How RelistKit Counts Your Costs

What did an item really cost you? Usually more than the price on the tag. RelistKit works out each item's total cost, and takes it off your profit when the item sells, the way the CRA counts it. This article explains what goes into a total cost, when it counts, and how to change it.

What an item's total cost is made of

• Bought for: what you paid for the item itself, the price on the tag.
• Tax you can't claim back: the sales tax you paid on it, if you can't get it back.
• Getting it ready: cleaning, repairs, or shipping you paid to have it sent to you.

For example, if you're in Ontario and not registered for GST/HST, a $10 thrift find has a total cost of $11.30: $10 plus the 13% HST you paid.

The tax RelistKit adds

Whether RelistKit adds the sales tax you paid depends on your GST/HST registration, set under Settings → Sales tax:

• Not registered, or on the quick method: you can't claim back the tax you pay on stock, so RelistKit adds your province's full sales tax rate.
• Registered on the regular method: you claim the GST/HST back, so it isn't added. In provinces with PST or QST, the provincial part is still added, unless you're registered for QST.

The tax is never added to an item when:

• you tick No tax paid on the item or on the stock purchase it came from, for a store that charged no tax
• you choose With the tax I paid under Settings → Item costs (see below)

Choose how you enter costs

Open Settings and find the Item costs card.

Under The costs you enter, choose:

• Before tax, the price on the tag (the usual choice): enter the tag price, and RelistKit adds the tax you can't claim back.
• With the tax I paid: enter what you paid at the till, tax included. Nothing is added.

Under On each item's page, choose how much you see:

• Just what I paid (the usual choice): each item shows Bought for, with its total cost underneath when tax or other costs are added.
• Every detail (Starter and up): each item gets a Costs card showing its stock purchase, the tax added, the date bought, getting-ready costs, costs of selling it, and whether it's from your own closet. You can also add a cost from there, or tick No tax paid.

Both choices save as soon as you click them.

When a cost counts

• When the item sells. An item's total cost comes off your profit in the period it sells. That's cost of goods sold on your profit and loss.
• Not when you buy stock. Unsold stock is inventory, not an expense. A stock purchase never goes into your profit and loss. Each item from it counts at its own cost as it sells, and RelistKit never splits a purchase's total across its items.
• Getting-ready costs not tied to an item count on the day you paid them, as part of cost of goods sold.

Costs of selling it, like a promoted listing or packaging for one item, aren't part of an item's cost. They're business expenses that also come off that sale's profit on your Sales report.

Items with no cost

An item with no cost entered counts as $0. RelistKit flags them so you can fill them in:

• under your profit and loss: "items that sold have no cost recorded", with Show them
• on Reports → Inventory value, under No cost recorded
• on Reports → Year-end, in Before you hand it over

A cost of 0 that you type, like for something you were given, counts as recorded.

Common questions

Why is the total cost more than what I typed?

RelistKit added the sales tax you paid and can't claim back. If the store charged no tax, tick No tax paid. If you'd rather type what you paid, tax included, choose With the tax I paid under Settings → Item costs.

The store didn't charge tax. How do I say so?

Log the haul as a stock purchase with No tax paid ticked, and add its items to it (see Expenses and Stock Purchases). With Every detail turned on, you can also tick No tax paid on a single item's Costs card, or in the RelistKit panel when you enter the cost while listing.

Where's the Costs card?

It shows when Every detail is chosen under Settings → Item costs, on Starter and up. In the usual view, add a getting-ready cost this way:

1. Click Trackers in the top menu. The Expenses tab opens first.
2. Click Add what you spent.
3. Click Getting stock ready, then enter the date, what you paid and the category.
4. Under Item, choose the item.
5. Click Add.

I registered for GST/HST and my old profits changed. Why?

Every item's cost is worked out from your settings today. Once you're registered on the regular method, the GST/HST is no longer added to your item costs, so your past profits go up to match.

Does a consignor's share include the tax?

No. When a consignor's share is a percentage of net profit, RelistKit takes off what you bought the item for and any costs to get it ready, but not the tax it adds.