My Friend's entire Lab

[james_s]

Electronics as a hobby has been on life support for ~40 years. It received a HUGE boost from the Arduino, maker culture and related stuff but it's still kind of a niche thing. That said, test equipment on ebay still gets bid well beyond what it would have cost just 4-5 years ago so clearly *someone* is still buying this stuff. It's not just sky high asking prices, though there is a lot of that, actual bids go pretty high on a lot of gear. Hard to even find an old analog scope for under $100 or so.

[Construct]

Condolences about your friend.

FYI there is a lot of misinformation about eBay and the IRS in this thread. If the sale price of the items is less than what you paid for them, you do not have to pay taxes.

If someone was operating a hobby and using eBay as a storefront to sell their goods (for profit) then they would be obligated to pay taxes on them.

[bdunham7]

If the sale price of the items is less than what you paid for them, you do not have to pay taxes.

But you have to account for everything and if audited, provide proof of the items cost and sales price.  And unless you are setup and operating at least as a Schedule C business, you probably can't deduct any costs or expenses. 

[edavid]

And unless you are setup and operating at least as a Schedule C business, you probably can't deduct any costs or expenses.

For a non-business sale, the costs and expenses do offset the sale price.  You just can't use a loss to offset other income:

Report your costs, up to but not more than the proceeds amount (the Form 1099-K amount), on Part II – Line 24z – Other Adjustments, using the description "Form 1099-K Personal Item Sold at a Loss."

For the details see:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/form-1099-k-frequently-asked-questions-general