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How to split a bulk lot's cost across the singles you pull from it
Add up everything the lot cost you, shipping and tax included. Put a value on each single you pull, and one value on the bulk you keep together. Then give each piece the same share of the cost as its share of the value: a card worth 40% of the lot carries 40% of what you paid. Accountants call this a relative sales value split. It is the split that tells you whether each card, and the lot as a whole, made money.
Why the split matters
A sold price looks like profit until three things come out of it: the fees, the postage, and what the card cost you. The first two are on your eBay statement. The third does not exist until you work it out, and with a bulk lot that means splitting one receipt across dozens or hundreds of cards.
Skip it and every sale reads as pure profit while the lot sells through. Then the bulk you are left holding looks like a loss it is not. Neither number helps you decide whether to buy the next lot.
Step 1: Write down the all-in cost
The price, plus shipping, plus any sales tax you paid. That is the number you divide. A $105 lot with $9 shipping and $6 tax cost $120, and $120 is what the cards have to earn back before anything is profit.
Step 2: Decide what you will pull and what stays bulk
Most lots are a few cards worth listing on their own and a pile that sells by the hundred. You do not have to split the pile card by card. Treat it as one piece with one value: what the pile would sell for as a lot.
If you later pull a card out of the pile to list on its own, split the pile's cost again between that card and what is left, by the same rule.
Step 3: Put a value on each piece
Use the price you expect each one to sell for. If you list through a scanner, the price it gave the card at scan time works. The values do not have to be exact. They only set each card's share, and the shares add back to exactly what you paid.
Step 4: Split the cost by value
Here is the $120 lot with four singles worth pulling and about 300 cards of bulk:
| Piece | Value | Share | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card A | $40.00 | 40% | $48.00 |
| Card B | $20.00 | 20% | $24.00 |
| Card C | $10.00 | 10% | $12.00 |
| Card D | $5.00 | 5% | $6.00 |
| Bulk, about 300 cards | $25.00 | 25% | $30.00 |
| Total | $100.00 | 100% | $120.00 |
The lot cost 1.2 times its value, so each piece carries 1.2 times its own value as cost. Card A, valued at $40, carries $48.
That tells you something useful right away: Card A has to sell for more than $48 plus fees before it has made anything. Say it sells for $45. At eBay's standard rate the fee is about $6.36 (what eBay charges on a card sale), so the card kept $45.00 minus $6.36 minus $48.00, a loss of $9.36. If the buyer's shipping did not cover the label, the difference comes off too. The lot can still come out ahead once the other cards sell. The difference is that you can see which card did not carry its share.
Why not split it evenly?
Spread $120 evenly over 304 cards and each one costs about $0.39. Card A now shows about $38 of profit on a $45 sale, while the 300 bulk cards carry about $118 between them, so the pile you sell for $25 shows a $93 loss.
Both numbers are wrong, and they point the same way: buy the next lot for the singles and dump the bulk. An even split is fine when the cards really are alike, such as a pile of commons from one set. It misleads as soon as one card is worth more than the rest.
Why not leave it all on the lot?
Another common shortcut is to take the whole $120 off the first few sales, or to wait until the lot is gone and count it then. It is simple, and it hides the thing you bought the lot to find out: which cards paid for it. It also falls apart when a lot takes months to sell through, because the cost sits on paper while every sale reports as pure profit.
When you open a lot in stages
Big lots rarely get scanned in one sitting. If you split the full $120 across the first 60 cards you scan, those 60 carry cost that belongs to the cards still in the box.
Reserve by count instead. If you expect 300 cards and scan 60, that pass takes 60 of 300, one fifth of what is left: $24. The next pass takes its share of the $96 that remains. When the lot is finished, split the whole cost again by value across everything that came out of it. That last split is the one that counts.
One exception: a card that sold before the last split keeps the cost it sold with. That sale is already on the books, and changing its cost afterwards would change a profit you have already reported. The last split spreads what is left of the lot's cost across the cards still on hand.
Keep the cost with the card
Once a card has its cost, it should keep it through everything that happens next: a month on the shelf, a sale, a refund, a return. A card that comes back from a buyer still cost $48.
At the end of the year, the cost of everything you sold is your cost of goods sold, the figure an accountant asks for. Add it up from the cards, not from memory.
Doing it without a spreadsheet
A spreadsheet can do all of this until the lot is 300 rows and one bad sort scrambles the cost column. Stowdesk does the split when you import a scan: by value, evenly, or left on the lot, your choice. It reserves by count when you scan a box in stages, and splits what is left again by value when you close it, leaving the cost of anything already sold where it was. Each item then carries its own cost to the sale, where the fees eBay actually charged come off and what the item kept is recorded.
The free plan holds 250 items, takes no payment details and does not expire. See how it compares to a spreadsheet, or see the plans for bigger shelves.
Questions
Do shipping and tax go into the cost?
Yes. What you paid to get the lot into your hands is what the cards have to earn back. Leave them out and every card looks a little more profitable than it was.
What if I do not know a card's value yet?
Use your best estimate now and split again once you know more. The values only set each card's share. The total cost does not change, so an estimate that is a little off moves cost between cards, not out of the lot.
Is this how my accountant wants it?
Splitting a lot's cost by relative value is a common way to keep the records, but your accountant decides what fits your return. This guide is about keeping the records, not tax advice.