Card Dealer Accounting: P&L, Taxes, and Schedule C for Resellers

Every January, card resellers open their 1099-K and realize their "I had a good year" estimate was based on revenue, not profit, and the IRS just told their accountant about every dollar that came in. This guide walks through how to track dealer accounting honestly, what the IRS actually cares about, and how to set up a P&L that maps cleanly to Schedule C so tax season is twenty minutes instead of twenty hours.

Why dealer accounting is different from regular small-business accounting

Three things break the standard small-business accounting model when you're a card reseller:

• Per-unit cost basis matters more than aggregate cost. A "what did I spend on inventory this year" total doesn't tell you which cards were profitable. You need cost per card.
• Platform fees are layered. eBay charges insertion fees, final value fees, promoted-listing ad fees, store subscription fees, international shipping fees, payment-dispute fees. They all hit your statement differently and most tools roll them into one bucket that doesn't match what eBay actually took.
• 1099-K is per platform. You don't get one consolidated 1099. eBay sends one, PayPal sends one, Whatnot sends one, Stripe (if you accept cards in person) sends one. Each one starts at $600/year per platform. You need to know which platforms you're tracking toward the threshold.

The eBay Finances API vs Fulfillment API trap

This is the single most common mistake in dealer accounting tools, and the reason most P&Ls are silently 5-10% off.

eBay exposes two APIs that look like they give you sales data:

• Fulfillment API. The order, buyer, items, shipping address, sale price. Most tools pull from here because it's simpler. It doesn't include promoted-listing ad fees or shipping label costs.
• Finances API. The actual transactions on your eBay account, every fee eBay took, when they took it, and what for. Matches your monthly eBay statement to the penny.

If your accounting pulls from Fulfillment, your "fees" line is the final value fee only. Promoted-listing ad fees (often 2-15% on top) don't show up. Shipping labels don't show up. Your P&L overstates profit by whatever eBay actually took beyond the basic FVF, usually 5-10% across an active store, sometimes more.

SCN pulls from the Finances API. Every fee that eBay actually took shows up in your P&L on the right line. Your platform-fees number matches what hits your bank account.

The P&L lines that matter for a card business

At minimum, you need:

• Gross revenue. Total sale price across all platforms. This is the number on your 1099-Ks.
• Cost of goods sold (COGS). What you paid for the cards that actually sold this year. Critically: not what you spent on inventory, only the portion of that inventory that sold. Cards still in inventory at year-end are an asset, not an expense.
• Platform fees. All of them, per platform, real (not estimated).
• Shipping costs. Postage paid + materials. The materials are technically a separate expense category but most dealers lump them with shipping.
• Other deductible expenses. Grading fees, software subscriptions, mileage to card shows, supplies, storage. Each one is its own Schedule C line.
• Net profit. Gross revenue − COGS − fees − shipping − other expenses. This is Schedule C Line 31, the number you actually pay self-employment tax on.

1099-K thresholds, what you need to track per platform

The IRS dropped the 1099-K threshold to $600/platform/year starting tax year 2024 (with phase-in adjustments). What that means in practice:

• Every platform you sell on tracks your gross sales independently.
• When any single platform crosses $600 in a calendar year, that platform sends you (and the IRS) a 1099-K reporting your gross sales for the year.
• Gross is the sale price total, not net after fees. So a $700 gross year on eBay generates a 1099-K even if you only netted $400 after fees.
• You report the 1099-K total as gross revenue on Schedule C. Your fees, COGS, and expenses come off as deductions to get to net profit.

SCN's Tax Center tracks 1099-K-counting gross by platform so you know in November which platforms will issue forms in January. No 1099 surprises.

What's actually deductible for card dealers

The categories that usually matter:

• Cost of goods sold. What you paid for cards that sold.
• Platform fees. eBay fees, payment processor fees, PSA + BGS + SGC grading fees.
• Shipping supplies. Top loaders, sleeves, team bags, mailers, bubble wrap, tape. Anything that becomes part of the shipped package.
• Shipping postage. What you paid for labels.
• Software subscriptions. SCN, your accounting software, eBay store subscription, image-hosting fees.
• Mileage. Card shows, post office runs, supply runs. IRS published a per-mile deduction (2026 rate: ~$0.70/mile, verify current rate at filing).
• Card show table fees. What you paid the show organizer for table space.
• Storage. If you rent a dedicated storage unit or have a dedicated home-office room (home-office is its own thing with rules, talk to a CPA).
• Inventory acquisition costs. Travel to buy cards, time spent grading, mailing costs to send cards out for grading. These attach to specific cards as cost-basis additions.

Schedule C, what lands where

Schedule C is the IRS form for sole-proprietor business income. Card dealers (most of them) file this annually with their personal return. The lines that matter for resellers:

• Line 1, Gross receipts. Sum of your 1099-K totals across all platforms.
• Line 4, Cost of goods sold. Computed from Part III: beginning inventory + purchases − ending inventory.
• Line 8, Advertising. Promoted-listing fees on eBay land here.
• Line 11, Contract labor. If you pay someone to help (graders, assistants).
• Line 17, Legal and professional services. CPA, lawyer.
• Line 18, Office expense. Software subscriptions, supplies for the business not for the cards.
• Line 22, Supplies. Shipping supplies, top loaders, sleeves, bags.
• Line 24a, Travel. Out-of-town card shows.
• Line 25, Utilities. Phone, internet (business portion).
• Line 27a, Other expenses. Grading fees, eBay platform fees (some folks put eBay fees here, some put them on Line 10 Commissions; either works, be consistent).
• Line 31, Net profit. The number you pay self-employment tax on.

SCN's Tax Center labels every transaction with its target Schedule C line. Click into the Tax Center on Dealer tier and you see a return-ready summary instead of a generic profit number.

The year-end workflow

At a high level, December for card dealers:

• Inventory count. Count cards on hand on December 31. This becomes your ending inventory + next year's beginning inventory. SCN's Inventory Valuation does this automatically from your records.
• Expense roundup. Make sure every business expense from the year is in the system. Pull bank/credit-card statements, cross-check against the Expenses tab.
• Mileage log. If you tracked mileage, total it. Multiply by current IRS rate.
• Cross-platform reconciliation. Match each 1099-K total (in January when they arrive) against your platform-tracked gross. Discrepancies usually mean a sale was attributed to the wrong year (e.g., December sale that paid out in January).
• Schedule C preparation. SCN's Tax Center generates a per-line summary you can hand to a CPA or paste into TurboTax / FreeTaxUSA Schedule C.

How SCN compares to QuickBooks / Wave / generic small-business tools

Generic accounting tools (QuickBooks, Wave, FreshBooks) handle the bookkeeping side fine, they let you log transactions and categorize. What they don't do:

• Pull eBay Finances API automatically, you'd manually enter each fee or import a generic CSV that won't line up with eBay's statement.
• Track per-card cost basis for COGS calculations.
• Surface 1099-K thresholds per platform.
• Map fees to the right Schedule C line for resellers specifically.
• Track grading fees as a card-basis cost addition vs an immediate expense.

For a dealer doing real volume, the right setup is usually SCN for the dealer-specific workflow + a generic accounting tool for the broader business books (if you have payroll, multiple business entities, etc.). For most sole-proprietor card resellers, SCN alone is enough.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between hobby and business income for cards?

The IRS has a "intent to make a profit" test. If you're consistently buying cards to resell at a markup, tracking your sales, and treating it like a business, then you're a business, and you file Schedule C. If you sell off your own collection occasionally without a profit motive, it's hobby income, reported differently and with more limited deductions. Talk to a CPA if you're not sure, because the classification matters a lot.

Can I deduct cards I bought but didn't sell this year?

No. Those are inventory, an asset. They become an expense (COGS) in the year they sell. This is why ending inventory matters: cards on hand at December 31 stay capitalized until they sell next year.

What about the cards I personally collect that I'll never sell?

Those aren't business inventory. Keep them separate from your dealer inventory. SCN supports a Personal Collection toggle on inventory items, and collection cards don't flow into your dealer P&L or 1099-K calculations.

Do I need to charge sales tax?

Depends on your state and your platforms. eBay collects and remits sales tax for you in most U.S. states (Marketplace Facilitator laws). For in-person card show sales, you may owe sales tax to your state, so check your state's rules.

What happens if I sold cards through a platform that didn't issue a 1099-K because I was under $600?

You still owe tax on the income. The 1099-K is a reporting mechanism, and its absence doesn't change what you owe. Track gross + net across every platform regardless of whether you cross the form threshold.

Related: Sports Card Dealer Software: The Complete 2026 Buyer's Guide for the broader category. How to Track PSA Submissions for the grading-cost-basis side. The FAQ has workflow specifics. Questions? Email support@sportscardnetwork.ai.