News Cart for June 26th

Below is your eCommerce News Cart for June 26th, 2018:

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In the News:

States Cleared to Charge Sales Tax on Online Purchases Thanks to the Supreme Court — The Supreme Court ruled that states can make online businesses collect sales taxes, even if they don’t have a physical presence in that state.

• Ruling opens the door for increases in state revenue…and a compliance nightmare
• Overturns a precedent that was set in 1992
• Ruling was not strictly along party lines

Etsy Significantly Raises Transaction Fees — Etsy significantly raised fees for sellers from 3.5% to 5%, a jump of 42%

• Fees go into place on July 16
• Additional fee also applied toward the shipping charges levied on orders
• Stock price surged upward 26% on the news.  Merchants were less excited.

Trump Announces Tariffs on $50 billion Worth of Chinese Goods — President Trump announced that the United States will impose a 25% tariff on $50 billion of Chinese exports.

• Applies to roughly 1,100 exports targeting aerospace, robotics and auto industries.
• Goes into affect July 6
• The Dow was down 300+ points Monday on fears of more trade actions against China

Trump Administration Puts Limited Health Insurance Plans in Place — President Trump issued a finalized rule that will enable millions of Americans to buy leaner health insurance plans that do not comply with key Obamacare coverage requirements.

• Allows small businesses and self-employed to buy cheaper plans with fewer benefits
• Plans do not comply with ACA requirements
• Opponents worry they will attract the healthy, making insurance more expensive for the sick

Facebook Introduces Native Subscription Groups — Facebook piloted subscriptions to give support to Facebook group admins.

• Allows Facebook group owners to monetize their existing audiences
• Currently available to a small pilot group
• No plans for the eCommerceFuel Forum to migrate to them

Top Forum Discussions:

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• Supreme Court Sales Tax Ruling
• Save the Date for ECF Live! 
• Updating Dates/Content on Older Blog Posts to Improve Rankings
• Annual Expert Update: Importing in 2018
• Our EOS Journey
• Share Your Amazon Boost Notes

Interesting Reads:

Life in the Silicon Prairie: Tech’s great migration to the Midwest — Startups and investors are increasingly foregoing Silicon Valley for the Silicon Prairie — and with good reason

The Amazing Psychology of Japanese Train Stations — Despite being among the most crowded public transit in the world, commuters in Japanese subways flow calmly and orderly.  It’s not all by accident.

How to Change Your Mind (Book/Audible) — Michael Pollan explores how psychedelic drugs like LSD and magic mushrooms are increasingly being used to treat mental disorders, additions and more.

Top Jobs:

(Compelling opportunities from the eCommerceFuel Job Board.  Find your dream job or post your own job opening right here.)

Associate Software Engineer for Decks Direct.  Benefits include:  PTO, insurance, awesome environment, even more awesome people, only average ping pong players, office kegerator, heavy sarcasm, retirement stuff, probably some fun, definitely some hard work, and 3 bald dudes.

For this role you’ll need:

• 1+ years of systems integrations
• Experience and proficiency with Magneto
• Based in Brooklyn Center, MN

eCommerce Customer Service Representative for Tactical Gear Heads 

For this role you’ll need:

• Previous experience with customer service; in-store retail, online retail, restaurants, etc.
• An attitude for experimenting, failing fast and iterating rapidly.
• Location: Indianapolis, Indiana or Remote

Email Marketing Manager for Kettle and Fire

For this role you’ll need:

• 2+ years experience in email marketing with a track record
• Highly data driven and experience with ESP software (Klaviyo a plus)
• Remote or Austin, TX

Director of Customer Service for Patagonia, Inc.

For this role you’ll need:

• 7+ years of experience leading customer facing teams in a multi-channel environment .
• College degree or MBA preferred, or equivalent experience.
• Based in Reno, NV

Interesting Stuff My Friends Are Doing

• A Marketplace and Review Platform for 3PLs – from Aaron Rubin at ShipHero
• Go Brand Win – A platform for building your email list through contests from Steve Chou and Toni Anderson.

Andrew’s Musings

This week Andrew talks about a prank he played on a college professor.  To listen, click the play button on the audio player above.