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/.

As USPS Lowers Postage, Variations Arise for Online Sellers

April 11, 2016July 23, 2017 Ina Steiner

The USPS was forced to lower postage on Sunday for market dominant rates including the cost of a First Class stamp (from 49 cents to 47 cents). While most USPS shipping services used by online sellers are considered competitive and Read more

New eBay Promo Good for All Formats

April 11, 2016July 23, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay’s latest promotion is good for auction and fixed price listings, but like most these days, it is by invitation only. Invited sellers who activate the promotion can list up to 500 listings and pay no insertion fee. The tagline Read more

How to Control Your Message to eBay Mobile Shoppers

April 11, 2016July 23, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay came clean last week about the way it displays sellers’ product listings to mobile shoppers, revealing that since last fall, it has been truncating sellers’ descriptions in the US. This summer, it will provide sellers with a way to Read more

Newegg to Offer Support via Facebook Messenger

April 8, 2016July 23, 2017 Ina Steiner

Newegg said this week it will be one of the first companies to offer customer support via Facebook Messenger for Business, Facebook’s instant messaging service. Tech retailer Newegg said the new capability is an important asset to add to the Read more

eBay Enters into Strategic Relationship with BigCommerce

April 8, 2016July 23, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay is furthering its ties with BigCommerce, an ecommerce platform for small sellers wanting to easily set up their own store. When eBay killed off its own store-hosting solutions ProStores and Magento Go in 2015, eBay had recommended Bigcommerce as an alternative. Read more

eBay to Make Seller Feedback Searchable

April 8, 2016July 23, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay is preparing to make a major change to its feedback feature – some users are seeing a new tab that allows them to search sellers’ feedback. A few users spotted the new feature as far back as March 28, Read more

Google Requires Product Identifiers by May 16

April 7, 2016July 24, 2017 Ina Steiner

Online sellers who want their products to appear on Google Shopping must advertise through the Product Listing Ads program and are required to send a feed containing detailed information about their products. Google has always encouraged sellers to include robust Read more

Amazon CEO Opens Up about Marketplace Initiatives

April 7, 2016July 23, 2017 Ina Steiner

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos opened up about some Marketplace initiatives in a letter to shareholders where he seemed more open than usual, discussing the company culture and its willingness to embrace failure. For many years, Amazon has reported having about Read more

eBay Competes with Sellers by Offering Shipping Supplies

April 7, 2016July 23, 2017 Ina Steiner

In a rare move, eBay will compete against its own sellers, and, while it’s in a narrow niche – shipping supplies – it raised concerns among sellers when eBay announced the news as part of its Spring Seller Update this Read more

Etsy Gets into the Store Hosting Business

April 6, 2016July 23, 2017 Ina Steiner

Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson made it clear to Wall Street that he was looking to Seller Services to help monetize the site now that Etsy is a public company, and on Tuesday, announced a new offering that puts it in Read more