eBay’s Government Relations team thanked one of its sellers for going to Capitol Hill to testify before the Joint Economic Committee on trade issues. Nick Quade is an eBay Small Business Ambassador who runs the computer networking equipment company Relay Networks. He explained how trade barriers hurt his business and others like it.
Announcement follows:
eBay Seller Testifies In Front Of Joint Economic Committee
Today eBay Seller and Small Business Ambassador Nick Quade testified in front of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC). The Committee held a hearing entitled Dynamic Gains From Free Digital Trade to explore the importance of free digital trade as a factor in US economic growth. As the General Manager of the Ecommerce Division of Relay Networks Inc. in Deephaven, MN, Nick’s testimony focused on the harm caused to his business via digital trade barriers such as the low customs de minimis levels used by US trading partners like Canada.
Nick pointed out to the JEC that Canada has a $20 CAD de minimis threshold, which means that Canadian Customers officials can intercept, open, delay, and assign levies to his sales. “Needless to say, this does not promote a good buyer experience and compromises my relationships with my buyers” said Nick.
These sorts of digital trade barriers affect more than just sellers. Nick shared details of several deals that fell through, including with schools in Latin America and the UK that simply wanted to replace their outdated computer equipment with newer, used US equipment, but could not afford the duties and taxes imposed by their governments. Nick encouraged members of the JEC to address these trade barriers so that small US businesses like his can take fuller advantage of cross-border trade while providing much needed goods and services to people in other countries.
The eBay Government Relations team would like to thank Nick for taking time out of his busy schedule to travel to Capitol Hill and represent small sellers using online marketplaces to engage in trade.
SOURCE: eBay Government Relations Main Street Blog
It sometimes pays to be an ebay brown noser………….
There are sellers who do a big percentage of sales on eBay and are also concerned about trade imbalance. It’s good for lawmakers to hear from small and medium online sellers.
eBay government relations does a lot of lobbying on behalf of eBay the company – much of which, though not all, also helps small sellers.
Unless of course you are in Canada where you get nothing from ebay, absolutely nothing.
And one really thinks that those said lawmakers in the swamp really care about one or two sellers have to say about anything. It takes a town to raise a child BUT IT TAKES A NATION TO CHANGE A LAW AND THIS NATION IS TO DIVIDED TO CHANGE ANYTHING.