eBay Main Street

As eBay and its seller community know, we need a strong, stable postal system to power ecommerce. Affordable and efficient shipping options are critical for eBay sellers to remain competitive.

State legislatures across the country are threatening Internet commerce, especially for small businesses, artisans and consumer sellers, through legislation that will impose tax burdens on even the most casual sellers and online marketplaces.

The election cycle's third public poll of Florida's 2018 US Senate race reached the public domain this week and Cherry Communications (CC), polling for the state Chamber of Commerce (3/6-14; 600 FL registered voters), already finds consistent results with the previously conducted surveys.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) new Development Matters website recently featured an article by Hanne Melin, eBay Director of Global Public Policy, titled, “The Online Platform, Trade, MSMEs and Women: Lessons from eBay towards user-driven economic empowerment”.

Last week, eBay’s Government Relations Team, along with five eBay-enabled small business owners, descended upon the New York State Capitol in Albany to advocate in opposition to a marketplace Internet sales tax proposal in Governor Cuomo’s budget.

Irrespective of where in the world we look, we find micro and small businesses leveraging an online platform business strategy to engage in commerce on a global scale.

The International Trade Centre (ITC) – an organization of the UN and WTO, and partner to eBay - has launched a survey to understand the challenges faced by SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) engaging in ecommerce, in particular cross-border trade.

EU Commission data reveals that women are still under-represented in the entrepreneurial arena. According to the Commission’s research, only 34% of Europe’s self-employed, and 30% of start-up entrepreneurs are female.

Earlier this month in Kobe, Japan, negotiators for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) gathered for the 17th round of the multi-nation trade agreement.