It's not surprising to imagine retail companies making purchases from rivals to gather intelligence, but it was a bit surprising to learn that Amazon reportedly had a program to sell on rival marketplaces for nearly a decade under brand names such as Rapid Cascade and Svea Bliss.

Brands use subterfuge to buy online to sniff out counterfeit goods, but Amazon reportedly ran a project codenamed Curiosity, according to the Wall Street Journal: "Inside Amazon's Secret Operation to Gather Intel on Rivals - Staff went undercover on Walmart, eBay and other marketplaces as a third-party seller called 'Big River.' The mission: ... Read More

Etsy created "Teams" on the discussion boards where team leaders can make them private or public (open, closed, or hidden). But it recently introduced a backdoor where posts in supposedly private Teams are accessible to non-members.

Etsy explains on its help page, "Etsy Teams is a community feature where you can gather with peers to socialize, get advice from experienced members, and share information about running a business in your area."

A reader told EcommerceBytes, "There is a serious breach of privacy going on within the Etsy teams space. The changes they made on March 26 resulted in all teams ... Read More

Etsy is testing a feature to optimize sellers' listing titles - automatically. While Etsy runs most tests (aka "experiments") without letting sellers or buyers know, in this case, Etsy invited sellers to join the beta test, according to Cindy Baldassi, who published the invitation to sellers - an excerpt follows:

Baldassi, an Etsy expert and consultant, wrote about ... Read More

Some Amazon sellers panicked this week when they saw a banner telling them their account was at risk of deactivation. One reader thought it must have been related to the recent issue dealing with Amazon adding the Brazil marketplace to sellers' accounts, and he said Amazon seller support told him to ignore the message and it would go away. But then he realized it was related to the verification process necessitated by the Inform Act.

On a post on the Amazon seller discussion board, a seller warned colleagues not to panic if they saw the message:

Online sellers must brace themselves for another shipping rate hike in 3 months. The USPS published its rate request for new "Market Dominant" rates on April 9 to take effect in July, when the price of a stamp is set to rise by 5 cents from 68 cents to 73 cents - an increase of 7.4%, and Media Mail rates will increase by an average of 9.867%.

Today's announcement only covers Market Dominant rates, which do not include several services popular with small online sellers such as Priority Mail and USPS Ground Advantage.

Typically the USPS follows up its request for ... Read More