Ecommerce news: eBay policy change and Amazon US sales tax

In the news this week: some of eBay's new policies, announced in the last Seller Release, come into effect, and Amazon will start to collect sales tax in some US states. 

eBay’s new contact information and links policy

Changes to eBay’s contact information and links policy that were announced in the Autumn 2017 Seller Release have now come into effect.

Contact details can now only be included in your eBay Business Seller Information. Any contact information that is within your eBay listings, eBay shop, or links outside of eBay or details embedded in an image will be in breach of eBay’s new policy.

Initially, eBay will be obscuring any contact details that are still included in listings, but beginning next year listings with contact information or links that break the policy will be removed. You can find out which of your listings don’t comply with the new policy within Seller Hub, My eBay or Selling Manager Pro. You also need to make sure that your contact details aren’t included in any template images, and avoid sharing contact information with buyers in eBay Messages until after a sale is completed.

Find out more about changes to eBay’s policy here.

Amazon collecting sales tax from sellers in 2018

In Washington state, USA, Amazon will be required to collect sales tax on behalf of the State government from the start of 2018 due to a new internet sales tax law. Currently transactions are only taxed if the retailer has a physical presence in the state that the buyer lives (ie. if the seller stores stock in a warehouse in the buyer’s state), but the change will mean that all internet sales now get taxed.

Amazon’s new Marketplace Tax Collection service will automatically collect and remit sales tax on behalf of third-party sellers from 1 January, 2018. Find out more about changes to sales tax in Washington state here. 

Parcelforce’s new booking process

Parcelforce has launched a new booking process on its website. PrePay functionality is now available and customers can use PayPal, credit or debit card to pay for postage. Customers can also register their details so that order information is stored within their account and integrate sales channels such as eBay and Amazon.  Find out more about Parcelforce's new booking process here. 

Facebook Customer Chat plugin

Facebook is currently beta testing a new plugin for its Messenger platform that allows website visitors to chat with a human or bot using Facebook Messenger, without leaving the site. Chatbots used through the plugin will be able to offer order status updates, answer questions and provide out of hours customer service. Conversations will also sync between the chat on the website and the user’s Facebook messenger, making it easy to continue or restart a conversation.