eBay only keeps records of your auctions for a limited time and there is nothing more frustrating than when an item you though you were done with turns up missing or you need to relist it months after eBay has removed the data. Many sellers know the value of keeping a record of your eBay sales outside of eBay.com.

Reasons for keeping a hard copy of your records:

• Tax purposes
• Back-up in case of computer crash
• The ability to look up an item you sold years ago
• An accurate record of your past sales at your finger tips without turning on your computer

What should you be keeping track of?

• Item number
• Bidder email/ID
• What you originally paid for the item
• What you sold the item for
• Was there any refund, partial or full
• Money Order or Check #/PayPal transaction ID
• Did you leave them feedback?
• Did they leave you feedback?
• Total fees paid on item

Recommended Programs and Tools

• The Seller Ledger: an Auction Organizer for Selling on eBay
  This book is set up like a traditional ledger but is specifically set up for eBay sellers. Has a special section on unpaid auctions and includes a handy eBay fees cheat sheet. You can usually find copies of this book on sale on eBay for under $10 and they fit thousands of auctions so its great value for your money.
• Quickbooks with Accounting Assistant
  If your eBay business is an official registered and recognized business, I recommend getting Quickbooks (off eBay, of course! Never pay full price for anything!) and then integrating it with eBay Accounting Assistant. The only thing I would caution you is to set up all of your eBay sales as a single customer. There is a maximum number of customers allowed in all versions of QuickBooks and you can reach that max quickly if you do a lot of eBay business. Setting all eBay sales up as a single Ebay customer is a great way to work around this.