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 Will Buy Online Pharmacy PillPack

June 28, 2018 Ina Steiner

Amazon will buy online pharmacy PillPack, which offers pre-sorted doses of medications, home delivery, and a commitment to customer service, it announced on Thursday. Press release follows: Amazon and PillPack today announced that they have entered into a definitive merger Read more

Etsy Delays Change to How It Collects Fees from Sellers

June 28, 2018June 28, 2018 Ina Steiner

Etsy notified sellers it is delaying a change in billing practices first announced in April. The crux of the change, it explained to sellers at the time: “Starting in June, we’ll automatically deduct any taxes or fees you owe from Read more

eBay Launches Best Price Guarantee, But Only for Deals and Top 20

June 27, 2018 Ina Steiner

eBay will launch a Best Price Guarantee, it announced on Wednesday, but not for all listings – only for its special “Deals” that are preselected from certain sellers and for what it referred to as the “Top 20 best selling Read more

PayPal Acquires Risk Management Platform Simility

June 27, 2018 Ina Steiner

PayPal is acquiring risk management platform Simility for $120 million in cash after investing in the company last year. It will help PayPal merchants avoid fraud. It is the latest in a string of acquisitions by PayPal over the past Read more

Already? Amazon Launches Back-to-School Shopping Portals

June 27, 2018 Ina Steiner

It’s not even July, yet Amazon is already anticipating the back-to-school shopping season. Today, it launched Back to School and Off to College stores. It used today’s announcement to promote offerings such as Alexa, the Echo Dot Kids Edition, and Read more

eBay Extends Relationship with PayPal Credit

June 26, 2018June 26, 2018 Ina Steiner

eBay and PayPal extended their consumer-credit relationship, PayPal announced on Tuesday, meaning eBay will continue to accept and promote PayPal Credit on its Marketplace platform. The two companies broke up in 2015, and eBay will begin testing its own payment Read more

eBay Employees Pursue Innovation at Annual Hack Week

June 26, 2018June 26, 2018 Ina Steiner

eBay top management places an emphasis on innovation (it’s a technology company, its CEO Devin Wenig insists). The company held its annual Hack Week the first week in June to “cultivate fresh ideas” among employees, who put their main job Read more

Volusion Lists Top Ten Cities for Small Sellers

June 26, 2018 Ina Steiner

Volusion released a list of the top-ten cities for small sellers – and one state hit the jackpot, hosting 3 cities on the list: Florida. Ecommerce platform Volusion is based in Texas hosts 30,000 online stores; it found the Health Read more

Webgility Partners with Stamps.com to Offer Discounted Shipping

June 26, 2018 Ina Steiner

Webgility partnered with Stamps.com to offer online merchants discounted shipping from the US Postal Service. Webgility customers will have access to USPS Commercial Plus Pricing rates for qualified USPS shipments using Stamps.com, a savings of up to 40%. Press release Read more

eBay Seller Update Changes Are Imminent

June 25, 2018 Ina Steiner

eBay issued a reminder of imminent changes, including new seller benchmarks and fee changes. Among the changes: eBay is requiring sellers to enter a zip code for item shipping location, and it will institute a new automated returns protocol. eBay Read more