Tax and accounting for merchants
This page explains what a trade on TBBN is in money terms, what every number TBBN gives you means, where to get a record of each trade, and what to take to your accountant. It isn't tax advice: tax rules differ by country, state and business, so confirm how they apply to you with a tax professional.
What TBBN does and doesn't do with money
- Your checkout is the checkout. When a trade needs a cash difference, your trader pays it at your checkout, the same way they'd pay for any order. Your checkout adds your taxes, fees and delivery charges, exactly as for your other sales.
- TBBN never takes a cut of a trade's value, and doesn't collect payment for the items traded.
- TBBN doesn't calculate, collect or pay tax on trades. Whatever tax your checkout charges is yours to report, as for any sale.
- TBBN doesn't currently issue tax forms for trades (such as information returns). Whether any are needed for your trades, and from whom, is a question for your tax adviser.
- TBBN's own fees are a separate bill — your plan, usage and checkout-orchestration fees — with tax shown on each invoice. See Your TBBN fees.
What a trade is, in money terms
In a trade, each side gives items and receives the other side's items. If the two sides aren't worth the same, the side receiving more value pays the difference in cash. So for your side, a trade is:
- items you gave, each with the price you listed it at;
- items you received, each with the price the other side listed it at; and
- a cash amount: what your trader paid at your checkout (the difference, if your side owed it), or nothing.
A trade can matter for tax even when little or no cash changes hands. How it applies to you is for your adviser; the records below give them every figure.
The numbers
| Name | What it is |
|---|---|
originalPrice | The price an item is listed at — what you'd sell it for outright. |
requestedAmount | Extra the item's seller asks for on top of the listed price when trading it. Optional. |
willingToPay | An amount the item's seller is prepared to pay in addition to trading it. Optional. |
tradeValue | What an item counts for in a trade: originalPrice + requestedAmount − willingToPay. |
| Side value | The sum of a side's items' trade values, plus any cash that side added to its offer. |
cashAddedToOffer | Cash the offering trader added on top of their items. |
tradeAmount | What one side's trader pays at that side's checkout: the difference between the two side values, or 0. |
Only one side ever pays: the side whose value is lower pays the difference to even it up. On an even swap both sides pay 0 and use the checkout to confirm the exchange.
A worked example
Store A lists a pair of sneakers at $150 and asks $25 extra when trading them. Store B lists a tablet at $380. Store A's trader offers the sneakers for the tablet, and Store B's trader accepts.
| Side | Item | originalPrice | requestedAmount | tradeValue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Store A | Sneakers | $150 | $25 | $175 |
| Store B | Tablet | $380 | — | $380 |
Side A is worth $175 and side B $380, so side A pays the $205 difference.
- Store A's checkout collects $205 from its trader, plus whatever tax and fees Store A's checkout
charges. Its
checkout.startedwebhook says:{ "side": "A", "currency": "USD", "originalPrice": 150, "tradeValue": 175, "otherSideTradeValue": 380, "tradeAmount": 205 }. - Store B's checkout collects $0 and confirms the exchange — it still charges any tax or fee
Store B applies to a $0 order. Its webhook says
{ "side": "B", "originalPrice": 380, "tradeValue": 380, "otherSideTradeValue": 175, "tradeAmount": 0 }.
In each store's trade records, Store A's row shows it gave sneakers listed at $150, received a tablet listed at $380, and collected $205; Store B's row shows it gave a tablet listed at $380, received sneakers listed at $150 (trade value $175), and collected $0.
Your trade records
Every trade your store takes part in has a record, with the prices as they were when the trade's checkout opened — editing a listing later never changes it.
- In your Merchant dashboard: Trade records shows your trades for any dates and Download CSV gives you a spreadsheet for your accountant: trade id, dates, the items each side gave with their prices and trade values, the other side (a store by name, or an individual member), cash added to the offer, what each side's trader paid and when, how your side settled, your checkout reference and when you fulfilled.
- By API:
GET /v1/trade-sessions/records?from=…&to=…returns the same records (at most a year at a time). Anyone on your Merchant team can use it — the Accountant role included. - As it happens:
checkout.startedcarries each side's numbers (see the example above), andGET /v1/trade-sessions/{id}has the full trade. See Webhooks.
TBBN's records don't include the tax your checkout charged — that's in your own checkout and payment
records. Match the two with the trade id or your checkout reference (merchantCheckoutSessionRef,
the reference you send TBBN when you report the payment).
Using your tax tool
TBBN doesn't connect to tax tools for trades; your checkout does, as for any sale. The figures above are what you'd give it — for example the items and their prices, and the amount due. Tools and places handle a trade-in differently: some tax only the cash paid after a trade-in, others the full price of the item. Check how yours should be set up for trades.
Your TBBN fees
- Your plan (Starter or Growth, monthly or yearly) and any usage beyond your plan's allowance are billed by TBBN with tax calculated for your billing address. Every invoice is under Billing on business.tbbnetwork.com, with a link to view or download it.
- Usage is metered per service (listing syncs, searches, offers, trade negotiations, webhook deliveries), and usage for trades with other stores counts at a higher rate. See Pricing.
- The checkout-orchestration fee is charged per completed checkout on your side of a trade.
These are what your business pays TBBN; they're separate from the value of any trade.
Questions to take to your accountant
- Should I record the items I receive in a trade as income, and at what value — the listed price or something else?
- What's my sales-tax base for a trade where I live: the full price of the item, or only the cash paid after the trade-in?
- Do any information returns apply to my trades, and who issues them?
- Does any marketplace-facilitator rule apply to trades through TBBN, given that my checkout collects payment and TBBN doesn't?
- How do I record the cost of the items I gave, and TBBN's fees?
- How long must I keep these records?
Bring your trade records CSV and your own checkout's records for the same dates.
Space hosts
Space bookings are different: TBBN takes the guest's payment, tax included, and pays your earnings to your Stripe account each week. Your payouts are listed in your Stripe dashboard, and each Space's earnings on its page under Payouts. Ask your adviser how to report them.