#e-commerce
E-commerce
Accounting solutions for online stores and e-commerce businesses
USPS's Second 2026 Rate Hike: What the Temporary 8% Surcharge Means for Small Shippers
On April 26, 2026, USPS layered a temporary 8% surcharge on Priority Mail, Priority Mail Express, Ground Advantage, and Parcel Select — on top of January's general rate increase — scheduled through January 17, 2027. Why small shippers absorb more of the hit than enterprise accounts, why the sunset date deserves skepticism, and four ways to limit the damage.
Vermont's H.211 Data Broker Law: Is Your Small Business a 'Data Broker' Now?
Vermont's H.211 (Act 138), signed June 16, 2026, raises the data broker registration fee from $100 to $900, adds a $20,000 surety bond, and imposes penalties up to $200/day for failing to register by January 1, 2027. Its narrower "direct relationship" test can classify loyalty programs, payment facilitators, SaaS platforms, and affiliate marketers as data brokers.
Vinted Just Came to America. Here's Why Your Bookkeeping Needs to Change, Not Just Your App.
Vinted's January 2026 US launch charges sellers zero fees — buyers pay a ~5% protection fee instead — but its Wallet holds funds 7–10 days before they reach your bank. Here's how to book Vinted sales with a dedicated wallet asset account, why the zero-fee model makes 1099-K reconciliation a one-step check, and what marketplace facilitator rules mean for sales tax.
Virginia's HB 402: Cottage Food Producers Can Now Sell Online and Ship Statewide
Virginia's House Bill 402, effective July 1, 2026, lets cottage food producers accept online orders and electronic payments, sell from any location in the Commonwealth, ship via third-party carriers within the state, and list a PO box on product labels. Production limits stay in place — home kitchens only, no potentially hazardous foods, no wholesale, no interstate shipping, and the $9,000 acidified-food sales cap — and localities can still impose their own zoning or permit requirements.
Etsy's DDP Mandate: What Non-US Sellers Must Change About Pricing and Bookkeeping
As of July 9, 2026, Etsy requires non-US sellers shipping to US buyers to use Delivered Duty Paid (DDP) — prepaying US tariffs and building them into the listing price — or lose Purchase Protection. This guide covers re-pricing by tariff category and why prepaid duties belong in inventory cost and COGS, not overhead.
The FTC's First INFORM Consumers Act Penalty: What Temu's $2 Million Settlement Means for Marketplace Sellers
In September 2025 the FTC fined Temu's parent Whaleco $2 million in the first-ever INFORM Consumers Act enforcement action. The law classifies anyone with 200 sales and $5,000 in revenue on a platform as a high-volume third-party seller — here's what verification, annual recertification, and the $20,000 disclosure trigger mean for Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Etsy sellers.
Embedded Insurance at Checkout: A Small-Business Guide to Protection Fees, Compliance, and Bookkeeping
Cover Genius's $100M raise at a $1.9B valuation signals how fast embedded insurance is reaching small merchants. Most Shopify-style protection apps make you an agent under ASC 606, so only the 10–30% commission is your revenue — here's how to verify licensing and book the fees correctly.
How Sports Card and Collectibles Reselling Is Taxed: The 28% Rate, Cost Basis, and the IRS's Three Buckets
Collectibles like sports cards are taxed at a maximum 28% long-term capital gains rate under IRC Section 408(m) — higher than the 15–20% most stock investors pay. Whether you owe that rate, ordinary income rates up to 37%, or can deduct grading and shipping fees depends on whether the IRS sees you as a hobbyist, investor, or dealer. Here's how the classification works, what belongs in your cost basis, and why a 1099-K doesn't change what you owe.
Visa Just Cut Your Chargeback Tolerance by a Third: What the 1.5% VAMP Threshold Means for Small Merchants
On April 1, 2026, Visa's VAMP program cut the merchant fraud-and-dispute threshold from 2.2% to 1.5% in the US, Canada, EU, and Asia-Pacific. Here's how the (TC40 + TC15) ÷ settled transactions ratio works, the 1,500-event monthly floor, the $8-per-transaction penalty, and six concrete steps to stay under the line.
2026 Shipping Rate Hikes: Why Your UPS, FedEx, and USPS Bill Rose More Than the Advertised 5.9%
UPS and FedEx raised list rates 5.9% for 2026 and USPS raised Ground Advantage rates 7.8%, but small e-commerce shippers are seeing 10-20% higher bills because USPS cut its DIM divisor from 166 to 139, additional handling and delivery area surcharges rose 6.4-14% by zone, and surcharge eligibility thresholds widened.
Agentic Commerce for Small Retailers: How to Get Your Store Recommended by AI Shopping Agents
AI-driven traffic to US retail sites rose 393% year over year in Q1 2026, and AI-referred shoppers now convert 42% better than other visitors. A practical guide for small retailers on structured product data, the ACP and UCP protocols, llms.txt, detecting AI agent traffic in server logs, and tracking agent-referred revenue by channel.
AI Shopping Agents Are Already Buying: A Small Retailer's Guide to Agentic Commerce
AI shopping agents evaluate structured product data and checkout protocols like ACP and UCP rather than reading storefront pages, so small retailers need machine-readable catalogs, consistent brand facts across listings, and a system for tagging agent-originated sales to catch fraud and reconcile revenue.