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/.

eBay Reminder on Returns Comes Out of the Blue

February 4, 2019February 4, 2019 Ina Steiner

eBay issued a reminder to sellers on Friday about the need to streamline their returns policies, though it’s not clear why it felt the need to remind sellers 9 months after the policy took effect. eBay instituted “streamlined” return policies Read more

eBay Forced to Update Sellers on TurboLister Retirement

February 4, 2019February 4, 2019 Ina Steiner

eBay is putting Turbo Lister out of its misery in the UK this month, but it will leave it on life support in the US. An eBay moderator was forced to once again address sellers’ questions about the listing tool. Read more

Amazon Adds Former Walmart Exec to Its Board of Directors

February 4, 2019 Ina Steiner

Amazon appointed a Starbucks executive to its Board of Directors. Rosalind G. Brewer, 55, is Chief Operating Officer of Starbucks Corporation and is the former CEO of Walmart’s membership-only retail warehouse club Sam’s Club. While head of Sam’s Club, Brewer Read more

Takeaways for Merchants from Amazon Q4 Earnings

February 3, 2019February 3, 2019 Ina Steiner

Amazon released earnings on Thursday, and there were some takeaways about third-party merchant sales, changes in seller fees, Amazon delivery, advertising, and upcoming investment in fulfillment center capacity. Amazon grew 2018 fourth quarter sales 20% to $72.4 billion. Sales for Read more

Eager for Ad Revenue, eBay Runs Promotion to Entice Sellers

February 1, 2019February 1, 2019 Ina Steiner

eBay is discounting Promoted Listings to entice sellers to advertise. The promotion invites sellers to try Promoted Listing ads at 60% off (up to $1,000) and is valid through February 15, 2019. With Promoted Listings, sellers pay advertising fees only Read more

Activist Investor Digs In, Says eBay Needs Urgent Change

January 31, 2019January 31, 2019 Ina Steiner

eBay released fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, and it didn’t do anything to dissuade the activist investor from targeting the company. For a refresher, see last week’s article, eBay Once Again in Crosshairs of Activist Investor. Elliott Management said eBay needs Read more

New PayPal Pilot Program Helps Sellers Go Multichannel

January 31, 2019January 31, 2019 Ina Steiner

PayPal is running a new pilot program called PayPal One Touch Seller Signup that helps sellers go multichannel and helps marketplaces as well. It comes as PayPal weans itself from its dependence on eBay, which is launching its own managed Read more

After Troubling Q4, eBay CEO Says Things Will Get Better – In 2020

January 30, 2019January 30, 2019 Ina Steiner

eBay spent more on marketing in the fourth quarter, but sales were nearly flat at a paltry 2% growth in GMV compared to a year ago. US sellers took the biggest hit – eBay reported GMV decreased in the US Read more

eBay Loses Another Top Executive

January 30, 2019May 9, 2021 Ina Steiner

eBay has lost (or axed?) another top executive. PR Week reported that eBay UK Communications Director Julia Hutton-Potts has departed after 11 years at the company. The development doesn’t help eBay’s Board of Directors defend its position against activist investor Read more

BigCommerce Adds Shipping Solution

January 30, 2019January 30, 2019 Ina Steiner

BigCommerce announced the addition of a new end-to-end shipping solution to its ecommerce platform, “enabling more than 60,000 merchants to improve shipping efficiency, margins and customer experience.” BigCommerce Shipping is currently in beta testing and is expected to be available Read more