News Roundup (January 22-28): Amazon Hands Over Seller Info to Massachusetts Officials, Google Rolls Out “Mute This Ad” feature

With Amazon announcing that it finally gave in to Massachusetts officials’ request for seller information, many sellers are worried that they will soon get calls from state officials asking for unpaid sales taxes. What will happen next?

This is the EcomCrew News Roundup, where we gather Amazon news and industry updates so ecommerce sellers like you can stay in the loop.

Amazon Hands Over Seller Information to Massachusetts  DOR

Amazon notified its marketplace sellers that it has received a binding legal demand from the Massachusetts Department of Revenue requiring the company to disclose seller information.

Amazon initially refused to hand over the information back in September, leading to a court order forcing the ecommerce giant to comply. In the announcement, the company indicated that it planned to turn over seller data on the 26th of January.

Some sellers might soon get a call from Massachusetts officials about unpaid sales taxes, and since more states are expected to follow suit, it is recommended to consult with a tax advisor on how to handle the situation best.

Google Rolls Out “Mute this ad”

Google rolled out a new feature called “Mute this Ad”, which allows users to mute reminder ads across devices, effectively blocking certain ads in all devices tied to their account.

While this might seem like bad news to advertisers, data gathered from this new feature will let Google know exactly what users are interested in and what they don’t want to see, which will help increase ad effectiveness and benefit the industry in the long run.

EcomCrew Updates

We invited Bill D’Alessandro of Elements Brands once more on the podcast, this time to talk about his experience dealing with big box retailers. Spoiler alert, it was not a very pleasant one. While we all have champagne dreams of having our products on the shelves of a big chain, there are challenges that come with it, which makes it not really worth pursuing. Listen to the episode at EcomCrew.com/114.

We have another Under the Hood episode for our 115th podcast! We invited Megan Loftin of The Bootstrap Boutique and talked about a problem faced by most entrepreneurs new to ecommerce–cash flow. In this episode we tackle the various ways to get the financing you need  to get you business running and growing. Check the episode out at EcomCrew.com/115.

That’s it for this week folks. Until the next one, happy selling!