Include shipping in Brickfolio entries?

[maestro]

When you are inputting the price you paid for a lego set on Brickfolio do you include the price you paid for shipping?

[Fcbarcelona101]

I do, and I'm sure most people do as well. If you are buying sets to invest, then the only way you'll know how much profit you really made is by knowing the total cost of the set, including tax and shipping. Putting it in the Brickfolio is very convenient.

[maestro]

Thanks for that. Pretty sure I've done that with all my entries so far.

[MikroMan]

I've done it it with all my shipments. However, I have a question: (example) You enter quantity of ten sets and set shipping cost to 10 EUR. Is the final cost calculated like this: cost*quantity+shipping*quantity or like cost*quantity+shipping/quantity? Because I've always split my shipping cost per set, not per brickfolio entry.

 

I also have an Excel spreadsheet which helps me calculate my BF value, money spent, MSRP/cost I paid ratio, stock quantity etc., where I can easily track my shipping cost.

[Alcarin]

You do it once and thats it...

 

For example:

 

If I bought Helms' Deep for 100

[exciter1]

I also add tax...

[Alcarin]

I also add tax...

 

Yeah well EU prices always include Tax so thats US and other slackers stuff

[kerrmando]

I do the above. Add tax and shipping, otherwise you'll never really know how much money you are making

[MantuaCollector]

I've entered the set price to include both tax (if any) and shipping cost (if any) as others have stated here. I would be nice if we could set up our profile to include a default tax rate which would be calculated and added by checking a box for any items we are entering.

 

It is a more accurate method to include tax into the purchase price but the problem is your porfolio value is calculated by comparing to items to the current non-tax (or shipping) selling price. So I bought the B-Wing 50% off (+6.75% tax in my case) so I added it as a $106.74 purchase but by doing so I'm penalized 6.75% in value even though it's nearly impossible to buy the B-Wing at that total price and do so without paying tax (Amazon being the biggest exception). If they include tax in the price in the EU then it doesn't effect those porfolio values but here in the US there's a built in 5-7% error.

 

It would be eliminated if we could enter our local tax rate then all comparison pricing would involve a purchase price including the tax rate for a more accurate porfolio value.

[Alcarin]

I've entered the set price to include both tax (if any) and shipping cost (if any) as others have stated here. I would be nice if we could set up our profile to include a default tax rate which would be calculated and added by checking a box for any items we are entering.

 

It is a more accurate method to include tax into the purchase price but the problem is your porfolio value is calculated by comparing to items to the current non-tax (or shipping) selling price. So I bought the B-Wing 50% off (+6.75% tax in my case) so I added it as a $106.74 purchase but by doing so I'm penalized 6.75% in value even though it's nearly impossible to buy the B-Wing at that total price and do so without paying tax (Amazon being the biggest exception). If they include tax in the price in the EU then it doesn't effect those porfolio values but here in the US there's a built in 5-7% error.

 

It would be eliminated if we could enter our local tax rate then all comparison pricing would involve a purchase price including the tax rate for a more accurate porfolio value.

 

 

That would be illogical since you compete with prices wherever...

 

your value and tax is irrelevant really... all it matters is how much people are buying items on ebay for...

 

There is no error margin as you calculate since if someone pays 106$ for your B-wing thats it, regardless of your tax, if someone is not willing to pay that price it matters little if you claim thats due to taxes...

[MantuaCollector]

That would be illogical since you compete with prices wherever...

 

your value and tax is irrelevant really... all it matters is how much people are buying items on ebay for...

 

There is no error margin as you calculate since if someone pays 106$ for your B-wing thats it, regardless of your tax, if someone is not willing to pay that price it matters little if you claim thats due to taxes...

I compete with prices where ever but the taxes I pay are unique to the State that I live in and are included in my final price. Someone in New York will pay a different final price than someone in California when both buying the same item at the same sale price.

 

Target was had a sale on the A-Wing for $18. Online or in the store you pay sales tax but your final price depends on your sales tax.

 

New York 4% = $18.72

Ohio 6.75%   = $19.21

California 7% = $19.26

 

So how much $$ performance does that equal in your porfolio? If the current price for the A-Wing is shown at $18 then my portfolio will show a loss for my $18 A-Wing purchase because it assumes 0 tax paid which is impossible at a majority of online stores now.

 

Ebay itself has a form of tax which is the 10% Final Value Fee. Someone pays $106 for my B-Wing I get $95.40 from eBay. So what's my B-Wing really worth since it's impossible to avoid paying the eBay tax if I sell that way? So you say "all that matters is how much people are buying items on ebay for.." but what really matters when calculating the value of your investment is how much $$ can you generate when you liquidate it. You can't claim a profit if you ignore the taxes/fees.

 

So my point is this, the portfolio value seems to ignore that store purchases (with Amazon being an exception) have a tax which is unavoidable but raises the actual price of an item. It would be one thing if the sales tax was uniform across the whole US but you can pay anywhere from 1-10%. So if store purchases are to be used as a comparison for calculating a base for comparison then the FINAL price should be used. The same should be said for eBay as a comparison. How can something be seen being worth $200 as a result of an eBay sale but only generates the seller (Lego Investor) $180. It's worth $180 in my portfolio because that's all the $$ it ultimately generates.

[Alcarin]

Yes, BUT the performance of set (growh) is not the key factor... end price is the key factor....

 

I purchase ALL sets with 20% tax auto calculated it makes 50% of my sets in red numbers compared to US, and thats not able to fix it.

 

You are arguing your CURRENT price for NEW set should be increased by the percentage of tax you pay but that makes no sense, because in the end you will seel it for as much as ebay price goes not your chart price.

 

 

You alone have to calculate the tax and wait until chart outgrows it.

 

 

Once the value of set is higher than set value + tax + ebay/paypal fees = profit. 

 

 

 

 

Lets go to Example here:

 

LEGO Helm's Deep current value = 100$ (US Ebay)

 

I bought Helm's Deep for 145$ (Europe) including 20% tax.

 

So in your words you want the value of new Helm's Deep to be increased for 20% of my tax because now it shows wrong chart growth to me right?

 

That makes no sense though, because my Helm's Deep is worth as much as people buy it on ebay and nothing more, regardless of taxes or my starting value

[glucapg]

I add shipping cost to the set price, but I consider all the costs in a global vision of the investment: boxes and pluriball to protect the sets, gasoline to reach stores if is far, shelves to store the sets, ebay costs....every direct and not direct cost, as a company 

[MantuaCollector]

Yes, BUT the performance of set (growh) is not the key factor... end price is the key factor....

 

I purchase ALL sets with 20% tax auto calculated it makes 50% of my sets in red numbers compared to US, and thats not able to fix it.

 

You are arguing your CURRENT price for NEW set should be increased by the percentage of tax you pay but that makes no sense, because in the end you will seel it for as much as ebay price goes not your chart price.

 

 

You alone have to calculate the tax and wait until chart outgrows it.

 

 

Once the value of set is higher than set value + tax + ebay/paypal fees = profit. 

 

 

 

 

Lets go to Example here:

 

LEGO Helm's Deep current value = 100$ (US Ebay)

 

I bought Helm's Deep for 145$ (Europe) including 20% tax.

 

So in your words you want the value of new Helm's Deep to be increased for 20% of my tax because now it shows wrong chart growth to me right?

 

That makes no sense though, because my Helm's Deep is worth as much as people buy it on ebay and nothing more, regardless of taxes or my starting value

You understand the principle but aren't willing to admit it. Yes, if you include tax all your European purchases including tax are a huge loss when compared to the US market. You can't ignore the impact of tax and other factors especally when looking across different markets. Here in the US we have multiple tax brackets which impact the "equality" of purchases made in different States and different stores both online and in physical stores.

 

A $18 purchase made online at Amazon has 0 tax but that same item purchased at a physcial store can set me back $19.21 when you include tax. The portfolio calculations are based on the current going price for that item which doesn't accurately reflect the actual cost of the item because it doesn't include taxes added to the item upon purchase.  So if the going online price for comparison is $19 -tax should my portfolio reflect a $1 increase in value or a decrease of -.21 cents? If the same set is selling on eBay for $20 does my portfolio worth $2 more? Any sale on eBay takes a 10% hit so in actuality you gross $18 and if I bought that $18 item with tax I'm down $1.21. How is that possible when the porfolio calculated an 11% increase?

 

As for your Helm's Deep, why would it be worth more when comparing it against a market that sells the same product for less? Even if Helm's Deep was sold for the same list price on both sides of the pond we I have a 6.75% sales tax where you have 20%.  So right there off the bat the US Helm's Deep has a 13.25% return on investment advantage over a EU sale assuming one could walk across the border and sell them because of the tax issue alone. So you can see how tax should be included in the US. You're arguing about something that is completely accounted for within your own market because apparently taxes are automatically included in the price.

 

So you summarize for you, all your purchases include a 20% tax. Here in the US we can purchase the same item but the added tax can vary from 0-10%. Our tax rate for purchases made in physical stores is dependant upon where we buy so it doesn't vary usually since most of us buy in the same State that we live. My original post suggested that if the portfolio is going to compare my purchase price to those found in local stores it should take into account that tax rate. When I can I buy online from places like Amazon.com where I don't have to pay any tax. By doing so I save 6.75% on each item.

 

Imagine if your porfolio reflected a price comparison for your Helm's Deep $120.83 because it didn't include VAT and your portfolio showed a $23 loss? You know very well the COST of that product is $145 so why should it be compared against a non-VAT price?

 

The above discusses the purchase portion of building the portfolio. On the selling side we have outfits like eBay that have a set cost at 10%. So not to run the same numbers on a sale but that being that the 10% is basically a flat tax why can't that be taken into account for calculating the profile value? The secondary market on Amazon looks to have a 15% "tax" on sales.