Determining if you are a business is more than simply earning a profit, although having a profit in three out of five years would be strong evidence that you are a business. You also have to take into consideration the amount of time you devote to the activity, how meticulous you are with record keeping, how long you are involved with it, what your other income producing activities are.
Since you are selling personal items, if you simply do that until you run out of items it is less likely to be considered a business. On the other hand, if you purchase items for sale in addition to selling things you purchase for personal use, that would indicate a profit motive.
You can read this IRS article to learn more.
**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post
**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"
