As we kick off 2013, we would like to thank our Main Street members for getting involved with public policy that impacts your ability to buy and sell online in 2012.  Over 22,500 people joined Main Street last year, with thousands more joining us for spirited discussion on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.  Below are a few highlights and we thank you for participating!

On Tuesday, the eBay Inc. Government Relations team scored a victory for our customers, when the U.S. and Canadian governments announced that they had jointly decided to raise and harmonize their informal entry thresholds at $2,500.  What is the informal entry threshold you ask?  The informal entry threshold is the level below which goods coming into the country are not subject to the most stringent paperwork & customs fees requirements by the government.

A truly eBay Inc. effort (From L-R): Isabelle Neo, APAC Asset Protection; Krishna Chaudhary, India Legal; Jack Christin, Head of GR/Global Asset Protection from SJ; Sandhya Sharma, India Government Relations; Nath Parameshwaran, Head of India Government Relations; Chirag Shah, InfoSec from SJ

In December, eBay Inc.’s Government Relations team met with Deputy Director Li Shi of the Shenzhen Investment Promotion Bureau (Invest Shenzhen) to exchange public policy priorities and opportunities between eBay Inc. and the Shenzhen municipal government. 

Main Street members know better than anyone how proposed Internet sales tax legislation would negatively impact the U.S. economy and small businesses using the Internet to reach new consumers and new markets. While the mega-billion dollar retailers and their allies use empty buzzwords like “e-fairness” and claim that software is a silver bullet for small business concerns, we know that Internet sales tax is a complex issue with many nuances.