Amazon's new investment in a collectibles platform could be the beginning of a move into digital collectibles while helping it better understand the potential of blockchain. Amazon invested in Dibbs, a two-sided marketplace that allows collectors to acquire fractional shares in trading cards thanks to NFT technology.

Dibbs announced the investment along with the launch of "Sell With Dibbs" on Thursday. It enticed collectors to "Instantly monetize your trading cards in our fractional markets. Sell as little or as much as you'd like at a fractional premium."

What does that mean? According to FAQs on Dibbs: "Fractionalization is the act ... Read More

eBay warned sellers that the IRS will require it to report all annual sales over $600 using Form 1099-K beginning with tax year 2022 and said the new requirement is causing confusion. "This change will impact millions of casual and small business sellers on eBay," it said in an announcement this week. 

Consumers have a right to speak freely about their experiences with brands, products, services, and each other. But as we learned firsthand, large corporations concerned about negative attention may try to get customers to sign away that right. And if you're not paying attention, you may not even realize it's happening to you.

Last week, a blog post about a recent experience touched a nerve, and we want to bring readers up to date.

As we explained, a Verizon technician came to our house to repair a downed cable wire and damaged our decorative arbor. The company agreed to reimburse us for ... Read More

A seller was surprised when eBay charged them a commission fee after they cancelled an auction listing. How can a commission fee apply if the item didn't sell? Check the eBay help pages - the practice is not new, but it's worth remembering the potential for incurring unexpected fees. In addition, eBay policies around ending listings may not be quite as simple as you remember.

A chart on the eBay help page shows fixed-price listings can be ended early - with or without open offers. But there are quite a few rules for auction listings. 

Factors include: 

- How much time is left before ... Read More

Sellers are wondering if weekend eBay payouts are permanent after receiving Managed Payment disbursement notifications for the first time over the Thanksgiving Day weekend. Was it an unannounced change? An aberration? Or a glitch?

A seller who told EcommerceBytes they received notice of eBay payouts on Saturday and Sunday wondered, "Is eBay doing payouts 7 days a week now? What's going on here?"

The eBay payouts are a relatively new phenomenon for many sellers who had previously received funds directly from buyers into their PayPal accounts - instantly. As eBay has taken over payment-processing from PayPal, sellers now wait for eBay ... Read More