Value Added Resource Week In Review 11-20-22

Welcome to the Value Added Resource ecommerce news week in review!

eBay News

Nancy Vega, who joined eBay in December 2021 as Head of Customer Experience, has departed the company and been replaced by Ty Baker, a former Customer Service exec at Comcast and DIRECTV.

eBay Has A New Head Of Customer Service Experience - Again

Ty Baker is eBay’s new Header of Customer Service after Nancy Vega departed the company last month.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

eBay put a new spin on the pop up shop concept for New York Jewelry Week with a Luxury Exchange event where buyers were encouraged to bring in jewelry, handbags and watches to be appraised and exchanged for “closet currency” to purchase authenticated luxury items.

eBay Pop Up Luxury Exchange In NYC Diamond District

eBay Luxury Exchange pop up - jewelry, handbags & watches can be appraised & exchanged for authenticated luxury items.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

eBay Australia has announced the addition of Zip Pay and and Zip Money as available Buy Now, Pay Later payment methods on the platform - users ask if that means eBay will be dropping Afterpay.

eBay Australia Adds Zip Pay For BNPL, Dropping Afterpay?

eBay Australia adds Zip Pay for Buy Now, Pay Later - users ask if they are dropping Afterpay.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

eBay is once again asking sellers to help lobby Congress to change the 1099-K tax reporting threshold, but in a typical eBay mis-execution, sellers report technical issues with the contact form set up for the effort and some are saying eBay is even directing the contact form to the wrong representative. 🤦‍♀️

Others who didn't experience technical issues still bristled at the idea of being asked to do unpaid volunteer work when they believe eBay's motivations are primarily self serving - ie. eBay is more concerned about their increased compliance burden and costs than actually helping sellers.

eBay Asks Sellers To Lobby On Tax Reform, Flubs Contact Form

eBay asks sellers to lobby Congress on 1099-K threshold, sellers report tech issues with “send a letter” form.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

In what might be some truly good news for buyers and sellers, it appears eBay is reversing course on their previous decision to remove the "Report" button from eBay messaging.

eBay Reinstating Report Message Option - Coming Soon

eBay adding Report button back to Messaging, walking back change that users have complained about for years.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

And some more good news, eBay says there will no longer be account suspensions or selling restrictions if you have listings for books removed under the Offensive Materials policy.

eBay Will No Longer Restrict Sellers For Banned Books

eBay says there will no longer be selling restrictions when “offensive” book listings are removed.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

Amazon News

Amazon announced the beginning of mass layoffs that could impact ~10,000 employees.

Amazon Layoffs On The Horizon

Amazon is expected to announce layoffs of ~10,000 people, possibly starting this week, according to the New York Times.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

FBA fees will be increasing in January, with Amazon blaming fuel prices and inflation for raising costs.

Amazon Updates Referral & FBA Fees Effective January 17, 2023

Amazon is increasing FBA fees effective January 17, blaming fuel prices & inflation for increasing costs.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

Amazon is testing an automated facial recognition program to "streamline" the seller verification process.

The company describes this new process as simplified and more convenient, but will sellers trust Amazon to protect their biometric data?

Amazon Tests Facial Recognition For Seller Verification

Amazon tests automated facial recognition program to “simplify” the seller verification process.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

Amazon announced at its annual Accelerate seller conference this year that the new Account Health Assurance program is a commitment to not deactivate accounts that consistently meet account health rating standards and it looks like it is finally rolling out to sellers in the US and Canada.

Amazon Account Health Assurance Protects Sellers From Deactivation

Account Health Assurance protects qualified sellers from deactivation if they work with Amazon to resolve issues.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

Other Ecommerce News

Shopify is one step closer to running a marketplace to compete with Amazon as it tests universal search in the Shop app.

The "search for anything" bar allows buyers to search for items they previously purchased, merchants matching the search term, and products sold by all merchants across the Shopify network.

Shopify Testing Universal Search In The Shop App

Shopify is one step closer to running a marketplace to compete with Amazon as it tests universal search in the Shop app.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

Facebook Marketplace has extended that standard selling fee waiver again - this time out to June 30, 2023.

Facebook Marketplace Waives Seller Fees Through June 2023

Facebook Marketplace waives standard selling fees for orders shipped through June 30, 2023.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

And finally, Poshmark has expanded Posh Shows live stream shopping beta test to Canada.

Poshmark Posh Shows Live Shopping Beta Test

Poshmark is the latest to jump into live shopping trend with Posh Shows launching September 22nd.

Value Added ResourceLiz Morton ~ Founder

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