Microbusinesses in the age of AI moderation, Tariffs, and Regulations
Summary: rdemaree initiated a discussion on the challenges faced by small businesses in international e-commerce, focusing on AI moderation, tariffs, and complex regulations, especially in the USA and EU. They shared their experience with platforms like eBay and Etsy, noting issues with AI false flags and lack of human support. flipistics reported maintaining sales growth despite these challenges by focusing on aspects they can control. hansatrade described a significant decline in sales and expressed plans to focus on higher-value items due to reduced platform traffic. Overall, the discussion highlights concerns about the sustainability of small businesses amid increasing regulatory and technological pressures.
I want to hear your experiences as a micro or small business doing international e-commerce in the age of companies heavily relying on rudimentary buggy AI moderation and increasingly cutting human support, loss of de minimis and tariffs added in places like the USA and EU and complex regulatory measures being implemented particularly in places like the USA and the EU which effectively act as trade barriers to small and micro sellers like us.
What platforms have you tried? which one gives you the least hassle on each of these 3 business killing forces? Have you tried going your own way via shopify or something similar? if so, how did that work out for you?
My experience:
On AI moderation- It appears to be aggressively increasing all across platforms and removing human nuance resulting in false flags to increase companies bottom lines. I have found that while ebay is definitely guilty of this it has been less egregious than a site like Etsy which is much more automated and harder to speak to a human and certainly much less egregious than a company like META which literally has zero customer service at all beyond automation. At least when ebay gets it wrong you have a clear and easy path to speak to a human representative to sort out the situation and you can easily appeal (which involves a human). I am hopeful that laws will eventually force the hand of large companies to inject more real human presence into the moderation and customer service process to prevent error and bring nuance and make the seller/ buyer experience a more pleasant one.
On tariffs- I am lucky that for the USA at least my products are largely protected by CUSMA and I have access to numerous cross border shippers and programs to keep my products flowing to the USA but I am noticing a trend towards isolationism in the world right now and I think alot of it is related to nations wanting to slow the influx of cheap goods in from China and unfortunately us small and micro businesses are being caught in the crosshairs. Since we are in Canada I feel that the dust will eventually settle and we will have either free trade with the USA or at least low duty trade at some point. I am not sure about Europe tho. Technically Canada does have a free trade agreement there similar to CUSMA but they have numerous taxes involved on products coming in and its hard to keep up with. Thankfully the EU has never been a market ive relied on, although I want to be able to easily sell everywhere I possibly can.
On regulatory measures- Between the USA and the EU its becoming harder to ship outside of Canada. The USA with CPSC rules and the EU with PPWR. I understand why these laws are not inherently bad but I wish there was a way to protect small businesses from the insane overhead costs they bring to the table. For me personally, I did what I have to do to be CPSC compliant because I heavily rely on shipping to the USA market. Losing that market would be worse than the $1100 I spent on a toxicology report of my products. For the EU I cannot justify paying for their new recycling registration and representatives etc. It would be a total drain of my time and resources.
AI, tariffs and regulations arent inherently bad but they can be bad. Especially when they are all being haphazardly implemented at once and slowly chipping away small and micro businesses.
I dont want to see a world that is only Disney, Walmart, Amazon, META etc. Small and micro businesses power culture and communities. I am actually thinking about making a video about this to bring awareness to the harsh climate being pinned on small and micro sellers right now because it is rough. I can't imagine trying to get started right now. I am lucky I started before all of these things came into play.
Please share your thoughts and experiences during these rapidly changing and hostile times!
flipistics
·1 month agoI passed last year's sales totals about a month ago and I'm about 10% ahead of my pace from 2024 before all the tariff and postal nonsense started. Would I be further ahead without all of this? Almost certainly. My focus has been on controlling what I can control (listing, etc) and not worrying about what I can't.
rdemaree
OP1 month agoIm happy for you. I am 30% down from where I was in 2024 at this point in time. Same as last year. and thats despite doing everything right. Just a rough place to be right now.
I tried etsy out but immediately got 2 listings for my imitation historical paints false flagged with no ability to dispute it, despite having a $1200 toxicology report on deck and the fact that they have sellers selling the genuine toxic versions of the historical colors on their platform that I safely imitate right now with zero issues. Wild!
Lost a facebook account I had for 16 years too to AI false flags and of course META doesnt have customer service at all.
But hey, at least some giant companies are saving money by using buggy AI instead of hiring human beings who understand nuance.
I think AI moderation is the biggest problem of the 3. Governments need to step in and put laws on the books for the common man. Profits for millionaires and billionaires be damned.
hansatrade
·1 month agoJanuary-August 2024 vs January-August 2026. I usually list 2.500-3.000 items on all my selling accounts.
rdemaree
OP1 month agowow that looks like they were cut completely in half!
How are your international sales to countries not USA?
I have noticed a very small increase in Canada and international sales but not enough to make up for the dip in USA sales.
Im preparing to adjust to my new normal of 30% dip in sales going forward.
hansatrade
·1 month agoYes, I am almost exactly at half of normal traffic/sales.
International is also way down - I lost my TSR in Global, because I am still below 100/year. It looks slightly better in September - I hope it improves a little bit, so I get my TRS back (I still keep TRS Plus in the US).
rdemaree
OP1 month agoIt’s good you still have your USA trs. I only had it for USA but just lost it because my transactions are 96 instead of 100. I used to get 115-145 on avg to USA but times have changed.
My global has went up a bit tho. It hovers around 60. I think before it was 40-50.
All in all I’m still down some but hey what can you do. I’m planning on accepting a 30% decrease as my new normal. I do want to try and get trs back for USA by selling something cheap and fast moving tho.
Do you sell on any other platforms?
I tried Etsy but their customer service is terrible and ai moderation is very aggressive and buggy. I won’t invest too much into Etsy or any site that relies too much on ai for moderation and customer service for that matter.
I don’t like the idea of a rudimentary ai being able to strike me with no human nuance or recourse.
hansatrade
·1 month agoI sell only on Ebay. I used to sell 200+ items monthly (2005-2015), but those times are gone, forever. I plan to list all stuff I still have in my inventory (25K+) and then slow down - maybe only selling more expensive items ($200+). I am busy with other projects and Ebay is only a side job, allowing me to earn some extra money.
rdemaree
OP1 month agoI didn’t start selling seriously until 2019 but I dabbled in 2016-2018 as well. I don’t know what it was like all those years ago but I’m assuming it was better in most regards.
Di minimis, less ai, no tariffs, less trade barriers etc.
I did very well in 2020-2021 tho. The pandemic was very kind to me ironically. December 2020 I think I sold 8,000$ worth of stuff. Wow I’ll never have another month like that ever again!