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 Runs Two Versions of Auction Promotion

November 11, 2014August 26, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay caused some confusion by running two versions of a nearly identical seller promotion. EcommerceBytes covered one in Monday’s Newsflash newsletter, which restricted sellers to running new auctions only – relistings were excluded. But some sellers received an invitation to participate Read more

eBay Gift Cards Back on Store Shelves

November 11, 2014August 26, 2017 Ina Steiner

After pulling its gift cards from retail shelves last year, eBay has once again made them available in stores. Last fall, eBay spokesperson Ryan Moore confirmed that eBay gift cards were no longer being offered in brick-and-mortar retail locations, though Read more

eBay Experiences Worldwide Outage Monday Morning

November 11, 2014August 26, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay confirmed it had an outage early Monday morning that prevented some users from accessing features on the site. Reports came flooding in overnight via email and various boards, including Ecommerce EKG and DownDetector. Users reported being unable to buy, and sellers were Read more

USPS Hacked, Purchase Data Seemingly Safe

November 11, 2014August 26, 2017 Ina Steiner

It seems one retailer after another finds itself the victim of a data breach due to a hacking incident, and on Monday came the bad news that the U.S. Postal Service had been hacked. For online merchants, the news could Read more

eBay Raises Shipping Caps in Media Categories

November 11, 2014August 26, 2017 Ina Steiner

A seller wrote today to say eBay has raised its caps on shipping costs in the media categories. “Listing today and I just noticed that the flat shipping allowed in the magazines and books is showing up as $6 (it Read more

eBay UK Runs Promotion for Casual Sellers

November 10, 2014August 26, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay is running a seller promotion in the UK that kicked off on Sunday. However, there are a lot of restrictions to pay attention to – the first being, only sellers who are invited may participate. The promotion is also Read more

eBay Description Fields Coming Up Blank

November 10, 2014August 26, 2017 Ina Steiner

Thanks to a report on Ecommerce EKG, we’ve identified a technical problem impacting eBay listings. On Thursday, sellers began noticing that descriptions were missing on some of their eBay listings. It’s a serious issue, since a listing lacking a description Read more

eBay Opens New Ad Space: On Sellers’ Shipping Labels

November 10, 2014August 26, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay sellers were not happy to learn that the shopping site was placing ads on their shipping labels. The ad appears at the bottom of the label underneath the USPS Tracking number and states, “Happening now on eBay deals. Always Read more

eBay Looks for Fresh Auctions with Latest Promotion

November 10, 2014August 26, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay is running a promotion to try and get fresh auctions onto its site. For 11 days, invited sellers can list auctions and pay no insertion fee. But in an unusual move, it is excluding relistings, clearly a bid to Read more

China’s Blockbuster Singles Day Highlights Alibaba Logistics

November 7, 2014August 26, 2017 Ina Steiner

China celebrates its largest ecommerce holiday, the 11.11. Shopping Festival, on Tuesday, but the company behind it hopes the annual shopping extravaganza will become a true global shopping event in five to 10 years. Alibaba launched Singles Day, as it’s Read more