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/.

Amazon Tweaks Holiday Restrictions for Toys and Games

August 2, 2018August 2, 2018 Ina Steiner

Amazon has issued its annual notice of holiday restrictions in the Toys & Games category, but this year, there are a few differences in the timing of the restrictions and the eligibility criteria. A major difference: in 2017, Amazon restrictions Read more

eBay Delays Launch of New Store Tiers in Canada

August 1, 2018 Ina Steiner

eBay introduced two new tiers to its eBay Stores subscription plans this year, but sellers in Canada will have to wait until 2019. The original announcement stated: “We currently offer three eBay Store subscriptions: Basic, Premium, and Anchor. Starting May Read more

Amazon’s Screwy Image Search

July 31, 2018July 31, 2018 Ina Steiner

Imagine working on a DIY project and losing one of the screws needed to put things back together. Now you can take a picture of the like screw you still have, and Amazon’s “Part Finder” feature on its app will Read more

eBay Enhances Visual Shopping on Mobile App

July 31, 2018 Ina Steiner

Last week, eBay enhanced visual shopping on its mobile app. Users can now drag and drop images of an item into the eBay mobile app search bar to help them find such items for sale on eBay. Users had already Read more

Five Sellers Win eBay Shine Awards for Small Business

July 30, 2018 Ina Steiner

eBay announced the five winners of the 2018 Shine Awards for Small Business during last week’s eBay Open conference in Las Vegas. Thousands of sellers had submitted applications, and eBay selected 15 finalists in five categories in June. eBay explained Read more

eBay Targets Inactive Accounts with Five Dollar Coupon

July 29, 2018July 29, 2018 Ina Steiner

eBay is paying buyers $5 to make a purchase this summer through a coupon offer. It sent an email to some users at the end of July with the subject line, “You’ve got $5!” The invitation read, “You’ve Got $5! Read more

PayPal Grows Q2 Revenue 23 Percent and Active Accounts to 244 Million

July 26, 2018 Ina Steiner

PayPal grew revenue 23% to $3.86 billion in the second quarter of 2018, the company announced on Wednesday, growing total active accounts to 244 million, up 18%. It grew payment transactions by 28% to 2.3 billion and total payment volume Read more

Amazon Grows Sales 39 Percent in Second Quarter

July 26, 2018July 27, 2018 Ina Steiner

Amazon grew net sales 39% to $52.9 billion in the second quarter of 2018 compared with Q2-2017, or 37% excluding effects of foreign exchange (currency). The numbers reflect all units including its AWS web-hosting business. It showed a profit (net Read more

Etsy Clarifies Its Sales Tax Obligations

July 26, 2018July 26, 2018 Ina Steiner

Etsy added a drop of clarity to a murky subject when it published a post about online sales tax on Thursday. Sellers want online marketplaces to tell them what they are doing – and what sellers should be doing – Read more

Stamps.com to Buy UK Shipping-Software Firm MetaPack

July 25, 2018 Ina Steiner

Stamps.com will acquire MetaPack Ltd., a UK company that provides an enterprise-level solution to global retailers and brands, for approximately $230 million in cash. MetaPack has 500 customers and processed over 550 million parcel shipments in 2017. It has 350 Read more