News Cart for June 26th

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

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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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.

Posted on: June 26th, 2018

Hosted by

Andrew Youderian

Andrew is the founder of eCommerceFuel and has been building eCommerce businesses ever since gleefully leaving the corporate world in 2008. Join him and 1,000 vetted 6 and 7-figure store owners inside the eCommerceFuel Community.