Updated Checked by the Tax-Services.ca editorial team How we check
Most eBay taxes in Canada come down to one question: are you running a business? If you are, the profit is taxable income, and once your taxable sales pass $30,000 you must register for GST/HST. A few garage-clearing sales are a different story. The CRA looks at the pattern of what you do, not the site you use.
Are your eBay sales a hobby or a business?
Selling your own used furniture once in a while usually isn’t a business. Buying stock to resell, listing every week and chasing profit usually is. We couldn’t find a single official test with numbers, so don’t hunt for a magic count of items.
Ask yourself a few plain questions. Did you buy the goods to resell? Do you sell regularly? Are you trying to make money? Two or three yeses put you on the business side. When in doubt, keep records as if it’s a business, because that costs nothing and helps either way.
Picture Dana in Winnipeg, who clears a basement of old skates and board games over one summer. That’s a clear-out. Now picture her cousin, who buys pallets of returned electronics every month and relists them for a few bucks more each. That’s a business, even if it runs from a spare room.
For personal items sold for less than you paid, we haven’t confirmed how the CRA treats them, so read its page on personal-use property before you decide there’s nothing to report.
When do you have to register for GST/HST?
The CRA sets the small supplier threshold at $30,000 of taxable sales. You must register if you pass it in a single calendar quarter or across four consecutive quarters. How fast it bites depends on which one happens. Pass $30,000 inside one quarter and you stop being a small supplier on the day of the sale that took you over, so that sale already carries tax. Creep over across four quarters and you stop being a small supplier at the end of the month after the quarter in which you crossed it. Either way, you have 29 days from your effective registration date to register.
You will have to register within 29 days of your effective date of registration.
When to register for and start charging the GST/HST, canada.ca
Below the threshold, registering is optional, and we haven’t checked what it would give you.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Small supplier threshold | $30,000 in taxable sales |
| Measured over | One quarter, or four quarters in a row |
| Time to register once over | 29 days from the effective date |
| HST, Ontario | 13% |
| GST only (AB, YT, NT, NU) | 5% |
| Balance due, 2025 return | April 30, 2026 |
| Self-employed filing, 2025 return | June 15, 2026 |
The 2026 dates aren’t published on the pages we checked, so use the CRA’s important dates page once they appear.
How much tax goes on a $100 sale?
Where your buyer lives sets the rate, and that’s the part that confuses sellers. In Ontario the HST is 13%, so a $100 item comes to $113 at checkout. The GST/HST calculator does the sum for any province.
If you already have a tax-included total, the HST reverse calculator pulls the tax back out.
What does the profit cost you in income tax?
Only profit is taxed: sales minus what the goods and selling costs you. Say you sell $12,000 of goods in a year, paid $7,500 for them, and lost $900 to fees and $600 to postage. Your profit is $12,000 minus $9,000, so $3,000. That’s the number that goes on your return, not the $12,000.
Now a bigger case. Say your net business income is $20,000 in Ontario. The self-employed tax calculator gives income tax of about $477 and CPP of about $1,964, so $2,440 in all. At $40,000 the total is $8,565.
The calculator leaves out EI, GST/HST and your expenses, so it’s a rough floor. If you have no employer withholding anything, you may also owe instalments, and the instalments calculator shows the pattern.
Will the CRA know what you sold?
Possibly. Since January 1, 2024, the CRA’s reporting rules for digital platform operators require certain platforms to collect details on sellers and report them to the CRA each year, and to send the seller a copy by January 31. The first reportable year was 2024. We haven’t checked which marketplaces fall under the rules, so don’t assume you’re safe or exposed.
Keep a simple sheet with each sale, the date, the buyer’s province, what you paid for the item and any postage or fees. That’s what the CRA asks for if it writes to you.
Mistakes that cost sellers money
People forget that the $30,000 counts sales, not profit. They also forget that a good quarter can tip them over on its own, so watch the rolling total each month. And they mix personal and business items in one spreadsheet, which makes any review harder than it needs to be.
Another slip is treating the platform’s payout as income. The payout is already net of fees, so if you only record deposits you’ll under-report sales and miss fees you could deduct. Record the gross sale and the fee separately.
Do you have to report a handful of sales?
If it’s a business, yes, whatever the size. If it’s genuine clearing out of personal items sold at a loss, we haven’t confirmed the reporting rules, and the CRA’s page on personal-use property is the place to look. Selling something for more than you paid is a different conversation, because the gain can be taxable.
Sources, and how we checked them
The small supplier rules and registration timing come from the Canada Revenue Agency‘s GST/HST pages, and the platform reporting rules from its digital platform pages, both read in September 2026. Tax rates come from the CRA’s provincial rate table. We are not linked to eBay, the CRA or any government.
Frequently asked questions
Do I pay tax on things I sell on eBay in Canada?
If you carry on a business, the profit is taxable income. A one-off sale of a used personal item is different, and we couldn't confirm the exact rules, so read the CRA's page on personal-use property.
When must I register for GST/HST as a seller?
Once your taxable sales pass $30,000 in one calendar quarter or over four quarters in a row. Registration is due within 29 days of the effective date.
Does the CRA get told about my sales?
Certain platforms must report seller details under the CRA's digital platform rules, in force from January 1, 2024. We haven't checked which marketplaces are covered.
Is the $30,000 threshold about profit?
No. It counts taxable sales, not profit.
What records should I keep?
Each sale with its date and the buyer's province, what the item cost you, and shipping or fees. Keep them together in one file.
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