http://powersellersunite.com/ Powersellersunite.com News Feed en-us Copyright 2003, Power Sellers Unite PowerSellersUnite.com FrontNewsGeneral info@powersellersunite.com info@powersellersunite.com 60 Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:45:58 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=41240 Amazon.com Inc.1Amazon.com Inc. Mass MerchantOnline Sales:$34,200,000,000 Growth:39.5% See More . reported in a recent financial statement that the state of Arizona has issued it a bill for approximately $53 million for uncollected tax on retail sales.

In its annual 10K financial statement for the year ended Dec. 31, 2011, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the world's largest retailer by web sales says Arizona issued it a bill last November for tax and interest related to sales transactions from March 1, 2006, through Dec. 31, 2010.

"The State of Arizona is alleging that we should have collected a transaction tax that is similar to a sales tax on applicable transactions during those years," Amazon says in the SEC filing. "We believe that the assessment is without merit and intend to vigorously defend ourselves in this matter."

http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/02/02/arizona-demands-amazon-pay-taxes]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=41240 Fri, 03 Feb 2012 04:33:33 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=41228 An eBay seller whose account was frozen has sued the company for fraud. According to the Courthouse News Service (CNS), Iconic Trading Co. ("Koolzap" on eBay) was making close to $200,000 a month selling auto parts on eBay, but the plaintiff claims eBay froze its account with no notice and suspended his online store.

The complaint alleges that "eBay falsely accuses thousands of sellers of fraud and freezes accounts on a whim, in an "illicit scheme" to force sellers to pay money they don't owe," according to CNS.

Two other lawsuits have been filed over PayPal's practice of holding funds, both of them having sought class action status.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y12/m02/i02/s02]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=41228 Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:56:12 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=41175 I didn't know whether to chuckle or cry at the latest post on the eBay Ink Blog announcing a new "Bring it. Sell it. Ship it." program to encourage eBay employees in San Jose to sell on eBay. It strikes me as bizaare that they're not all selling on eBay already.

I can remember hearing rumours that (in the old days) at eBay UK staff meetings they had to announce their feedback score and could even be called upon to explain any negative or neutral feedbacks they'd received. I can remember when eBay employees were proud of their feedback record and would compete to see who had the most. At the very early eBay universities some eBay employees had more feedback from me, and theirs numbered in the thousands.

The most telling part of the eBay Ink blog post was the comment "For those employees selling for the first time, each Wednesday from 2pm to 4pm, employee Power Sellers will be on hand in the station to help folks get started".

http://tamebay.com/2012/01/ebay-employees-to-sell-on-ebay-for-1st-time.html]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=41175 Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:14:52 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=41115 Auction services were among the worst-graded companies of 2011, according to Angie's List, a provider of consumer reviews on local contractors and service companies. And for the seventh consecutive year, home warranty companies topped the categories list.

Repeat offenders on the year's most complained-about list included Internet service providers, property management companies, mobile and landline phone service providers, and wedding service categories, such as bridal shops and wedding planners.

Most of the complaints for auction services were for estate auctions, but there were some complaints for Internet auction sites as well.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y12/m01/i19/s02]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=41115 Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:57:01 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=41018 Paypal has confirmed it reached $4 billion in mobile payments last year.

If you need one example that epitomizes the massive potential in mobile payments, you need only look at PayPal.

The online payment company racked up $4 billion worth of mobile payments last year, a huge jump from $750 million in 2010, PayPal mobile vice president David Marcus told VentureBeat in an interview today.

Putting the figure in an even crazier perspective, tallied up a mere $141 million in mobile payments in 2009.

http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/10/paypals-mobile-payments-4b-2011/]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=41018 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:51:17 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=40931 My runner-up for worst stock of 2011, Overstock.com (OSTK), staggered into 2012 over the weekend with some horrid news: it was forced to stave off imminent default on its bank obligations by forking over more of its scarce cash.

As white collar crime maven Sam Antar pointed out in his blog, the bad tidings, noted in a Form 8-K -- but, predictably, ignored by the Utah media -- were the subject of a spin campaign by the company to make it seem like positive news and not the disaster that it was. This lump of coal in the Overstock stocking leads me to wonder: Will 2012 be the year that Overstock finally slides into bankruptcy?

After all, had it not "renegotiated" its bank lending arrangements, Overstock - run by right-wing conspiracy theorist Patrick Byrne - had faced possible insolvency.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/317052-does-patrick-byrne-s-overstock-com-face-bankruptcy-in-2012]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=40931 Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:44:09 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=40861 More than 12,600 people pledged to boycott online retailer Amazon.com this holiday season to protest "sweatshop" working conditions at its Lehigh Valley warehouses, according to the union advocacy group American Rights at Work.

Working conditions at Amazon's Breinigsville shipping hub gained national attention and a public response from the company after a Sept. 18 article in The Morning Call revealed employee complaints about heat in the warehouse complex and rapid production requirements many could not sustain. Amazon hired ambulance crews to park outside the complex on hot summer days in case workers experienced heat-related problems. A local emergency room doctor who treated Amazon workers for heat stress reported an "unsafe environment" to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which inspected and recommended corrective steps.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-allentown-amazon-boycott-20111222,0,4319763.story]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=40861 Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:34:58 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=40786 Four of the five workdays last week topped $1 billion in online retail sales, comScore reported yesterday. For the holiday season, e-commerce remains nearly 15% ahead of last year, although the growth pace is slowing from the explosive gains around Thanksgiving weekend.

Holiday season retail sales for Nov. 1 through Friday, Dec. 16, total $30.937 billion, up 14.95% from $26.914 billion in the comparable period last year, according to comScore, which makes estimates based on tracking the online activity of a panel of 1 million U.S. consumers.

The heaviest online shopping days last week were Monday, when sales hit $1.13 billion and Friday, a day when 2,300 e-retailers took part in the Free Shipping Day promotion organized by FreeShipping.org, when shoppers spent $1.07 billion at retail web sites.

http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/12/19/four-more-1-billion-days]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=40786 Sat, 26 Nov 2011 07:12:12 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=40498
In Porter Ranch, a woman pepper sprayed customers at a Wal-Mart in what authorities say was a deliberate attempt to get more "door buster" merchandise. In San Leandro, a Wal-Mart shopper walking to his car was shot and wounded in a suspected robbery early Friday.

Another shooting was reported at a parking lot next to a Wal-Mart in South Carolina, also a suspected robbery attempt. Officials told WMBF-TV they believe the robbery was tied to Black Friday.

At Porter Ranch, 20 customers, including children, were hurt in the 10:10 p.m. incident, officials said. Shoppers complained of minor skin and eye irritation and sore throats.

"This was customer-versus-customer 'shopping rage,'" said Los Angeles Police Lt. Abel Parga.

The woman used the spray in more than one area of the Wal-Mart "to gain preferred access to a variety of locations in the store," said Los Angeles Fire Capt. James Carson.

"She was competitive shopping," he said.

Police are searching for the woman but said they've had trouble getting a clear description of her.
more.. link to news article]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=40498 Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:30:17 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=40492 Sellers on eBay Motors began receiving checks this month that were their portion of a $30 million settlement in a class action lawsuit. Two sellers had filed a class action lawsuit against eBay in 2009 alleging that eBay charged excessive fees for listing items in the "Parts and Accessories" category. eBay settled for $30 million in November, but denied it had overcharged sellers.

The court approved the settlement in December, and sellers began receiving checks this month.

The class consists of eBay sellers who paid Final Value Fees for selling items in the vehicle-related Parts and Accessories categories on eBay Motors between April 21, 2005, and August 26, 2009. eBay Store listings were not included in the settlement.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y11/m11/i24/s01]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=40492 Tue, 22 Nov 2011 02:31:44 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=40462 Some users are reporting they are unable to sell on eBay because they have not provided PayPal with their Tax ID numbers. EcommerceBytes has reported extensively on a new law that requires payment processors to issue 1099K reports to the IRS beginning this tax year.

Despite the fact that small sellers are clearly exempt from the law, payment processors, including PayPal and Amazon.com, have been requiring small sellers to provide their tax ID numbers.

http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=40462 Mon, 14 Nov 2011 16:26:35 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=40383 Andre Souang thought he scored the deal of a lifetime when he won a $140,000 Bentley for $14,000 on eBay last month.

But when he went to make his payment, managers at Bentley Scottsdale refused to take his money, told him the car wasn't for sale and disavowed the auction listing as a mistake.

Bentley Scottsdale's refusal to sell was followed by a form message from eBay saying the auction had been canceled for unspecified reasons. The company scraped any trace of the auction from its website and from Souang's account.

Within hours of the Oct.25 auction, it appeared as if the car had never been for sale at all.

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2011/11/12/20111112ebay-car-auction-mistake-questions.html]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=40383 Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:35:45 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=40299 Open Mobile Summit John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, has said that the concept of e-commerce is dead and buried, since consumers really don't care about where they buy, so long as they get the cheapest price.

Speaking at the Open Mobile Summit in San Francisco, Donahoe said that the increasing use of mobile technology had blurred the barrier between e-commerce and regular retail to such an extent that the former term was essentially meaningless. Now consumers are walking into retail stores, and using their phones to identify better prices for goods they like, and will use either online or offline purchasing to get the price they want.

"Over the last 12-18 months we at eBay have changed our view on e-commerce," he explained. "We're now seeing a profound change in how consumers are behaving, and we're going to see more changes in the next three years than we're seen in the previous 20 in terms of shopping and payments. Mobile devices are blurring the lines between online and offline at a rate no one would have predicted."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/03/ebay_declares_ecommerce_over/]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=40299 Wed, 02 Nov 2011 03:21:40 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=40275 The PROTECT-IP bill is making its way through the halls of the United States government, and besides an unfortunate name change, the bill has been altered by the House of Representatives in such a way, it would essentially allow the government and/or various corporations that feel infringed upon the ability to censor the Internet in whatever way they see fit.

Perhaps that last part is wrapped in some hyperbole, but then again, after reading portions of the updated bill, as well as some of the reactions to it, it's pretty clear that, if passed, the American public could soon be using a very different version of the Internet than what we're used to. The sad thing is, besides a small section of informed reactions to the bill, very few in the American public seem to know and/or care about the implications of PROTECT-IP, which, thanks to input from House of Representatives, now goes by the unfortunately-named E-PARASITE Act.

http://www.webpronews.com/protect-ip-gets-name-change-promises-to-censor-the-internet-2011-10]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=40275 Tue, 01 Nov 2011 03:30:44 +0000 http://www.powersellersunite.com/portal.php?topic_id=40268 Amazon.com, the world's biggest online retailer, was hit with a flurry of intellectual property and related technology lawsuits in the third quarter.

In its quarterly earnings report filed yesterday with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, Amazon, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, revealed that the company is now battling 18 separate intellectual property lawsuits, including eight filed in September.

The latest round of intellectual property and technology litigation filed against Amazon includes:

http://www.internetretailer.com/2011/10/28/flurry-patents-suits-hits-amazon]]> http://powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=40268