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 Uses Deals to Attract Early Holiday Shoppers

October 31, 2014August 28, 2017 Ina Steiner

While PayPal said the holiday shopping season began on September 30th, Amazon.com announced November 1st is the official start of the holiday shopping season on its marketplace. Amazon is using deals as bait to attract holiday gift-givers – it’s kicking off Black Read more

eBay and PayPal Jump Payments Hurdle in Russia

October 31, 2014August 28, 2017 Ina Steiner

Cash is king in Russia, so eBay and PayPal “have combined to launch a new payment service” on eBay in Russia in association with QIWI, which operates self-service terminals to help Russian consumers buy online as if using cash. eBay Read more

Etsy Tests a Fix to Its Search Engine Clumping Problem

October 30, 2014August 28, 2017 Ina Steiner

Etsy told sellers concerned about a lack of exposure in search results that it was testing a fix to address “clumping” in search. Jaime DeLanghe, Product Manager on the Etsy Search team, provided the update in a thread on the Read more

Too Small for a Shipping Solution? EasyShip Widget to the Rescue

October 30, 2014August 28, 2017 Ina Steiner

A company called ShippingEasy wants to make it super easy for low-volume sellers to buy postage online and print shipping labels, and on Wednesday launched the EasyShip widget. Unlike its robust ShippingEasy solution, which lets merchants pull orders from multiple Read more

PayPal Says Holiday Shopping Has Commenced

October 29, 2014August 28, 2017 Ina Steiner

The holiday shopping season kicks off well before Halloween, according to PayPal – and that’s nothing new, the eBay unit says. For the third consecutive year, the U.S. holiday shopping season kicked off on September 30th. How does it know? Read more

Terapeak Launches New Tool for eBay and Amazon Sellers

October 29, 2014August 28, 2017 Ina Steiner

Online sellers understand only too well the competitive nature of selling on eBay and Amazon, and now they have a new tool to help them analyze sales data. Terapeak Personal helps small sellers evaluate opportunities on eBay and Amazon by Read more

eBay UK Runs Week-long Listing Promotion for Business Sellers

October 28, 2014August 28, 2017 Ina Steiner

eBay UK is running a free-listing promotion, and unlike its typical sales that are targeted at casual sellers, this one applies to business sellers. However, the sale is by invitation only. Invited sellers can list up to 50,000 listings and Read more

eBay May Have Sotheby’s, But Christie’s Is Going It Alone

October 28, 2014August 28, 2017 Ina Steiner

While top-tier auction house Sotheby’s has partnered with eBay to launch online bidding through the new eBay live-auction platform, its rival Christie’s is going it alone. Christie’s has invested $50 million in hiring experts and building its own infrastructure in support of Read more

Stamps.com Scoops up Two Shipping Services for Online Sellers

October 28, 2014August 28, 2017 Ina Steiner

Two companies that help online merchants with their shipping automation were scooped up this year by Stamps.com, highlighting the importance of ecommerce to the shipping industry. Stamps.com paid $22 million in cash for ShipWorks this month, and it paid $50 million (plus Read more

Bigcommerce: Small Merchants Grew 25 Percent in Third Quarter

October 28, 2014August 28, 2017 Ina Steiner

Smaller merchants who run their own online stores saw high growth in July, August and September compared to the same period a year ago, according to an analysis conducted by Bigcommerce. Growth was aided by back-to-school shoppers, the company found. Read more