Last month, eBay sellers participated in a number of meetings with Members of the European Parliament as part of the \'eBay Seller Fly-in\' to Brussels. The fly-in was organised by eBay to help EU legislators understand the challenges faced by online sellers and the actions which can be taken to overcome those challenges. Sellers from the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Ireland met a number of MEPs from their own country. Numerous issues were highlighted which affect sellers on eBay, including:

• Expensive and unreliable cross-border delivery systems in the EU.
• Different regulatory systems throughout the EU complicate cross-border trade for small businesses. For example, consumer rules differ significantly between Member States. Any small business trying to trade across borders therefore has to adopt to the individual consumer protection regimes in each country into which it trades. The EU is currently developping an EU-wide system of contract law, which could help facilitate B2C cross-border trade, provided it is voluntary for businesses and keeps red tape at a minimum.
• The importance of improving mobile data coverage to enable eBay users to take advantage of web enabled commerce to buy and sell online and offline, whenever and wherever they wish. the EU is currently working on a Data Roaming Regulation, which could significantly drive down the costs for consumers who want to go online while they are abroad.

Thanks to their engagement and dedication during the meetings as well as during a special dinner hosted by European Parliament E-commerce Working Group Chair and Vice-Chair MEP Pablo Arias and MEP Correia de Campos, we can say with confidence that our delegation of eBay sellers have made a difference in the way EU decision-makers will craft tomorrow\'s e-commerce legislation. Thanks to all of them!