eBay Main Street

On January 22nd, the Congressional Internet Caucus held its annual State of the Net Conference in Washington DC.  The conference included a session entitled “First Sale and No Resale.”

Taxes can seem overwhelmingly confusing, especially to small business owners.  The goal for any small business is to pay no more taxes than legally required, which requires at least a basic knowledge of tax laws and typically professional help from a tax expert.

As 2012 comes to a close, we would like to thank our Main Street members for getting involved with public policy that impacts your ability to buy and sell online.  Over 22,500 people joined Main Street this year, with thousands more joining us for spirited discussion on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.  Read on for a recap of Internet sales tax, ticket resale, and Kirtsaeng vs. Wiley — three issues that dominated the headlines this year.

On Tuesday, the eBay Inc. Government Relations team scored a victory for our customers, when the U.S. and Canadian governments announced that they had jointly decided to raise and harmonize their informal entry thresholds at $2,500.

In the Irish Presidency Special Issue of the EU’s Parliament Magazine, Stefan Krawczyk, eBay Inc. Associate General Counsel & Head of EMEA Government Relations, urges the EU to prioritise digital empowerment of small businesses.

At the annual NASSCOM-DSCI 2012 Summit, members of eBay Inc.’s Global Asset Protection, Government Relations, Legal and Information Security teams advocated eBay’s position as a responsible company willing to cooperate with the public sector to promote cyber security in India.

Steve Kenny, Head of Privacy for eBay Inc. in the EU, recently presented eBay Inc.’s position on the Regulation proposal put forward by the European Commission last January and currently being negotiated by the European Parliament and the Council.

On December 11th, eBay Inc. sponsored and presented the DSCI Excellence Award 2012 to outstanding Cyber Police and Law Enforcement Agencies in India.

In December, eBay Inc.’s Government Relations team met with Deputy Director Li Shi of the Shenzhen Investment Promotion Bureau (Invest Shenzhen) to exchange public policy priorities and opportunities between eBay Inc. and the Shenzhen municipal government

Main Street members know better than anyone how proposed Internet sales tax legislation would negatively impact the U.S. economy and small businesses using the Internet to reach new consumers and new markets. That’s why we asked people to tell us which aspect of the Internet sales tax debate they think is being most overlooked by the media. Here are the results.