The news this week focuses on the after effects of the USPS shipping increase, Jet.com opens a new warehouse in Nevada and eBay adds its name to Gold and Silver. To say that the USPS shipping price increase has gone smoothly would be an understatement and sellers will feel the effects of it over the coming months. In the festive season it became abundantly clear that Jet.com had logistical problems and thus their move into Nevada is not too surprising. eBay continues to do things that makes industry observers question the longevity of these concepts. Are we seeing the first moves by eBay into private label retail?
Online sellers who rely on the USPS to ship packages to international customers saw a big rate increase overall with Sunday’s postal rate changes. Joseph Amalfitano of global shipping provider Globegistics said the latest rate increase could be catastrophic to the global sales of many merchants selling on Amazon and eBay if they are in a highly contested category. For example, companies selling lightweight items like cell phone cases, cosmetics, and costume jewelry, will find their postage rates increase by 39.7% to the UK and 21.5% to Canada when using First Class Package International, he said. As a seller, your shipping costs are another item that eats into your margins. Are you aware of your international shipping costs? Read more here.
Jet.com, a new online shopping site, has opened a 160,000 square-foot, west coast warehouse and distribution center on USA Parkway in the Tahoe Reno Industrial Center, located east of Reno, Nevada. The company plans to hire 150-180 employees by the end of 2016 and another 350 within five years for more than 500 new jobs to the area. Nevada is used by multiple online retailers as their base of operations for the West Coast. I wonder how big of a deal west coasting customers are for Jet.com? Read more here.
You can now purchase real gold bars on eBay that bear the eBay logo. The online marketplace has been fascinated with bullion going back to at least 2011, and now you can find eBay-branded gold and silver bars for sale on its marketplace. Is this eBay testing the water for private label retail? They neither deny or confirm their intentions. Read more here.
International shipping, Jet opens in Nevada and eBay goes gold
Til next week.
Every week, Hendrik Laubscher will be providing third party sellers with a selection of news stories that they need to be aware of. As a Prosper Show participant we strive to ensure that you can focus on your business while we handle all the industry news.
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