August News Round Up

August – the month of holidays, sunshine (rain, wind and hail), National Burger Day(!) and the following not-to-be-missed August eCommerce news:

The Taxman’s Taken All My…

Fees – well, 20% of them. From the beginning of August 2017, eBay began slapping on 20% VAT to their fees. This follows a restructuring meaning that UK sellers contract directly with eBay (UK) Limited (and not eBay Europe S.a.r.l). If you’re VAT registered this should be recoverable through your VAT returns but those trading under £85,000 taxable turnover may feel the pinch.

Making your Mind Up

Amazon have changed their refund policy for sellers who ship products themselves (as opposed to fulfilment by Amazon) so that items are now automatically authorised for return. Buyers will no longer be required to contact sellers before returning their items and instead can automatically print a prepaid return label from the Return Centre.

It’s Showtime

Amazon have also launched a new home makeover show named Overhaul, on YouTube. Following YouTube stars redesigning their homes, it will feature products available to buy from the eCommerce giant. Cut!

Please Hold the Line

Etsy is holding all investments into brand marketing until 2018. Instead, it will be using the money for customer-acquisition marketing, developing personalised push notifications and payment guarantees. Etsy also reported strong Q2 results this month with 19.1% revenue growth from last year

I’ll see your 19.1% and raise you 55.9% more

Shopify also announced its Q2 financial results, which showed a staggering 75% revenue growth from last year. Glass – meet champagne! Multichannel selling was largely attributed to this surge in users, with online businesses releasing the benefits of selling on their own website and integrating their shopping cart with Amazon, eBay and Etsy. Multichannel software, such as Expandly, can help you do just that.

A busy month for August eCommerce news.

Here’s to an outrageously outstanding October!