How to Maintain Flea Market Accounts

Your business at the flea market is legally bound to pay all applicable taxes at the town, state, and the federal levels. You should maintain the business accounts by a simple accounting system so that you remain aware about the profit or loss. The account will also be helpful for determining the applicable taxes. Some flea markets charge a percentage of total sales from the flea market vendors; proper and exact accounts will be useful for this purpose. In order to maintain the accounts of your business at the flea market, a few useful tips are listed below: 

•             You must keep the record of all purchases along with the sales receipts for the items purchased. For items where sales receipts are not available for example at yard sales, make notes in a journal about the amount spent, items purchased, date, and the location.Create a petty cash reserve for making purchases for your business at the flea market; jot down all relevant details about purchases made from this amount in a journal.

•           Similar to the records of purchases, you should also keep complete record of all the sales from your business at the flea market. Maintain the record by keeping the duplicate copies of receipts made for the customers or write the details of sales in a journal such as item sold, the price, and the date. You can record the sales of different items in the sales journal according to the category of item or any other way useful for you. If you have more than one business venues, keep detailed records of sales for each venue so that you can identify the more profitable location. Compare the sales amounts for each venue according to the category of items.

•        Another important tip is the creation of a ledger with separate sections for purchase information and sales details. All information about the purchases made can be compiled on a spreadsheet recording details of different types of merchandises in separate columns. Besides the purchase prices also note other expenses like flea market stall or booth rental fee, advertisement signs, transportation and handling charges, taxes, etc. Similarly use another spreadsheet for the sales records which may include revenue generated through sales according to the category of item, and at each sales venue. These spreadsheets will help you in calculating the net profit or loss whatever the case maybe.