If you happen to use multiple e-commerce platforms, how are you currently managing analytics for sales, ads, inventory etc across the platforms?

I've recently opened an Ecwid store and it like to transfer about 200 listings from eBay to my Ecwid store. What is the best way of doing this?

Bonus points if it can manage stock so it will adjust quantities as items seller over both platforms.

Hi all,

I've been running a new car parts store for the past weeks but had no sales yet, tried FB advertising and Google ads. Nothing seems to click.

I know my theme and overall site isn't the best so I'm thinking of trying out an ecommerce audit, I've seen Talks Grow do it at $99 per audit but no idea how actually valuable that is? Has anyone tried it?

Or has anyone had any better options to get started?! I feel lost.

Thank you

I am new. Can someone explain how can we grow sales on this platform and realistically how much time does it takes from 0 to $100000 ?

Hey Reddit community!

I hope you're all doing well. My friend has a website, and for the first time, he is reaching out for some honest feedback. The site is called www.77agency.ae, and it's aimed at providing digital marketing and creative communication services. Their approach is performance-oriented, and they strive to deliver growth and results through innovative and creative solutions.

We're particularly interested in your thoughts on the following aspects:

1. Design and Layout: Is the website visually appealing and easy to navigate?
2. Content: Is the information clear, concise, and engaging?
3. User Experience: How is the overall user experience? Are there any confusing elements or areas that need improvement?
4. Functionality: Are all the features and links working properly?
5. Loading Speed: How does the site perform in terms of loading speed?

Any additional comments or suggestions are also welcome. Your insights will be incredibly valuable in helping us improve the site.

Thanks in advance for your time and feedback!

Any AI tools or Softwares Recommendation?

I’m based in the US but want to ship directly from my warehouse in India to customers.

I opened an account with Shiprocket. When I do a test order it rejects the US zip code or when I go to rate calculator I get the error “no serviceable couriers available for given weight” - I’m not really sure what’s going on.

Is there anyone using Shiprocket to ship from India to US and is it working? Are there any other services or methods you recommend to ship D2C? Thank you!

I have ordered a PUMA jacket from myntra...It wasn't giving a feel of original puma jacket....

Suggest me which is best ordering directly from puma website or any other platforms... because in platforms I am getting biy lower price than in official websites

Data projects can get messy and overwhelming—whether you’re working on business performance reports, customer feedback, or market research. I’m a senior data analyst with 5+ years of experience across higher ed and business contexts, and I offer flexible support for all types of data challenges.

What I can help you with:

•	Cleaning and organizing your data for analysis (R, survey data, performance metrics)
•	Analyzing and interpreting results for reports or presentations
•	Creating visuals and dashboards tailored to your audience
•	Mixed methods research (integrating quantitative and qualitative data)
•	Weekly check-ins to ensure you’re making progress

Whether you’re handling sales performance data, survey responses, or operations metrics, I can help clean and interpret your data in a way that’s clear and actionable. If you only need support with specific tasks—like data cleaning or visualizations—I’m happy to jump in where needed.

Feel free to reach out via DM or visit my site for more info: https://www.datasciencehive.com/consulting

Let’s get your project on track.

I'm not going to go into all the pros and cons of Shopify, I'm sure someone has done it. I had an issue with them about a year ago. I forgot to change my phone number with them and was unable to log into my shop. They kept trying to send a code to my old number. Calling and chatting with them got me nowhere and they finally said I had to provide a huge amount of documentation and they would consider letting me into my store. Meanwhile they continued to charge my credit card every month. I told them to stop but they said they could (would) not verify it was me. So I had to cancel that card with my bank and get a new card which was a huge hassle. Aside from all my struggles I opened another shop recently only becasue I do like the ease of the platform and it is pretty seamless and works well with Google Workspace. However out of nowhere, 8 hours after working on my shop and buying a domain - they closed it with no reason. I escalated. I chatted online. Nobody with Shopify could tell me anything. They said I violated something. I would like to know how a small time crochet handmade business making soft toys "violates" something in 8 hours. I didn't even have listings yet, I was doing all the back ground work while my site wasn't even live yet.

So if there are others out there considering Shopify, be aware there are some very grave problems with customer service/backend. I'm going to go with another company, even considering coding from scratch becasue I'm tired of all these one-and-done platforms that really don't stand out from the crowd.

The recent announcement of tariffs have been really confusing with nothing to reference except a press briefing from the White House. I'm currently selling chinese goods shipped from Canada into the states. Would this be subjected to 10% or 25% tariffs?

I have a store i'm launching that's related to Japanese art. Now i do have some posts already planned for it for the product but for the filler posts i wanted to use some AI to keep the posting going, not low super crappy AI photos but photos that have been edited properly and with nice prompts. Now i see that most of the people here despise AI for that use but i wanted to get inputs on some more people to see if this would be a good idea, The rest of my budget is stuck to paid ads and i don't want to neglect organic marketing as well. Do you guys think its a good idea to incorporate AI if it's matching my brand and product theme ? Thanks!

Should I go ahead and test it anyways or keep looking for other products?

We;ve been in business since 2007 but have never hired anyone outside for any website work or image work. Currently, using a $300 template with some minor edits. We sell decorative switch covers and the designs take center stage so there is a lot of white backgrounds.
Business had been pretty good through Covid but competition has picked up and we need to find ways to improve. Conversion rate used to run close to 4% with only Google Ads. FB has brought more visits but dropped conversion rate to a little under 2%.

We're trying to make improvements to the website and would love some suggestions.

Also, we'd like to hear your favorite ways to get website critiques. Not expecting any of you to go through the entire payment process.

www.snazzyswitch.com

Thanks in advance.

I’m working on a tool that helps analyze customer sentiment from Amazon & YouTube reviews, but before going too deep, I wanted to see if this is actually a problem people care about.

If you sell on Amazon or Shopify how do you spot trends in what customers are saying? Do you just skim the top reviews? Use spreadsheets?

I imagine things like “a lot of people are mentioning shipping delays” or “everyone keeps talking about sizing issues” would be super useful, but I wonder how brands catch these trends before they become bigger problems.

If you’ve got a process that works (or things that frustrate you), I’d love to hear how you handle it!

Hs anyone done this? I have never done ads/ creatves before and I found that it took me hours to even create 2 ads I want, and they are still not 100% there yet.

Would it make sense to find a freelancer with low budget to help with creatives so we can get our socials up and running for our pre launch and we can focus more on strategy and execution instead of just hours of just creating posts or ads?

Hi r/ecommerce - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Every week for the past 3+ years I've posted a summary recap of the week's top stories on this subreddit, which I cover in depth with sources in the full edition. Let's dive in to this week's top e-commerce news...

STAT OF THE WEEK: Meta’s Ray-Bans smart glasses sold more than 1 million pairs last year. Mark Zuckerberg said when revealing the figure, “We basically invented the category and our competitors haven’t really shown up yet. I think we’ll probably start seeing some of that maybe a little later this year, maybe next year, but we just have this wide open field right now to run and basically introduce as many people as possible to Meta AI glasses and we should take that opportunity.”

President Donald Trump announced significant tariff measures affecting imports from Mexico, Canada, and China, with substantial implications for the e-commerce sector. Effective February 4, 2025, the US will implement a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and a 10% tariff on Chinese imports. Canadian energy imports will see a lower duty of just 10%. Originally, it was planned that Mexico would also see a 25% tariff starting tomorrow until the country “cooperates with the US in the fight against drugs,” but today it was announced that Trump paused the tariffs for one month after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to immediately send 10,000 soldiers to her country’s border to prevent the trafficking of fentanyl and other drugs. There will be no exceptions to the tariffs, which affect all categories of products. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to impose a 25% tariff on $20B of US goods tomorrow, followed by another $85B of goods three weeks later in retaliation. China’s commerce ministry said it would file a complaint with the World Trade Organization and take “corresponding countermeasures," but has not yet announced retaliatory tariffs.

UPS announced that it would be cutting its business with Amazon, its largest customer, by more than 50% by the second half of 2026, to focus on smaller, more profitable clients, rather than on simply increasing volume. Amazon accounted for 11.8% of UPS's total revenue for the year, or about $10.7B. CEO Carol Tomé said on a call with analysts, “Amazon is our largest customer, but it's not our most profitable customer. Its margin is very dilutive to the U.S. domestic business.” Tomé said that because the contract with Amazon came up for renewal this year, it was time to reassess the near 30-year relationship, “because if we take no action, it will likely result in diminishing returns.”

The EU is drafting new customs reforms that would make e-commerce platforms like Temu, Shein, and Amazon Marketplace directly responsible for the safety and legality of the products sold on their sites. Under the proposal reported by the Financial Times, these platforms would be required to provide customs data before goods enter the EU, shifting the importer role from the individual buyer to the retailer. The platforms would also need to collect the appropriate duties and VAT, and ensure that all products meet EU standards. The plan includes pooling customs data from all 27 member states under one IT system and establishing a central EU Customs Authority (EUCA), which would screen shipments for risks even before goods are loaded for transport or arrive in the EU.

In other EU news… As of Sunday, the European Union can ban the use of AI systems that they deem to pose “unacceptable risk or harm.” February 2 is the first compliance deadline for the EU's AI Act, a comprehensive AI regulatory framework that the European Parliament approved last March after years of development that is designed to cover a variety of use cases where AI might appear and interact with individuals, from consumer applications to physical environments. Companies that are found to be using any prohibited AI applications in the EU will be subject to fines up to €35M or 7% of their annual revenue, regardless of where they are headquartered.

Wix launched Business Launcher, a new AI tool designed to help entrepreneurs take business ideas from concept to execution. The tool guides the user through various steps of building a business while offering personalized ideas, action plans, and key tools needed to make the idea a reality. It's a cool concept, but it was obviously built as a gateway into subscribing to Wix's website builder and marketing tools. I can't imagine any true entrepreneur coming up with a revolutionary business idea with it, but maybe Wix will prove me wrong.

In January I reported that Trump signed an executive order to delay the TikTok ban for 75 days and give the company time to reach a deal with the US — the major caveat being that Trump wants 50% of the app to be owned by a US company. So who's going to buy half of TikTok? Trump told reporters that Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok's US operations. He also said he would be open to Tesla CEO Elon Musk or Oracle chairman Larry Ellison buying TikTok as part of a joint venture with the US government. Perplexity AI submitted a revised proposal, and a consortium of American investors including MrBeast, Jesse Tinsley, founder of Employer.com, David Baszucki, CEO of Roblox, and Nathan McCauley, CEO of Anchorage Digital, has raised over $20B for the bid, confirmed by Bloomberg. Meanwhile TikTok and ByteDance have been remarkably quiet since Trump reinstated the app. Neither company's representatives have issued any public announcement indicating they’re willing to sell half of the app.

X is now suing more advertisers in its antitrust lawsuit focusing on what its CEO Linda Yaccarino has claimed is a “systematic illegal boycott.” Nestlé, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate, Lego, Pinterest, Tyson Foods, and Shell have all been added to Musk's hitlist the lawsuit. The complaint alleges that these companies illegally conspired to “collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue” from X. “As a result of the boycott, X became a less effective competitor to other social media platforms in the sale of digital advertising and in competing for user engagement on its platform,” the complaint reads.

Companies not being sued? Amazon! In fact, Amazon is boosting its advertising spend on X after Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk buddied up at Trump's inauguration. To announce the new partnership, Musk posted on X a GIF from the movie Step Brothers with the movie's famous quote, “Did we just become best friends?” In 2023, Amazon withdrew all its spending on the app, but now people close to the situation expect that to change, according to the Wall Street Journal, which reported that Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has been involved in the move in recent weeks as the company tries out ads.

One of my 2025 Predictions was that this year will be the highest number of IPOs since 2021. Every company that has wanted to IPO in the past few years has just been biding their time for the market to turn and rates to drop (which they have), and last year, those same companies began putting out feelers for this year. I predict it's going to be a public money cash grab. TechCrunch put together a list of tech-related IPOs reported to be in the works for 2025 which includes eToro, Voyager Technologies, Karman Holdings, Chime, Klarna, Genesys, Clario, Cerebras, Circle, Harry's, Omada Health, Shein, General Atlantic, and Oyo.

OpenAI plans to take pages from DeepSeek and Meta's playbooks with some upcoming changes to its operations, according to an AMA with Sam Altman. The company plans to breakdown its newer models' reasoning into smaller steps, similar to how humans think through complex challenges, which is something that DeekSeek does. Altman also said that it would consider releasing some of its models as open source and publishing more research. Altman said, “I personally think we have been on the wrong side of history here and need to figure out a different open source strategy; not everyone at OpenAI shares this view, and it's also not our current highest priority.”

TikTok's traffic rebounded to about 90% in the US since briefly going offline and being removed from the Apple and Google app stores, according to Cloudflare data. However traffic to TikTok alternatives has also increased, peaking on Jan 19th, the day TikTok came back online. 

Meta says that its decision to discontinue its fact-checking program in the US has not affected advertising revenue. Ivy Liu from DigiDay writes, “No boycott. No grandstanding CMOs. Just quiet resignation that this is the cost of doing business online.” Despite frustrations over the policy change, most advertisers are staying the course with their ad spending, with one advertiser calling Meta a “necessary evil.”

Speaking of advertising… TikTok assured advertisers that they are not breaking the law by running ads on its platform, according to a leaked e-mail to a media executive at a major brand. TikTok stressed that the law only applies to those who “distribute, maintain, or update TikTok by means of a marketplace,” such as Apple's App Store and Google Play, or service providers like Oracle. The e-mail clarified that advertisers and content creators do not meet either of those definitions.

Maersk, a global provider of container shipping and logistics, is launching a new ocean network called Gemini Cooperation, a long‑term operational collaboration with Hapag-Lloyd that will create a streamlined, hub‑and‑spoke ocean freight network targeting over 90% schedule reliability by reducing port calls and sharing vessel capacity across key East‑West trades. The transition period is expected to last until late May, beginning with 340 vessels, with June being the first full month in which the network is fully phased in with all vessels sailing on Gemini schedules.

Amazon laid off dozens of employees from its communications and corporate responsibility department, which includes its sustainability team, in an effort to cut costs and reduce bureaucracy. Under CEO Andy Jassy's leadership, the company has laid off tens of thousands of corporate jobs and killed a variety of projects since succeeding Jeff Bezos in 2021. 

Microsoft began firing its low-performance workers, leaving many without severance pay or health insurance, effective immediately, as the company takes a more aggressive approach to its workforce. The termination letters read, “The reason(s) for the termination of your employment include your job performance has not met minimum performance standards and expectations for your position.” Microsoft went onto inform fired employees that it will consider past performance and termination if the person applies for other jobs at the company in the future. People apply to work at companies that previously fired them?

Google distributed a memo to all US employees working on Android, Pixel hardware, and other projects that offers a “voluntary exit program” guaranteeing severance for anyone willing to step away from their role at the company. Google recently combined its Android and hardware team under SVP Rick Osterloh this past April and now it's looking to cut out redundancies in the department. Voluntary buyouts can often be a precursor to layoffs if not enough employees take Google up on its offer. Feels like an episode of Beast Games!

Block created its own open-source AI agent called “Goose” that allows users to complete tasks using LLMs such as looking for bugs or making code changes. Users can configure Goose to run on their preferred LLM including Anthropic, Gemini, OpenAI, and others, though the company says it works best with Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet and OpenAI's o1 model.

Amazon is introducing a shipping solution called Easy Ship for sellers in the Netherlands and Poland, which the company says will help sellers ship their products faster and more cost-effectively. Polish sellers will be able to schedule a shipment pickup from their fulfillment location for around €0.80, while Dutch sellers will be able to drop off shipments at designated locations for around €2.33, but it's currently unclear where these locations will be. Parcels that are sent with Easy Ship will be selected for express delivery by InPost in Poland and DHL in the Netherlands, and customers will receive real-time shipment tracking and free parcel insurance.

Visa Direct transfer app, which serves more than 600M users globally, partnered with X to support the ability to move money from a bank account to X Money's digital wallet accounts. The partnership enables secure, instant funding, and peer-to-peer payments for X users and significantly advances X's plans to become an everything app. 

At an all hands meeting inside Meta last week, Mark Zuckerberg said that he had to be increasingly careful about what he says internally at the company because, “Everything I say leaks. And it sucks, right? I want to be able to talk about stuff openly, but I am also trying to like, well, we're trying to build stuff and create value in the world, not destroy value y talking about stuff that inevitably leaks.”

Moments later, in an ironically leaked memo, it was revealed that Meta will fire staff for leaking company info such as messages and memos. Meta’s chief information security officer, Guy Rosen, said, “We take leaks seriously and will take action.”

Apple has cancelled its development of AR glasses, according to a new Bloomberg report, which were meant to compete with Meta's upcoming AR glasses named Orion that are set to deliver in 2027. However the company says it's still working on underlying technologies that could be used in AR glasses down the road, including custom microLED-type screens, as well as successors to the Vision Pro and AirPods with cameras.

Amazon agreed to a $6M settlement and to block the sale of skin-lightening creams containing dangerous amounts of mercury on its website, ending a decade-long lawsuit brought by the shareholder advocacy group As You Sow. The original lawsuit alleged that at one point, Amazon had 27 products for sale containing high amounts of mercury, sometimes at tens of thousands of times the allowable levels. Mercury is a neurotoxin that can cause prenatal defects and life-threatening kidney, brain, and central nervous system damage. 

eBay is raising fees as part of its 2025 eBay Seller Update ranging up to 0.35%, beginning later this month. The company listed its fee increases on its website, where it wrote that the fee increase was “to support our ongoing investments in enhanced tools and expanded protections to help your business thrive.”

Speaking of fee increases… H&M is increasing its fee on returned items from £1.99 to £2.95, which will be deducted from refunds made by all UK customers except for on faulty items or returns made to H&M stores. H&M joins companies like Asos and Boohoo in the country in implementing stricter measures on returns to help reduce abuse towards more lenient policies.

Cushion, a San Francisco-based platform that helped customers dispute overdraft and other banking fees and negotiate refunds, is shutting down after more than 8 years in business. The company's founder and CEO, Paul Kesserwani, wrote on LinkedIn that “despite bringing multiple new fintech products to market, we didn't reach the scale needed to sustain the business. We faced the reality that Cushion wasn't on track for a massive exit, and it made more sense to wind down rather than continue investing time and money.”

Google lawyers slammed the European Commission at an appeals hearing for making “grave errors” by failing to take into account that Android's success stemmed from successful innovation rather than brute force. The company accused European Union antitrust watchdogs of blundering their way through a probe that culminated in a record €4.3B fine for allegedly abusing the market power of its Android mobile-phone ecosystem. The Android fine is among a slew of EU penalties targeting Big Tech that President Trump called “a form of taxation.”

The FTC spoke with representatives from Temu about Amazon's pricing policies, particularly about its practice of penalizing merchants by removing checkout buttons from their listings when it found the same items offered for lower prices on Temu. The communications took place before Jan. 20, when Biden-appointed FTC Chair Lina Khan stepped down and was replaced by Trump appointee Andrew Ferguson.

A UK Competition and Markets Authority inquiry group recommended that the regulator investigate Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure under the new Digital Markets Competition and Consumers Act, which aims to rein in the power of dominant platforms and protect consumers. The regulator noted that the two companies share up to 40% of UK customer spend on cloud services and that businesses currently face a limited choice of providers when it comes to cloud services. Okay, so build some UK-owned data centers and stop approving new facilities for Microsoft and Amazon! Don't allow the two companies to grow their cloud divisions in your country and then fine them for doing so. 

Bookshop.org, an online bookstore that channels a portion of its sales back to local brick-and-mortar book shops, launched an e-book platform to give readers an alternative to shopping on Amazon. The e-books can be purchased from local bookstores or from Bookshop, and the company promises that 100% of the profits from e-book sales will go back to indie sellers.

Amazon is being sued by consumers who accuse the company of secretly tracking their movements through their cellphones and selling the data it collects. According to the lawsuit, Amazon obtained “backdoor access” to consumers' phones by providing tens of thousands of app developers with code known as Amazon Ads SDK to be embedded in their apps, which allowed Amazon to collect an enormous amount of timestamped geolocation data about where consumers live, work, shop, and visit, revealing sensitive information such as religious affiliations, sexual orientations, and health concerns. Ah yes, but TikTok is the problem…

Brands including Instacart, Taco Bell, Stella Artois, Uber, Tubi, and NerdWallet released teasers for their Super Bowl 59 commercials, which AdWeek and YouTuber Mining Asteroids curated for your enjoyment. Or you can simply wait for the big game on Feb 9th like the rest of us!

Digital River, a Minnetonka-based e-commerce pioneer that build software used to make online purchases, is shutting down after more than 30 years in business, impacting 122 employees. In a message to employees, the company owner and CEO Barry Kasoff described mounting financial pressures including “the rapid contraction of key customers, combined with the headwinds presented by new deals with shorter payment terms and U.S. trade policies that impacted one of our largest customers. These challenges, coupled with rising operational costs and tax obligations, have impacted our ability to sustain operations.”

Walmart expanded its same-day pharmacy delivery service to customers across 49 states, allowing customers to purchase pharmacy, general merchandise, and grocery in a single online order. The service first launched in six states last October with plans to expand nationally at the end of January. Pharmacy Delivery will be offered free to Walmart+ members, while non-members will pay a fee, starting at $9.95 for standard delivery.

Meta agreed to pay $25M to settle a lawsuit with Donald Trump, who sued the social media company in 2021 for suspending his accounts after the Jan 6th attack on the US Capitol. The majority of the settlement, $22M, will go towards a fund to pay for Trump's presidential library, and the remainder will pay for legal fees and go to other plaintiffs listed in the case. Funny how that lawsuit sat in limbo for 4 years until Trump won office again and then was settled within weeks of his inauguration. 

Amazon appointed Jason Buechel, CEO of Whole Foods, to oversee the company's global grocery business while retaining his leadership role at Whole Foods. Buechel, who has held the position at Whole Foods since 2022, will manage Amazon's grocery initiatives including its Fresh supermarket chain, Go cashierless stores, and online grocery services.

Amazon Prime Air unveiled plans to start initial flight tests from the company's fulfillment center in Darlington, a town with a population of just over 100k located in northeast England. Amazon first announced its plans to launch drone deliveries in the UK back in 2023. The company is now in the process of seeking permission with local authorities to build its flight operations at the site, as well as applying for authorization from the Civil Aviation Authority to fly drones in the airspace. 

TikTok is investing $3.76B to launch a data center project in Thailand, according to the country's investment authorities. The move comes as several tech giants plan data centers in the country, including Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Google Gemini is being used by cybercriminal organizations from all around the world in their attacks including attackers from Iran, North Korea, and Russia, the company has admitted. In an in-depth analysis discussing who the threat actors are, Google highlighted how the platform has not been used to discover new attack methods, but rather to fine-tune existing ones. Really? Catch up, Google! ChatGPT could probably discover new attack methods. LOL. The criminals are primarily using Gemini for research, troubleshooting code, and creating and localizing content. 

Flipkart rebranded its grocery business from “Grocery” to “Kilos,” aiming to provide everyday essentials at wholesale prices, according to the company. Unlike Flipkart's newer quick commerce offering called Minutes, the Kilo service has longer delivery times for purchases, similar to Amazon Fresh.

Shein issued a press release detailing the steps the company is taking to keep the items it sells safe. The announcement came a week after its first product safety recall in the US since 2021. Shein said it conducted more than 2M product safety tests last year using industry-leading labs and that its vendors are required to submit documentation for items like toys, baby products, medical devices, and electronics.

Macy's is ending a program that provided college degree programs and other educational courses to its employees at no cost in partnership with Guild, a company that offers similar initiatives with Walmart, Chipotle, and Pepsi. A Guild spokesperson said the company is disappointed in Macy's decision and plans to offer financial assistance to Macy's employees who are near program completion to ensure that they can finish their education. Macy's said that the program didn't have a big impact on retention or internal promotions and that only a small number of employees used it since it began in February 2022.

CVS launched a new mobile app that can manage prescriptions and orders, provide options for immunization scheduling, and most notably, open locked display cabinets in stores — without having to summon an employee. In order to unlock the cabinets, app users need to be a member of CVS's loyalty program, logged into their account, connected to the store's WiFi, and have their device's Bluetooth enabled to de-activate the digital lock. Great, so now instead of opening the cabinet for you, CVS employees get to become your tech support!

YouTube denied reports that it's serving unskippable hour-long ads to some YouTube users who have ad blocks enabled and instead blamed the ad blockers themselves for any “suboptimal viewing experiences” — which might actually be true. A Redditor demonstrated that the ad blockers may be preventing the skip button from appearing while simultaneously failing to actually block the ad, and showed how refreshing the page would fix the problem. But then again, it could simply be Google messing with ad blockers…

Three guys in India were arrested for hacking into e-commerce websites, changing the prices of expensive items like mobile phones, drones, and laptops, and buying them for pennies. The trio would then sell the items for around 80% of their original price, which was practically all profit. Several bank employees were also summoned for questioning over their suspected involvement in the scam.

Plus 5 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest including OpenAI being in talks with SoftBank to invest up to $25B in the company, which could value it at around $300B, surpassing ByteDance and making OpenAI the second most valuable private company in the world after SpaceX.

I hope you found this recap helpful. See you next week!

PAUL
Editor of Shopifreaks E-Commerce Newsletter

PS: If I missed any big news this week, please share in the comments.

Hello,

I just started off a new e commerce store for selling water treatment plants and accessories. Can you guys please go through and give me a review:

www.hydronest.in

I've just started off and not getting many store visits. It's a new store, what changes do i need to make. Thanks in advance.

We were down 12% year over year. Art supplies store.

I recently connected with a former business owner who successfully operated a children’s clothing brand from 2007 to 2018, generating approximately $350,000 in annual gross revenue through wholesale distribution. However, he was forced to cease operations in recent years due to personal circumstances.

Initially, he proposed a partnership to relaunch the brand, but after further consideration, he decided to fully exit the business. Instead, he has offered to sell me his remaining inventory—approximately 10,000 to 20,000 units—at a cost of goods sold (COGS) of $1.25 per unit. As part of the agreement, he will provide industry insights and strategic guidance to help streamline operations.

Additionally, he is transferring ownership of his Amazon storefront, which, although inactive for the past two years, remains in good standing with a seller rating of 200. The store has approximately 150 active listings, some with up to 40 customer reviews. However, product images will require optimization to enhance conversion rates. He is offering the storefront at no cost, providing a valuable foundation for online sales.

My plan is to operate within multiple sales channels, including my own Shopify-based B2C store, Amazon, Walmart, and other marketplaces, alongside a wholesale distribution strategy. To minimize risk and validate market demand, we agreed to an initial test run of approximately 2,000 units across 35 to 40 SKUs (Stock Keeping Units). Furthermore, he is including essential equipment such as a heat press machine and other operational supplies to facilitate production and fulfillment.

Given this multi-channel approach and the opportunity to acquire inventory at a low COGS while leveraging an existing Amazon presence, do you think this is a solid foundation for relaunching a children’s clothing brand, or are there key risks and considerations I should evaluate before proceeding?

Hello, I am new to shipping e-commerce and I am selling cards from like pokemon, Lorcana and etc. I know there is a way to make labels at home with tracking through usps at a low cost but not sure where to go. Any advice would be so helpful. I need to make sure I have tracking with low cost. I signed up for stamps.com but not sure if that is the way to go.

Hello, I'm interested in setting up a Facebook Business Page to sell my products. Thing is, I'm located in the Dominican Republic, and Facebook Shops are not available in my country (I imagine it is because of taxes and other complicated payment related stuff).

Either way, I can still create a catalogue and run ads on it. So, as an alternative, I was thinking about doing this. However, some questions arise...

Will my catalogue be visible in my Facebook Page as soon as people enter it, and can people message me about products whilst looking at their info?

Can the products I add to my catalogue be posted in my local marketplace so that I can myself through messenger set up payments and shippings? (Will the ads ran on my catalogue appear in marketplace?)

Hoping you more experienced folks can help me out here.

Guys,

The new tariff rules have came in so fast that I've barely had anytime to plan around it. I'm sure some of you guys will also be in the same boat so I just wanted some clarity.

We sell to all over the world but USA is our number 1 market, all our stock is stored in in a 3PL in China and dispatched from there.

Now, I'm wondering with the new rules... Does the customer get an unexpected letter to pay the 10% before the order is delivered to them? Or do we (the seller) get the 10% charge?

Any advice on this would be great. Would also be great to hear how others are planning around this.

TIA

His energy is unmatched, isn't it?

I'm a first-time poster and I'm lacking my usual motivation. I have a 3D printing company that also launched an online store (nesolution.com.au) selling FDM 3D printer consumables and accessories. I've invested in rebranding filament from a reputable supplier, and I've tried everything I can think of: AdWords, social media marketing, even SEO through an agency. My prices are very competitive in the Australian market, but my product just isn't moving. I'm talking less than 2 pallets in 6 months, while I know competitors are moving 10+ per month. It's incredibly frustrating. Please, r/ecommerce, go through my store and strategy. I need honest, constructive feedback to figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I currently have my ecommerce shop on wix but I am wondering if that is a mistake and I should switch to shopify? Wix doesn’t seem to have as many tools as I would like as far as filters and more. I am also concerned about Wix with SEO. Can anyone share any insight on this?

I personally have a product idea in mind. I see several brands selling on different platforms like Amazon google ads etc. but I find the data shows the market has a ton of potential growth.

Anyways, out of curiosity is competition good or bad? I feel that in today’s day and age there’s always going to be a bunch of it because of the internet and how easy anyone can throw up a store online.

What are your thoughts and how to differentiate too much competition (bad idea) or its proof that it may be a good idea?

Thanks!

does anyone have experience with them? I’m thinking of switching payment processors for Shopify

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone’s January has been going well so far. We are in the process of launching our ecommerce skincare brand in about 1-1.5 months. Last few months have been quite packed with figuring logistics and such.

We will be launching IG, FB, TT and Youtube.

I am very new to creating short form video creatives. We have some photos for our products from the recent photoshoots, but not much video contents. We are in the process of researching micro influencers on both IG and TK in order to produce UGC contents. However, that will take a few weeks at least.

In the mean time, for our pre-launch, we still want to create some followers and a community before we can have authentic UGC contents.

What are some best AI apps to do this? I have heard of Cliptalk Pro, Luma5, Luma Dream Machine, Invideo.

However, the options are endless and I am quite overwhelmed with the options. Which ones do you guys recommend to create high quality authentic videos? Our target audience is a anywhere from 20-40s, and a more premium/ luxury market since our prices are not cheap. Hence we do not want to create any gimmick Gen Z videos. Any apps that can help us with script, creating realistic videos would be great.

Also in terms of posting strategy, what is the best frequency and types of content to post?

• Would posting once a day be enough?
• What kinds of hashtags should we be using in order to reach the audience

Need alternative to Shopify payments or account that sends funds to Shopify first as I'm in a dispute with them over a fraudulant refund, PayPal no longer gets paid directly to PayPal.
Online Square and Wave come up but they don't show for options for 3rd party payment providers.
Any help would be appreciated.