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 Loses Head of UK Marketplace

March 18, 2016July 24, 2017 Ina Steiner

The Managing Director of Amazon UK is leaving the company to become CEO of Shutterfly effective May 31, 2016. Christopher North joined Amazon UK in 2006 and has been UK Managing Director since 2011. In a press release this week, Read more

New Tool Helps Boost eBay Listings in Search

March 18, 2016July 24, 2017 Ina Steiner

Terapeak has launched an enhanced version of its Title Builder tool. The renamed Terapeak SEO is designed to improve placement in both eBay and Google search with the goal of driving more traffic to listings. Terapeak SEO uses its own Read more

Chronic PayPal Problems Leave Sellers in the Lurch

March 18, 2016July 24, 2017 Ina Steiner

PayPal users have been experiencing technical issues for the last 2 weeks culminating in a major glitch on Thursday when payments seemed to become lost in cyberspace for most of the day. Buyers could provide a transaction number showing they Read more

eBay Changes to Returns Prompt Update to UK User Agreement

March 17, 2016July 24, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay is updating its UK User Agreement, explaining that it’s necessary to cover upcoming changes to the returns process. The changes are effective immediately for new members, it announced on Wednesday, and take effect on April 15, 2016, for existing Read more

USPS Adds Shippo to Its Exclusive ePostage Program

March 17, 2016July 24, 2017 Ina Steiner

Shippo integrated with USPS ePostage on Thursday, making it one of only a few public APIs for purchasing US postage online. Shippo is a multi-carrier platform that enables customers to query for shipping rates and print shipping labels. In addition Read more

The Marketplace that Forbes Calls ‘an Anarchist eBay on Acid’

March 17, 2016July 24, 2017 Ina Steiner

What if you could buy and sell on a decentralized marketplace where transactions are truly between the buyer and the seller? One such marketplace is under development and making news over the past week or so. As WeUseCoins.com describes it, “OpenBazaar’s peer-to-peer Read more

What Google Changes to the Right Rail Mean for Retailers

March 16, 2016July 24, 2017 Ina Steiner

Many online merchants were concerned when Google confirmed it was making a major change to the ads that appear on its search results pages, getting rid of AdWords ads that appeared along the right side of the page. A major Read more

Etsy Redesigns Sellers’ Shop Home Pages

March 16, 2016July 24, 2017 Ina Steiner

Etsy rolled out a change on Tuesday to make sellers’ Shops more attractive to buyers browsing the site, whether they’re on desktop, mobile, or accessing the marketplace through the Etsy mobile app. Etsy created a new space for a cover Read more

eBay Expands Shyp Partnership to Boost Consumer Selling

March 16, 2016July 24, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay used to encourage consumers to use professional sellers to get rid of their unwanted goods on its marketplace – remember eBay drop-off stores? Now eBay is pushing consumers to sell their items in new ways that don’t include consignment Read more

News Roundup: Payment Services Have Their Eye on You

March 15, 2016July 24, 2017 Ina Steiner

In the quest to make online payments easier on mobile devices, companies like Amazon and Google are working on facial recognition and other technologies. Why fumble for change at the drive-through restaurant or type your password into your smartphone? Also Read more