The Best Accounting Software for Resellers in 2026: QuickBooks vs Every Alternative Worth Considering

The IRS isn’t playing around anymore. The $600 1099-K reporting threshold is fully enforced in 2026, which means if you sold more than $600 on eBay, Poshmark, Mercari, Amazon, or basically any marketplace — you’re getting a tax form. Every single platform is reporting your gross sales to the IRS, and if your books don’t match, you’re waving a red flag at an audit.

Most resellers lose money on taxes not because they owe more, but because they track nothing. They pay taxes on gross revenue instead of net profit because they can’t prove their cost of goods sold. That $800 in thrift store receipts you shoved in a shoebox? Worthless unless it’s recorded somewhere the IRS respects.

Here’s the hard math: if you sold $30,000 gross on eBay last year and your actual COGS was $8,000, your shipping supplies cost $2,400, platform fees ate $3,900, and mileage was another $3,200 in deductions — your taxable profit is around $12,500, not $30,000. At a 22% federal bracket plus 15.3% self-employment tax, that’s the difference between owing roughly $4,660 and $11,190. Proper bookkeeping just saved you $6,530. That’s not theoretical — that’s what real resellers lose every year by not tracking expenses.

Let’s break down every option that actually works for this business model.

Why Resellers Have Unique Accounting Needs

A freelance graphic designer invoices one client, gets paid, and writes off their Adobe subscription. Clean and simple. Reselling is an accounting nightmare by comparison, and most generic small business software wasn’t designed for it.

The Multi-Platform Problem

A typical full-time reseller in 2026 might sell across eBay, Poshmark, Mercari, Amazon FBA, Facebook Marketplace, Whatnot, and their own Shopify store. Each platform has different fee structures, different payout schedules, and different 1099-K reporting. Your eBay 1099-K shows gross sales including shipping and sales tax collected — neither of which is your actual income. If you don’t reconcile that properly, you’re overpaying.

The COGS Tracking Challenge

Every single item you sell has a different cost basis. That Nike jacket cost $4.99 at Goodwill. The vintage lamp was $35 at an estate sale. The lot of 50 video games was $200 at a storage auction — what’s the per-unit cost? This is where most resellers give up on accounting, and it’s exactly where the biggest tax savings hide.

The 1099-K Reality in 2026

Every marketplace reports at $600. If you sell on five platforms and each one issues a 1099-K, the IRS sees your combined gross. If you can’t prove your deductions, you’re paying self-employment tax (15.3%) plus income tax on every dollar of gross sales. For a reseller doing $60,000 gross with $25,000 in actual deductions, failing to track COGS and expenses means overpaying by roughly $9,300 in taxes.

QuickBooks Self-Employed vs QuickBooks Online Simple Start

QuickBooks dominates small business accounting, but they offer two very different products that confuse resellers constantly.

QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE) — $15/month

QBSE was built for freelancers and gig workers. It’s stripped down, mobile-friendly, and integrates with TurboTax for tax filing.

What it does well for resellers:

• Automatic mileage tracking via GPS (surprisingly accurate — tracks trips in background)
• Receipt scanning with OCR that pulls amounts and vendors
• Separates personal and business transactions when you connect a bank account
• Quarterly tax estimation based on your income and deductions
• Direct export to TurboTax Self-Employed (saves roughly $50-80 on tax prep)

Where it falls short:

• No real inventory tracking whatsoever — you can’t log individual items with cost basis
• No COGS category by default (you have to hack it with custom categories)
• No invoicing beyond basic templates
• Can’t generate a proper Profit & Loss statement with COGS separated
• No multi-user access if you have a spouse or bookkeeper helping
• Limited reporting — you get income vs. expenses and that’s about it

Bottom line: QBSE works for casual resellers doing under $20,000/year who just need to track mileage and basic expenses. It’s not enough for anyone treating reselling as a real business.

QuickBooks Online Simple Start — $30/month

QBO Simple Start is actual business accounting software. It uses double-entry bookkeeping, proper chart of accounts, and generates real financial statements.

What it does well for resellers:

• Full chart of accounts you can customize for reselling (COGS, platform fees, shipping, etc.)
• Proper Profit & Loss reports that separate gross profit from operating expenses
• Bank feed connections with smart categorization rules (after training, it auto-categorizes 80%+ of transactions)
• Receipt capture via mobile app
• 1099-K reconciliation — you can match platform payouts to reported income
• Integrates with third-party inventory tools
• Mileage tracking (added in 2025 update)
• One user plus one accountant login

Where it falls short:

• $30/month is steep for part-time resellers — that’s $360/year
• Individual item COGS tracking still requires manual entry or a third-party integration
• The learning curve is real — setting up a chart of accounts properly takes 2-3 hours
• Bank feed categorization needs manual review, especially with mixed personal/business accounts
• No built-in listing or cross-posting features

Bottom line: QBO Simple Start is the gold standard for resellers doing $30,000+ annually. The proper financial reporting pays for itself at tax time, and any CPA you hire will know how to work with QuickBooks files.

Wave — The Free Option That Actually Works

Wave is completely free for accounting and invoicing. They make money on payment processing and payroll — the core bookkeeping costs you nothing.

What you get for $0:

• Full double-entry accounting with customizable chart of accounts
• Unlimited bank and credit card connections
• Receipt scanning (unlimited)
• Financial reporting: P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, tax reports
• Unlimited invoicing
• Multi-currency support
• Up to 2 businesses under one account

The real limitations:

• No mileage tracking at all — you’ll need a separate app (Everlance or Stride, both free)
• No inventory management
• Customer support is email-only and slow (sometimes 3-5 business days)
• No direct payroll in all states
• The mobile app is functional but clunky compared to QuickBooks
• Bank feed syncing can lag 24-48 hours behind
• No TurboTax integration — you’ll export reports manually for tax filing

Who should use Wave: Resellers who are disciplined enough to manually categorize transactions and don’t need mileage tracking built in. If you’re doing $15,000-$50,000/year and want proper books without the monthly fee, Wave is genuinely excellent. The P&L reports are clean, and any CPA can work with exported Wave data.

The Hidden Cost of Free

Wave’s lack of mileage tracking means you need a second app. If you use Everlance’s free tier (30 auto-tracked trips/month), that might be enough. But if you’re sourcing 5 days a week, you’ll need Everlance Premium at $8/month or MileIQ at $6/month. So your “free” accounting setup actually costs $72-96/year. Still cheaper than QuickBooks, but worth noting.

FreshBooks — $17/month (Lite Plan)

FreshBooks is popular with service businesses but gets recommended for resellers more than it should.

Strengths:

• Best-in-class invoicing (irrelevant for most marketplace resellers)
• Clean, intuitive interface — lowest learning curve of any option
• Excellent mobile app
• Built-in time tracking (irrelevant for resellers)
• Receipt scanning with smart OCR
• Mileage tracking on Plus plan ($30/month)

Weaknesses for resellers:

• Lite plan caps at 5 billable clients — if you’re categorizing platforms as “clients,” you’ll hit this fast
• No proper COGS tracking without workarounds
• Limited reporting on Lite plan
• No inventory features
• Plus plan at $30/month makes it as expensive as QBO with fewer reseller-relevant features

Verdict: FreshBooks is a great product for the wrong audience. Unless you also invoice clients for services alongside reselling, skip it.

Reseller-Specific Tools

Hurdlr — $10/month (or $8.34/month billed annually)

Hurdlr was designed for self-employed people and does a few things exceptionally well.

• Automatic mileage tracking that’s best-in-class (better than QuickBooks, honestly)
• Real-time tax estimate that updates as you log income and expenses
• Connects to bank accounts and auto-categorizes with Schedule C categories
• Receipt scanning
• Tracks income from multiple platforms
• Generates quarterly estimated tax amounts with payment reminders

The catch: Hurdlr isn’t full accounting software. It’s a tax tracking and expense categorization tool. You won’t get double-entry bookkeeping, balance sheets, or proper financial statements. Think of it as a supercharged expense tracker, not a QuickBooks replacement.

Best for: Side-hustle resellers doing under $25,000 who just want accurate tax estimates and automatic mileage without the complexity of real accounting software.

MyResellStar — $12/month

MyResellStar is purpose-built for resellers, and it shows.

• Track individual item purchases with cost basis, sourcing location, and date
• Log items across multiple selling platforms (eBay, Poshmark, Mercari, Amazon, etc.)
• Per-item profit calculation including COGS, shipping, and platform fees
• Dashboard showing sell-through rate, average profit margin, and total COGS
• Integrates with eBay for automatic sales import
• Mileage tracking
• Generates reports suitable for Schedule C filing

Limitations:

• Smaller company — fewer integrations than QuickBooks
• No bank feed connections (all income/expense entry is manual or via platform import)
• Interface can feel dated
• Limited export options for CPAs
• Not a full double-entry accounting system

Best for: Resellers who want granular per-item tracking above all else. If knowing your exact profit on every flip matters more to you than financial statements, MyResellStar delivers.

AceBucks — Free (with Premium at $7/month)

AceBucks is a newer entry targeting resellers specifically.

• Free tier includes basic income/expense tracking and mileage
• Per-item COGS tracking with sourcing details
• Cross-platform sales tracking
• Inventory management with photos
• Premium adds receipt scanning, advanced reports, and tax estimates

Limitations:

• Still maturing — occasional bugs and missing features
• Small user base means less community support
• No bank feed connections on free tier
• Premium feature set still catching up to MyResellStar
• Limited CPA-friendly export options

Best for: Budget-conscious new resellers who want reseller-specific tracking without paying $12-30/month. The free tier is genuinely usable, though you’ll outgrow it quickly.

The Complete Comparison Table

COGS Tracking: Specific Identification vs. Average Cost

The IRS allows two primary methods for tracking cost of goods sold, and which one you use significantly impacts your tax bill.

Specific Identification

You track the exact purchase price of every individual item you sell. That pair of Jordan 4s cost $12 at Goodwill. You sold them for $180 on eBay. Your COGS for that sale is $12.

Pros: Most accurate profit tracking. Maximizes deductions when you sell high-margin items. Required for items over $500 in cost basis.

Cons: Requires logging every single purchase. For a reseller buying 50+ items per sourcing trip, this is brutal without a system. One missed receipt and your COGS is understated.

How to actually do it: Use a spreadsheet or MyResellStar to log every purchase at checkout. Take a photo of every receipt. Note the item description, quantity, cost, and sourcing location. When the item sells, match the sale to the purchase record. This is where most resellers fail — the matching step gets skipped.

Average Cost Method

You calculate the average cost of your inventory category. If you bought 100 items for a total of $600, your average cost per item is $6. Every sale uses $6 as COGS regardless of what that specific item actually cost.

Pros: Way simpler to track. Just log total spending per sourcing trip. Works well if your buy prices are relatively consistent.

Cons: Less accurate. If you bought one item for $50 and 99 items for $5.55 each, the average method says each item cost $6. Selling the $50 item only deducts $6 in COGS instead of $50. You overpay taxes on high-cost items and underpay on low-cost items, but over a full year with enough volume, it often washes roughly even.

Which one should you use? If you flip fewer than 500 items per year and have widely varying cost bases ($2 thrift finds mixed with $200 wholesale lots), use specific identification — the tax savings justify the tracking time. If you flip 1,000+ items per year with fairly consistent sourcing costs ($3-8 per item from thrift stores), average cost saves you hours of bookkeeping with minimal tax impact.

Setting Up Your Chart of Accounts

Whether you use QuickBooks or Wave, your chart of accounts is the backbone of your books. Here’s the exact setup for a reselling business:

Income Accounts

• Product Sales — All revenue from item sales across all platforms
• Shipping Income — When buyers pay shipping (this offsets your shipping costs)

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)

• Inventory Purchases — What you paid for items you resell
• Shipping Costs (Outbound) — Postage, labels, carrier fees for sending sold items
• Shipping Supplies — Boxes, poly mailers, bubble wrap, tape, tissue paper
• Platform Selling Fees — eBay final value fees, Poshmark 20%, Mercari 10%, Amazon referral fees
• Payment Processing Fees — PayPal fees, Managed Payments fees when separated

Operating Expenses

• Mileage/Vehicle Expenses — $0.70/mile in 2026 (IRS standard rate) for sourcing trips, post office runs, supply pickups
• Home Office — Percentage of rent/mortgage, utilities, internet for dedicated workspace (simplified method: $5/sq ft up to 300 sq ft = max $1,500 deduction)
• Software & Subscriptions — Accounting software, listing tools, Underpriced subscription, photo editing apps
• Office Supplies — Printer ink, paper, labels, scale
• Advertising & Marketing — Promoted listings on eBay, Poshmark promoted closet, social media ads
• Storage — Rented storage unit, shelving, bins
• Education — Reselling courses, books, conference tickets (yes, deductible)
• Phone & Internet — Business percentage of your phone bill
• Insurance — If you carry business insurance or bonding

Setting Up Bank Feeds

Connect your business bank account and any credit cards you use for sourcing. In QuickBooks or Wave, each transaction will appear in your feed. Create rules to auto-categorize recurring transactions:

• Goodwill purchases → Inventory Purchases
• USPS / Pirate Ship → Shipping Costs
• eBay deposits → Product Sales
• Amazon payouts → Product Sales
• Uline / Amazon (supplies) → Shipping Supplies

Spend 15 minutes once a week categorizing transactions. A week’s worth takes less time than a month’s worth, and a month’s worth is manageable. Letting it pile up until tax time is where resellers blow 20+ hours in February trying to reconstruct a year of spending.

Quarterly Tax Estimation

As a self-employed reseller, you owe estimated taxes quarterly. Miss these payments and you’ll face underpayment penalties — typically 8% of the underpaid amount in 2026.

The Quarterly Deadlines

• Q1 (Jan–Mar): Due April 15, 2026
• Q2 (Apr–May): Due June 15, 2026
• Q3 (Jun–Aug): Due September 15, 2026
• Q4 (Sep–Dec): Due January 15, 2027

How to Calculate

Take your net profit (revenue minus all deductions) and multiply by your effective tax rate. For most resellers, this is roughly 30-35% combined (federal income tax + self-employment tax). If your Q1 net profit was $5,000, set aside $1,500-$1,750 for estimated taxes.

Hurdlr automates this. It tracks your income and expenses in real time and tells you exactly what your quarterly estimate should be. QuickBooks Self-Employed does something similar but with less precision.

Wave and QBO don’t. You’ll need to run a P&L report at the end of each quarter and calculate manually.

The Safe Harbor Rule

If you pay at least 100% of last year’s tax liability in estimated payments (110% if your AGI was over $150,000), you won’t face penalties even if you owe more at filing. This is easier than trying to estimate each quarter perfectly.

Handling Multi-State Sales Tax

If you sell across multiple states — and any marketplace seller does — sales tax compliance became significantly more complex after the 2018 South Dakota v. Wayfair decision. Marketplace facilitator laws mean eBay, Amazon, Poshmark, and Mercari collect and remit sales tax on your behalf in most states. But not all states, and not all platforms.

TaxJar — $19/month (Starter)

TaxJar automates multi-state sales tax for resellers who need it.

• Pulls sales data from all your connected platforms
• Calculates exactly what’s owed in each state where you have nexus
• Auto-files sales tax returns in enrolled states
• Tells you where you have economic nexus based on your sales volume

Do you actually need it? If you ONLY sell on major marketplaces (eBay, Amazon, Poshmark, Mercari), those platforms handle sales tax collection and remittance. You probably don’t need TaxJar. But if you sell on your own Shopify store, at local flea markets, or through direct sales channels, you may have collection obligations in states where you’ve exceeded economic nexus thresholds (typically $100,000 in sales or 200 transactions).

Avalara — $Starting around $50/month

Avalara is enterprise-grade sales tax automation. Unless you’re doing $200,000+ in non-marketplace sales, it’s overkill and overpriced for resellers.

When to Hire a CPA vs. DIY

DIY Your Taxes If:

• Your gross sales are under $50,000
• You sell on 1-3 platforms
• You don’t have employees
• You don’t have complex situations (international sales, multiple state nexus, business entity questions)
• You’re comfortable with Schedule C and Schedule SE
• You use accounting software consistently throughout the year

Expected cost of DIY: $0 (if you file with IRS Free File) to $120 (TurboTax Self-Employed or H&R Block Self-Employed). Total annual accounting cost with software: $120-$480.

Hire a CPA If:

• Your gross sales exceed $75,000
• You’re considering forming an LLC or S-Corp for tax savings
• You have inventory valued over $10,000 at year-end
• You received an IRS notice or are being audited
• You sell internationally or have complex sales tax obligations
• You want to maximize retirement contribution deductions (SEP-IRA, Solo 401k)
• You want someone else to deal with the stress

Expected cost of a CPA: $300-$800 for annual tax preparation. Year-round bookkeeping services run $150-$400/month. A CPA who specializes in e-commerce or reselling will charge toward the higher end but will save you more in deductions.

The S-Corp Threshold

A critical CPA conversation: once your net self-employment income exceeds roughly $45,000-$55,000, forming an S-Corp and paying yourself a reasonable salary can save $3,000-$8,000+ per year in self-employment taxes. The salary portion gets hit with payroll taxes, but distributions above salary don’t face the 15.3% SE tax. A CPA can model this for your specific numbers — the filing costs increase by $1,000-$2,000/year for S-Corp returns, but the SE tax savings usually dwarf that.

The Real Cost-Benefit Breakdown

Here’s what each setup actually costs you per year and what you get:

Budget Setup — $0-$96/year

• Wave (free) + Stride for mileage (free) or Everlance ($8/month)
• Manual COGS tracking in spreadsheet
• DIY tax filing with Free File or FreeTaxUSA (~$15 for state filing)
• Works for: Resellers under $20,000/year, 1-2 platforms

Mid-Range Setup — $180-$360/year

• QuickBooks Self-Employed ($15/month) or Hurdlr ($10/month) + MyResellStar ($12/month)
• Automatic mileage, receipt scanning, per-item COGS
• TurboTax Self-Employed integration ($120)
• Works for: Part-time resellers $20,000-$50,000/year

Professional Setup — $660-$1,360/year

• QuickBooks Online Simple Start ($30/month)
• MyResellStar ($12/month) for per-item tracking alongside
• CPA for annual tax prep ($300-$800)
• Works for: Full-time resellers $50,000+/year

Full-Service Setup — $2,400-$6,000/year

• QuickBooks Online Plus ($55/month) with inventory tracking
• TaxJar ($19/month) for multi-state compliance
• CPA with monthly bookkeeping ($150-$300/month)
• Works for: High-volume resellers $100,000+/year with multi-channel sales

My Recommended Stack for Most Resellers

If you’re doing $25,000-$75,000 in annual sales across 2-4 platforms — which covers the majority of serious part-time and early full-time resellers — here’s the setup that balances cost, accuracy, and simplicity:

1. QuickBooks Online Simple Start ($30/month) for your core books, bank feeds, and P&L reporting
2. A simple Google Sheets COGS tracker (free) where you log each item’s purchase price, source, and date at the time of purchase — then match it when sold
3. QuickBooks mileage tracking (built in) for sourcing trip deductions
4. Receipt scanning via QuickBooks mobile app — snap every receipt at point of purchase
5. DIY quarterly estimates using QBO’s P&L report — run it quarterly, multiply net profit by 0.30-0.35, pay via IRS Direct Pay
6. TurboTax Self-Employed ($120) at tax time, which imports directly from QBO

Total annual cost: roughly $480-$600. For a reseller at $50,000 gross, proper COGS and expense tracking saves $4,000-$8,000 in taxes. The ROI isn’t close.

Common Bookkeeping Mistakes Resellers Make

Counting gross marketplace payouts as income. eBay deposits include shipping reimbursements and may be net of fees. Amazon payouts are net of fees and FBA costs. You need to reconcile to gross sales, then deduct fees and shipping separately — otherwise your deductions are understated.

Forgetting to deduct unsold inventory. That $300 in dead inventory sitting in your garage is part of your ending inventory, which reduces your taxable COGS deduction for the year. But if you donate it, you can deduct the fair market value as a charitable contribution (with documentation).

Ignoring the home office deduction. If you photograph, list, store, or ship items from a dedicated space in your home, you qualify. The simplified method ($5/sq ft, up to 300 sq ft) gives you up to $1,500 with zero recordkeeping beyond measuring your space.

Not tracking mileage from day one. The IRS standard mileage rate in 2026 is $0.70/mile. A reseller who sources three times a week, driving 25 miles round trip each time, racks up 3,900 miles/year = $2,730 in deductions. That’s $2,730 in deductions you get for free just by turning on an app.

Mixing personal and business bank accounts. Open a free business checking account (Novo, Lili, or your local credit union). Run every business transaction through it. This single step cuts your bookkeeping time in half and makes an audit exponentially less stressful.

Getting your accounting right isn’t glamorous. Nobody starts reselling because they love bookkeeping. But the resellers who track everything keep thousands more per year than those who don’t — and when the IRS comes asking questions (and at $600 reporting thresholds, they will), clean books are the difference between a quick response and a nightmare.