Apple, Amazon, and Meta forced to play by EU rules [Crew Review]

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The European Commission has listed Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, and ByteDance as “gatekeepers” under its new Digital Markets Act that aims to clamp down on anti-competitive practices. 

The listed companies have been given a six month ultimatum to comply with the EU’s obligations or face the possibility of fines or even selling parts of their business to operate in Europe.

Discover Your Next Top Selling Product

Amazon frequently rolls out updates on its platform and as sellers, you need to stay up to date on all the trends to avoid falling behind. 

At the same time, we know it can be difficult to keep track of all that happens, especially when you’re already busy trying to run a business. As we enter the last quarter of the year, why not spend an hour discovering which products work and which won’t on Amazon?

Join us this September 12 at 10 AM (PST) for a public webinar breaking down this year’s product trends on Amazon and much more.

Sign up here.

Amazon Brand Incubator Files Surprise Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

What a difference two years make. 

During the height of the COVID pandemic, Benitago (a company that both creates and acquires brands to sell products exclusively on Amazon) experienced rapid growth which led to a raise of $380 million in equity and debt over the past two years.

However, because of unexpected “macroeconomic forces” due to the pandemic cooling down in recent months, the brands Benitago acquired have consistently performed at a level lower than the valuations they were purchased at. 

During Benitago’s filing for bankruptcy, it had about $7.5 million in cash, and its plans moving forward are to right-size its business and sell some, or all, of its brands. 

FTC to Finalize Lawsuit Against Amazon After Talks Break Down

The ongoing battle between Amazon and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) might finally move to a courtroom later this month after the tech giants failed to offer concessions to settle its antitrust claim in its "last-rites" meeting last August 15.

While the FTC hasn’t revealed the details of its lawsuit, expect it to revolve around Amazon allegedly favoring its products while disregarding outside sellers on its platform and rumors of enrolling millions of its consumers to their subscription service, among other allegations. 

FTC’s investigation against Amazon has been ongoing since 2019 to have enough ammo to break up the company.

eBay Makes Changes to Shipping Costs for Sellers

Starting this September, eBay will begin charging sellers who ship via UPS and FedEx at the time of printing instead of charging them only after delivery has been completed.

The change has received positive feedback early on from sellers saying it can avert the shipping companies from a surprise billing.

No changes have been made about how sellers are charged for shipping as it will still be calculated on the weight and dimensions entered at the time you print your label prior to shipping.