Tax Year Prior to 2020: Question about taxes on eBay sales - not making a profit, but selling a lot of things I've been collecting over the years

[Laladien]

So this year I've been gutting a lot of my collections - board games, video games and selling it all on eBay. The stuff goes for far less than I ever paid for it, not that I have receipts for this stuff, it's all years old. That having been said, my tax guy told me because I'm not profiting from it and it's not a business, that I won't have to pay taxes on it, nor will I receive a 1099, because I won't make over $20,000 but is this accurate? I don't want to get in trouble and I've read that some eBay sales DO get taxed.

As I said, I'm liquidating my collections to pay medical bills, but it is not my income - my wife and I have jobs. This is not a business at all, nor is it a hobby - I'm just clearing things out of our house. I just don't want to dip into our savings and am thus selling off old board games and video games in order to avoid that. Thoughts? 

[KarenL]

Your tax guy is correct.  You have no "profit motive" and you are selling items for less than what you paid for them.  Therefore, there is no tax reporting required.  You are good to go! 

If you ever do get a statement from eBay (or a payment processor such as PayPal) the IRS may have questions about it, but you will not be taxed based on the scenario you described.