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 UK Runs Selling Promotion for Private Sellers

March 4, 2018 Ina Steiner

eBay is running a promotion for UK sellers. The offer is by invitation only to private (non-business sellers). Those who receive the invitation and activate it can list up to 100 listings and enjoy listing fees of up to £1 Read more

Amazon Germany Opens State-of-the-Art Logistics Center

March 4, 2018 Ina Steiner

It’s no secret that Amazon is building out its logistics capabilities with fulfillment centers, sortation centers, and a network of vehicles and planes to move inventory from point A to point B. But Amazon also learns a lot over time Read more

Sellers Share Wish Lists with Etsy CEO Josh Silverman

March 2, 2018 Ina Steiner

In a blog post on Wednesday, “What’s Coming Up In 2018: More buyers, better tools, real talk,” Etsy discussed its plans for the year and invited users to submit questions for CEO Josh Silverman. The post came a day after Read more

Amazon Raises FBA Fees and Introduces Storage Limits Policy

March 1, 2018March 1, 2018 Ina Steiner

Amazon is raising fees for sellers who use FBA fulfillment and introduced a new policy in an effort to optimize space in its warehouse. Sellers already know not to take a “send it and forget it” approach to using Amazon Read more

Hardware Issue Takes Down AbeBooks Marketplace Again

March 1, 2018March 1, 2018 Ina Steiner

The Abe Books website is experiencing another outage due to a hardware issue. The Amazon-owned marketplace experienced a similar incident in September, after which it refunding all sellers 7 days subscription fees. UPDATE 3/1/18: The AbeBooks.com website is back up. Read more

Etsy to Close Etsy Studio and Manufacturing Sites

February 28, 2018 Ina Steiner

Etsy announced today it is closing Etsy Studio and Etsy Manufacturing later this year. Significantly, it made no mention of any plans to close Pattern, its store-hosting service for sellers. The announcement comes as Etsy’s new CEO Josh Silverman continues Read more

eBay to Acquire Japanese Ecommerce Platform

February 27, 2018 Ina Steiner

eBay announced on Tuesday it is acquiring the Japanese business of a company called Giosis, which runs a number of localized marketplaces in Asia. As part of the transaction, eBay will relinquish its investment in Giosis’ non-Japanese businesses. Additional terms Read more

Etsy Reports $1 Billion in GMS for Fourth Quarter of 2017

February 27, 2018 Ina Steiner

Etsy grew GMS (Gross Merchandise Sales) by nearly 18% in the fourth quarter of 2017 to $1 billion, the first quarter to reach the billion-dollar milestone. Etsy CEO Josh Silverman said the marketplace was able to accelerate GMS growth by Read more

eBay Announces Spring 2018 Seller Update

February 27, 2018February 27, 2018 Ina Steiner

There are big changes ahead for eBay sellers as the marketplace unveils its 2018 Spring Seller Update today. Changes include stricter return policies, raising the bar for achieving TRS discounts, and additional Store tiers. And as we reported on Sunday, Read more

eBay Announces Spring Seller Update 2018 for UK Sellers

February 27, 2018February 27, 2018 Ina Steiner

eBay is announcing its Spring Seller Update on Tuesday, here’s a breakdown for UK sellers. (We’ve got a similar breakdown for US sellers.) The changes impact selling fees, return policies, and shipping standards, and it includes a preview of changes Read more