Reconciling sold, active, and draft items
Every product in ResaleTruth lives in exactly one status at a time. This page explains what each one means, how items move between them, and how to catch the edge cases that usually cause confusing dashboard numbers.
The statuses
Active — the item is listed for sale on eBay (or another platform). Revenue hasn’t hit yet. Costs are in inventory.
Sold — the sale is complete. Revenue is recognized, eBay fees and shipping are deducted, and net profit is calculated. The item exits inventory and costs hit COGS.
Draft — the item exists in ResaleTruth but isn’t listed anywhere yet. Common for items you’ve sourced and entered but haven’t listed. Costs are in inventory.
Archived — the item is no longer active or sold. Use this for items you donated, junked, or decided not to sell. Archived items can carry a write-off value if you want them in your Schedule C.
Returned — the buyer returned the item. Revenue is reversed. The item re-enters inventory as active or goes straight to draft depending on your workflow settings.
How eBay sync moves items
When you connect eBay, we sync your listing data automatically:
- New listings appear as Active
- Completed sales flip to Sold (usually within minutes of the order completing)
- Relisted items stay Active (we track relist history)
- Ended or cancelled listings flip to Archived
When the count looks wrong
“I have 312 items on eBay but ResaleTruth shows 287.” Check for items that eBay marked as inactive or ended. Listings with zero stock, expired GTC listings, or manually ended listings may not appear in the API as active. Check the Archived status for recently ended items.
“I sold 45 items last month but ResaleTruth shows 38.” eBay’s API caps historical lookback at 90 days. If your account synced recently for the first time, orders before the sync date won’t appear automatically. Import them via CSV (see Adding unmanaged data).
“An item shows as Active but I sold it weeks ago.” The order may not have synced. Check Settings → Integrations → eBay → Last sync time. If sync is stale, disconnect and reconnect. If the order still doesn’t appear, it may have been archived in eBay — archived eBay orders don’t appear in the API. Add it manually.
“I have items in ResaleTruth that I can’t find on eBay.” These are probably manual-entry items or CSV imports that were never linked to an eBay listing. You can manually mark them as Sold, add the sale details, and they’ll count in your P&L correctly.
Returned items
When a buyer returns an item:
- eBay processes the refund and reverses fees
- ResaleTruth syncs the reversal — revenue goes back to zero, fees are reversed
- The item status changes to Returned
- You decide: relist it (moves to Active), write it off (moves to Archived with a loss), or sell elsewhere (update manually)
Returned items are a real cost of reselling. If your return rate is high on a category, it shows in your category-level report.
Bulk status changes
If you have a batch of items to update, use the bulk edit tool in the Items view: select items, choose a status action. Bulk archive is useful for clearing old draft items at year-end.
Questions? Email support@resaletruth.com — we reply within one business day.