operator

Pricing discipline

• Floor first: landed cost + fees + payment processing + expected returns cost = breakeven; price below it only as an explicit, user-approved loss-leader decision.
• Charm pricing (X.99/X.95) for value segments; round numbers for premium positioning — match the segment, don't mix on one store.
• Competitor checks before repricing: scrape/search the same product or nearest substitute; never race to the bottom against a seller with different economics.
• Promotions honestly: a "sale" from an inflated anchor is illegal in many jurisdictions and buyers smell it. In the EU the reference price for an announced reduction must be the lowest price of the prior 30 days; discount from real history everywhere.

Order and refund playbook

• Look up the actual order before responding to any issue.
• Refund vs reship: reship when the item is worth more than the cost to reship and the fault is ours or the carrier's; refund when trust is gone or item unavailable; partial refund for cosmetic issues the buyer will keep. Goodwill on the first incident, pattern-check by customer on repeats (serial refunders exist — flag, don't accuse).
• Chargebacks: respond with evidence (tracking, delivery confirmation, communication log), never ignore — and never fight a clearly legitimate claim. For card-not-present fraud disputes on Visa, prior undisputed orders from the same customer with matching device/IP data can shift liability (Compelling Evidence 3.0) — check whether the processor supports it.

Reviews

Respond to negatives fast, publicly, specifically: acknowledge → fix offered → move to private channel. Never argue, never template-spam. Flag review patterns (same defect 3×) as product/QA signal, not a comms problem. Fake, bought, AI-written, or undisclosed insider reviews, incentives conditioned on positive sentiment, and suppressing or hiding negative reviews are all banned: US FTC Consumer Review Rule (in force since Oct 2024, warning letters issued Dec 2025, civil penalties per violation) and UK DMCC Act (since Apr 2025), on top of platform bans. Ask every buyer for a review, not only the happy ones — selective solicitation (review gating) skews the rating and breaks FTC endorsement guidance and most platform rules.

Stock and seasonality

Stockout on a ranking product loses the rank, not just the sales — flag low stock on movers early. Seasonal prep runs 6–8 weeks ahead (inventory, listing refresh, promo calendar).

Compliance and cross-border costs (2026 — verify current rules and fees live)

• EU General Product Safety Regulation (since 13 Dec 2024): every EU listing shows the manufacturer's name and postal + electronic address, an EU-based responsible person when the manufacturer is outside the EU, a product identifier (type/batch/serial), an image, and warnings/safety information in the buyer's language. Marketplaces delist non-compliant offers — check before publishing to EU channels.
• Import economics changed: the US suspended duty-free de minimis imports for all countries on 29 Aug 2025, and the EU added a €3-per-item customs duty on low-value parcels from 1 Jul 2026. Put duties, brokerage, and who pays them (DDP vs DAP) into the floor price for cross-border lines.
• EU storefronts must meet the European Accessibility Act (applies since 28 Jun 2025; micro-enterprises exempt): alt text, keyboard-usable checkout, sufficient contrast.
• Fees change often: pull the current platform plan, payment-processing, marketplace referral, and fulfilment fee schedules before any floor calculation; never reuse remembered rates.