You may have heard about a new law that will require payment processors - including PayPal and Google Checkout - to report online merchants' transactions to the IRS beginning in 2011. In today's issue, we asked David Montague, founder and President of The Fraud Practice, to help us understand what online merchants need to know about the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 and how it may effect their bottom line.
Also in today's issue, ShopVisible's Sean Cook explains that online retailers who want to run successful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) programs should select a smart ecommerce platform that has the built-in functionality to support as much SEO activity as possible. Choosing the right platform can help retailers immediately climb the search-result ranks and get better exposure for ecommerce websites.
The Internet Retailer conference in Boston is less than one month away. IRCE 2009 has an interesting lineup of speakers, including Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, and Stephanie Tilenius, General Manager of North American eBay Markets. But one of my favorite parts of industry conferences is the exhibit hall where attendees have an opportunity to meet with representatives from marketplaces, vendors and service providers
Alibaba.com said readers interested in attending its E-tailer Luncheon on June 17, 2009, from 12:45 - 2:00 pm can email them at us-event-rsvp@alibaba-inc.com for details. There are a number of networking events at the conference as well, you can see the full agenda on the IRCE website. I look forward to covering the Internet Retailer show in my own backyard this year as well as chairing the conference's Small Retailers track on the 16th.
It seems everyone is talking about Twitter these days. In case you missed it on the AuctionBytes Blog, we published some letters from retailers on how they were using social networking sites to grow their online sales. It seems there's a fine line between helpful marketing and spamming your friends!
We have a new blog for readers who want to sound-off about issues related to online selling. The new AuctionBytes "Letters to the Editor" blog is found on this page. You can send a letter to the editor by emailing ina@auctionbytes.com with "Letters to the Editor Blog" in the subject line. (Remember to include your name as you would like it to appear in the blog.)
Thanks for reading EcommerceBytes Insider - strategies for ecommerce success. You can follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AuctionBytes, and I hope to see you in Boston next month!
