I'm not sure how things are exactly with the new rules.
Back when I was doing a decent amount of items on Ebay, we reported all of my ebay income under "other income"
Being somewhat lazy, and not being good at record keeping, we reported the entire gross, rather than try to figure out what the stuff had cost.
Some items I'd had for decades, and didn't remember what I'd paid. (Was that card from a pack, or a lot, or did I buy it individually? From a dealer? Or a flea market or yard sale? ) Others I knew what I paid, but it came from a yard sale paid in cash, and hardly any yard sales give receipts, especially on stuff that's cheap.
I saved what I had for provable expenses, like Ebay fees and shipping. And I think one year I did subtract that from the total before it went on the "other income" line.
But generally I had provable expenses that I didn't write off.
I was also typically under 12K a year.
I was sort of a business, in that I had a Mass sales tax ID for a few years. But hadn't done a local DBA form, as they made it complicated, file the form, give them a business plan, including expected customers at your location, business hours... I told the clerk my plan was basically "sell stuff on the internet that I've either had for years or got at a yard sale" and that it would be pretty rare to have anyone actually come to the house, Like maybe once every couple years? They said I shouldn't bother with the form.
Now they tax locally held inventory, which would be a huge nuisance. Some I kept at the house, some at a storage area in a different town.
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