eBay Main Street

PayPal was fortunate to host a Japanese delegation of influential government officials this week, during their technology and innovation fact-finding trip to Silicon Valley.

eBay was recognized by the U.S. Postal Service on April 2 in Orlando, FL for driving technology innovation with the USPS to make shipping and billing faster and easier for sellers on eBay.

As part of Privacy Awareness Week, eBay.com.au commissioned a survey of its users about their attitudes towards privacy and how it affects their actions online.  85% of online Australians believe data breach notification should be mandatory for business.  Read on for more interesting results.

On April 25th, the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) sent a letter to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to urge them to oppose S. 1452, the so-called Main Street Fairness Act, which would require Internet enabled retailers to collect and remit sales taxes in up to 9500 sales tax jurisdictions nationwide.

On April 25th, the Senate Finance Committee convened a hearing on state taxation issues, including Internet sales taxes.  NetChoice submitted testimony to the Committee arguing that the so-called Mainstreet Fairness Act would actually be unfair for small businesses trying to make a living online.

On April 25th, the U.S. Senate passed legislation to shore up the United States Postal Service (USPS) and preserve the ability of small online retailers to access postal services.  eBay sellers collectively constitute a USPS “super-user” and are the Postal Service’s single largest package customer.  As such, the 21st Century Postal Service Act (S. 1789) is of critical importance to the eBay community of users.

The 2012 U.S. of eBay Fly-In event wrapped up today with highly successful meetings on Capitol Hill.  eBay Sellers from across the country met with many of their members of Congress in both the House and Senate.  As expected, members of Congress were very welcoming to their constituents and receptive to working on the current issues affecting small businesses, primarily Internet sales tax.

The 2012 U.S. of eBay Fly-In began today, April 24th, as sellers from around the country prepare to meet with representatives in Congress to share their success stories and discuss issues affecting small business.

On Friday 20 April, the eBay Inc. Government Relations team met with Vice Chairman Hong Sung Kyu of the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), one of the key policy authorities in the world's most connected country, at eBay to discuss recent global and Korean market developments.

Last week Becky Relic, a director on PayPal’s Government Relations team, and Jose Fernandez da Ponte had the opportunity and privilege of representing PayPal at the White House Conference on “Connecting the Americas”.