[Crew Review] Shopify raises selling fees by more than 30%

Online sellers were disgruntled when Shopify announced earlier this week that it’s raising the prices for its Basic, Shopify, and Advanced plans, citing inflation as the main culprit.

Here are some details you don't wanna miss.

Amazon Top Terms

Check out the graphic below to see which terms caused a stir on Amazon this past week—taken from Brand Analytics data from January 16th to 29th.

Like every year, on the third Monday in January, America celebrates MLK Day. This day is a federal holiday that honors Martin Luther King Jr., who championed nonviolent resistance in the fight for civil rights, fought racism, and organized for worker justice.

The keywords “mlk” and "martin luther king jr" take the #1 and #4 slots in this week’s top 10 mover’s list and products related to these terms have seen a bump, selling 19 units for the former and 198 units a day for the latter within just a few days.

Amazon Changes FBA Reports System 

In a recent announcement, Amazon will be discontinuing a bunch of FBA reports and will merge them into a single Inventory Ledger Report beginning January 31, 2023. 

The new report will replace the following:

• Daily Inventory History
• Monthly Inventory History
• Inventory Event Detail
• Inventory Adjustments
• Inventory Reconciliation
• Received Inventory

Sellers are advised to switch to this new inventory report as soon as possible to avoid disruptions in business.

Haggling On Etsy?

A new feature that seems to allow customers to make offers on products sold on Etsy became a hot topic in the forums this past week, and for all the wrong reasons.

Image: Etsy Forums

Although not all sellers are seeing this option, giving customers the ability to haggle as they would on eBay is not welcome change for Etsy sellers. Many share the sentiment that while making offers for vintage items is perfectly normal, handmade products are a totally different animal—Etsy is largely a marketplace for handmade products, vintage and craft supplies.

Stripe and Amazon Expand Partnership

Financial services and SaaS company Stripe has signed a new agreement with longtime partner Amazon that will make the former a strategic payments partner for the latter in the US, EU, and Canada. In turn, Stripe will expand its use of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to scale its business.

Stripe’s service will join other Amazon payment methods for Prime, Audible, Kindle, Amazon Pay, and Buy with Prime, which has ceased to be an invites-only perk and is now available to all sellers within the US.

Walmart Launches Standalone Site for Businesses

If you’re running a retail operation offline and are used to buying supplies from Walmart, you may be in for a treat. The retail juggernaut just launched Walmart Business, an ecommerce store tailored to small and medium business and non-profit organizations. Its goal is to help businesses save money, spend less time on purchases, and create efficiencies in their supply chains. 

The announcement also says that upgrading to Walmart Business+ membership for roughly a hundred bucks annually gives the following perks:

• Free shipping with no minimums
• Free pickup and delivery from store with $35 minimum order
• Two percent rewards on orders of $250 or more
• Savings of 5% on eligible items set to subscription

Walmart is Amazon’s biggest competitor on the ecommerce front, and it has constantly upped its ecommerce game over the past couple of years.

Affiliate Corner

How We Protect Our Ecommerce Brands

Peace of mind for ecommerce sellers is hard to come by, what with all the risks involved in running an online business. Worse, business insurance can cost an arm and a leg. 

Fortunately, companies like Foxquilt offer insurance products tailored to modern small businesses, and they let you sign up to an insurance policy customized to your business needs and goals in just a few taps. Head over to Foxquilt now to get started.