced consent,' in the absence of any opportunity to exercise free choice, with no real alternative but to agree. This is most certainly not conscious consent."

There is a choice. Don't use e-Bay.

[Porterville]

Do I need to pay taxes if I sell on eBay occasionally??

[savedbygrace]

Alternatives, please? I'm serious. I need to list a few items and I've never used ebay before, other than to look up some items I was thinking of buying.

[sharktrager]

uBid, for one. Yahoo auctions.

The point is, you do not "need" to sell them through e-Bay. Commerce existed long before there was an Internet.

[asformeandformyhouse]

Nimrod??

Ah yes, Nimrod. The great hunter of Genesis 10, founder of Babel. Glad to see biblical names are still popular.

Genesis 10:6  And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
7  And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.
8  And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.
9  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.
10  And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

[Yakima]

I have a friend who got a $8,000 tax bill(from the IRS) for income earned on Ebay over a couple of years. So I think it could happen.

[Damagro]

"I don't know another Web site that has a privacy policy as flexible as eBay's," says Joseph Sullivan. A little bit later, Sullivan explains what he means by the term "flexible." Sullivan is director of the "law enforcement and compliance" department at eBay.com, the largest retailer in the world.

---

Is Wal Mart aware they've be passed by eBay as worlds largest retailer?

[Positive]

"Can this info be used for tax collection purposes?"

I thought the same question myself. I answered myself. The IRS is "a law enforcement" agency. And the guy says in the article they'll give info to law enforcement.

I might have given myself a incorrect answer, but notice that twice in the article it is said that 150,000 people make their living on eBay...how is that known?

[Damagro]

been

[Radioactive]

YOu said..."I thought the same question myself. I answered myself. The IRS is "a law enforcement" agency. And the guy says in the article they'll give info to law enforcement."

I say.. the IRS has no law enforcement ability. It is a quasi regulatory agency. It has no law enforcement powers.

[xp38]

Well I'm done for...they'll know about my buying "loose" (as opposed to mint in package) Star Wars action figures.

[Positive]

"Do I need to pay taxes if I sell on eBay occasionally??"

I'm no tax expert, but let's say you buy a painting at a garage sale for $20 and sell it on eBay for $20,000, because it done by a famous artist. Well you have a $19,980 (less expenses) capital gain which is taxable.

On the other hand if you buy a CD by Lewdicrass and you hate it and sell it on eBay for half what you paid for it, you wouldn't have any tax liability since you're selling it at a loss. You may have a deduction against your gain on the painting.