Author: Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.

PayPal Updates User Agreement Effective July 9th

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 Ina Steiner

PayPal is updating its User Agreement effective July 9, 2019. The company highlighted several changes in three categories (buyers, sellers, and sellers with PayPal Website Payments Pro and Virtual Terminal Agreements). The change that looks to be of greatest interest Read more

Amazon Shareholder Meeting Gets ‘Dramatic’ and ‘Hostile’

May 23, 2019May 25, 2019 Ina Steiner

Amazon held its shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday in Seattle, and as Lydia DePillis pointed out in her preview report for CNN on Tuesday, there was a lot on the table, for a change. (“For the first time, Amazon faces an Read more

eBay Launches Month-long Pop-up Store in UK

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 Ina Steiner

eBay is getting another taste of what it’s like to run a retail shop, sort of! It opened its first “concept store” in the UK on May 10th, it announced today, and it’s set to stay open until June 6th. Read more

UK Postal Service to Deliver Packages Twice a Day

May 22, 2019May 22, 2019 Ina Steiner

Royal Mail is making a change in delivery service to accommodate the demands of ecommerce, specifically what it refers to as the “night owl” shopping phenomenon. It comes as part of a strategic plan in which it will invest £1.8 Read more

USPS Tests Self-Driving Trucks

May 22, 2019May 22, 2019 Ina Steiner

The US Postal Service is testing self-driving trucks this month. An autonomous truck will haul USPS trailers between Arizona and Texas in partnership with TuSimple, a global self-driving truck company (which, interestingly, uses Amazon’s AWS technology). In a YouTube video, Read more

Etsy Opens 2019 Maker Cities Program in Support of Micro Businesses

May 22, 2019May 22, 2019 Ina Steiner

Etsy is accepting applications for its 2019 Maker Cities program, which will provide grants up to $40,000 to five nonprofit organizations to invest in a year-long economic development project in support of entrepreneurial micro-businesses. Etsy launched the Maker Cities program Read more

Amazon Asks Sellers to Stock FBA Shelves for 1-Day Prime

May 22, 2019May 22, 2019 Ina Steiner

Sellers who use Amazon’s FBA fulfillment service can “increase sales and earn storage fee discounts of 50 to 75%,” the marketplace announced on Tuesday as it looks for more inventory to help it meet its one-day shipping commitment to Prime Read more

UPS Wants Higher Postal Rates but Supreme Court Denies Cert

May 22, 2019May 22, 2019 Ina Steiner

UPS has long sought higher postal rates for packages, but it faced a setback this week when the Supreme Court declined to hear its appeal in a case it brought against the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC). Shipware summed up the Read more

Beware Amazon Issues Impacting FBA Inbound Shipments

May 20, 2019May 20, 2019 Ina Steiner

Some sellers are reporting problems when sending inventory to Amazon FBA fulfillment centers due to shipping carriers’ practices, and they say Amazon customer service is failing to help them. In a nutshell, FedEx is placing its “Sortation Assist Cover Labels” Read more

eBay and Etsy Sellers Advocate on Postal Issues, Sales Tax, and More

May 19, 2019May 19, 2019 Ina Steiner

eBay and Etsy sent sellers to Washington, DC to lobby lawmakers on issues important to the marketplaces and their sellers, including postal issues, benefits, trade, net neutrality – and of course, online sales tax. Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman started Read more