How to report 1099-K eBay personal item sales

[lost in space]

Like many others, I received a 1099-K from eBay for the first time this year. I sold about 70 items in 2024. Most belonged to a relative. They were mainly electronics and specialized tools purchased more than 30 years ago. My understanding is that I've sold these items at a loss, but I have no original purchase information to prove that.

This is not a business. Once I get rid of my relative's stuff, which could take another year, I plan to use eBay only occasionally.

One reply on this topic seems to suggest there's no need to list each item, but another seems to suggest the opposite. Estimating the original cost of each of my relative's items will take hours of research, which I'd rather avoid. 

What is the correct way to handle this?

Thank you.

[RobertB4444]

The proper way to report personal item sales is to enter them one at a time.  Every loss on a sale zeroes out - you can't deduct the loss on a sale of a personal item.  But every gain is taxable.  Meaning if you sold any one item at a profit the profit on that one item is taxable and the losses from other items can't be used to reduce that gain.

In your case it sounds like everything is being sold at a loss.  That is pretty standard with personal item sales.  And it is also understandable that you don't want to list them all.

As an alternative - if you are certain that every item was sold at a loss - then you can lump them together into one expense and enter the exact same amount from the K-1 as the cost of the personal items.  This will show no loss for the year as the rules require.  However, if you do this, you should maintain records of everything that you sold and be prepared for the IRS to potentially request a list of the sales from you down the road.

Here is a good article from TurboTax on this topic.

@lost in space