Topic
Running an online store: returns, chargebacks, product listings, and the operating decisions behind healthy margins.
Peter Askew won VidaliaOnions.com at auction in 2014, then found a Georgia farm to fill the orders. He grows nothing, ships nothing, and answers the phone three hours a day in March.
Rob and Melissa Stephenson buy heavy, awkward equipment nobody else wants and ship it on pallets. The rule is a minimum $300 profit per item and a target of ten times their money.
Shopify's own example is a $100,000 advance at a 13% fixed fee. Repaid in 18 months that is about 18.3% a year; repaid in six it is about 65.4%. Our conversion table, the milestones that set the speed, and the ten states that must give you an APR.
ChatGPT's merchant feed programme is limited to approved partners, but the work that qualifies you is the same feed hygiene Google Shopping has required all along. The fields to fix, in order.
The UK designer says 200 designs are needed before print-on-demand royalties reach roughly $1,000 a month. His own path went from $50 in August 2013 to a reported $9,000-$15,000 a month.
CBP's interim final rule took effect on 24 July 2026: no more $800 de minimis for postal shipments, a new informal entry process for parcels under $2,500, and a bond requirement that keeps goods in CBP custody until it is met. The dates, the 14 required fields, and who is allowed to file.
Both platforms now bill a percentage for processing outside their in-house rail. Published rates side by side, the formula the fee is charged on, worked arithmetic at $20,000 a month, and the exempt-provider list that makes BigCommerce behave differently.
Wero e-commerce went live in Germany in November 2025 and Lidl switched it on for its online shop on 24 July 2026. Stripe's own page says the method allows refunds for 730 days, no disputes, no manual capture and no subscriptions.
Three states have now written personalised pricing into statute, and New Jersey signed on 23 July. The scope differences, the exemptions that keep loyalty discounts legal, and an afternoon inventory of every field that touches your price.
Two engineers put in $3,000 each in 2012 and built a mattress company to $170 million in revenue. Their competitors raised hundreds of millions. The difference was what they did instead of raising.
Gymshark was incorporated on 5 July 2012 by a 19-year-old printing garments by hand. By 2021 it reported $608 million in revenue. The mechanism was mailing free product to people with cameras.
Amazon told sellers this week to add metadata to images and A+ content showing photorealistic AI-generated people. The New York law behind it carries $1,000 and $5,000 penalties and reaches any seller whose listings are visible in the state.
eBay International Shipping replaces GSP for UK sellers from August, automatically. Reach goes from 105 countries to 195+, and your payout is protected once the parcel is scanned at the UK hub.
Shopify gave vape merchants 14 days to delist worldwide, legal markets included. Category bans are a different risk class from account bans: you can be fully compliant and still lose the channel. The three layers, an exposure test, and this week's moves.
Meta shipped a dedicated app for Facebook Marketplace sellers: AI-drafted listings, a buyer-only inbox, bulk inventory tools and performance data. What's in it, and a day-one plan.
New image models like this week's Flux 3 make generation nearly free. The constraint is no longer cost - it's accuracy: a listing image that oversells the product converts into returns and disputes.
US retail returns hit a projected $890 billion in 2024, 76% of shoppers pick stores partly on free returns, and 93% of retailers call abuse a significant issue. Your policy sits in that triangle - design it, don't copy it.
US card disputes hit 158 million in 2025, and small merchants carry the loss. The card-network thresholds that actually matter, and a three-layer defense: prevent, deter, fight, plus when not to fight.