EBay Boss Says Holiday Shopping Now Starts Before Thanksgiving (and on Mobile)
*By Bridgette Webb*
In more than 20 years of business, eBay has grown to become the globe's second largest online retailer, with 177 million active buyers worldwide in 190 markets.
The company, in terms of online sales will have more online transactions than Walmart, Macy's($M) and Best Buy ($BBY) combined, according to company estimates.
It's a stat that the company hopes will propel it to success on what is poised to be the biggest shopping day of the year, Cyber Monday.
"We are building on incredible momentum from last week," Scott Cutler, eBay's SVP for the Americas said Monday on an interview on Cheddar. "We are expecting an amazing day across the array of products that eBay has to offer."
The annual online event is set to become the largest ー and fastest ー growing shopping days of the year ,according to Adobe Analytics data, which expects the annual event to hit $7.7 billion dollars in sales, marking an over 17 percent increase from last year.
According to Cutler, the fervor surrounding both Cyber- Monday and Black Friday has spread to the days before Thanksgiving, ultimately presenting a new opportunity for mobile payments. He said the site saw serious traffic even before the national holiday ー and then again on Black Friday.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
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