How to deal with eBay transactions

This article explains how to manage eBay transactions in FreeAgent.

Method 1: record income by explaining as ‘Sales’

As invoicing will likely be handled on eBay's side, you likely wouldn’t need to create sales invoices in FreeAgent. Therefore, you’d only need to record the income by explaining it as ‘Sales’ when it imports into FreeAgent. Find out more about how to record income without creating invoices.

When payments relating to eBay sales arrive in the business bank account in FreeAgent, you'll have to account for any fees manually by splitting the bank transaction to record the full amount of income and the fee(s) separately.

You can create custom income and cost categories if you wish.

Method 2: record the income into eBay separately

Alternatively, if you'd like to account for the income into eBay separately, first add a dummy bank account and give it a suitable name, such as ‘eBay Sales’.

If you sell directly on any of the foreign eBay marketplaces, you’ll need to record this income separately in another bank account (e.g. 'eBay Sales DE', 'eBay Sales FR').

You’ll then need to obtain an export file from eBay that clearly includes the sales and fees for a given period (specifically this file needs to include dates, amounts and descriptions). You’ll then likely need to amend the format of this file to the required CSV format before uploading it into the 'eBay Sales' bank account in FreeAgent.

Once uploaded, you can then explain the income and fees directly in the 'eBay Sales' bank account. You can create custom income and cost categories if you wish.

Any money that’s then transferred from eBay into the business bank account will need to be recorded as a transfer from the eBay account, not as income. Please note that explaining this money in as ‘Sales’ again would risk double accounting for the sales.