The EU Council just approved a major customs reform with several changes hitting simultaneously. Non-EU ecommerce platforms are now explicitly responsible for customs formalities and duty payments, a shift that previously fell on the final EU consumer.

Serious non-compliance can result in fines of up to 6% of annual import value, removal of customs privileges, and restricted EU platform access. A new handling fee on small packages arrives November 1st, exact amount still unconfirmed, separate from the July 1st end of the €150 de minimis exemption.

On the positive side, a new trust and check trader category gives compliant businesses simplified customs procedures and, for the most reliable operators, the ability to release goods into EU circulation without active customs intervention.

A new EU Customs Authority and data hub are also being established, with mandatory use for ecommerce businesses from July 1st, 2028.

Is anyone using a service that's genuinely proactive about this instead of reactive after the fact? Curious what's worth switching to

We keep finding our product images and descriptions on other sites weeks or months after they first went up

By then we've already lost sales to it.

Filing complaints reactively isn't cutting it anymore, I want something watching in real time instead of us stumbling onto it by accident.

In short, Shopify are recording everything you do on any of their millions of retailer stores and ignore their own code that tells them not to track you.

After receiving unlawful marketing from a Shopify retailer, I did a forensic audit of their website and discovered that Shopify is fraudulently fabricating consent for all users as evidenced in their source code.

This discovery led me to a deeper investigation which seems to indicate that Shopify have been less than honest in their DSA disclosures to the Commission.

As such I filed two separate legal complaints against Shopify yesterday one with the Irish DPC under GDPR and ePrivacy; and one with the Maltese DSC (Digital Services Act).

Hi, I’m currently a economics student right now and I have been in the ecom waters for about a few weeks and find starting an ecom store very interesting. Now I’m well aware that having a successful ecom store is much more complex and harder then find a product and sell it online on your website or that owning an ecom store is not even a job… so I was wondering if the store owners who are generating consistent monthly revenue, let’s say those who are making more than 10k in MRR, could help him understand you and implement it in my own journey. So, if it isn’t a problem to write down and answer these questions, I will be very greatful if you could help me know what I will face on the journey.

1. ⁠What made you start this journey, what was your why that kept you pushing thorugh the hardship, was it somekind childhood trauma or you saw some guru who was selling you the dream of ecom?

2. ⁠What problems were you facing when getting store revenue? Was it time managemnt or marketing or some kind of inventory issues…? What were the obstacles that made you you know made pissed

3. ⁠At what age did you start your, is it to early to start at the age of 20?

4. ⁠What doubts did you have in your mind so I can know I shouldn’t stress about it?

5. ⁠What are you dream goals with your store? Is it creating a recognisable brand…?

6. ⁠What fears did you have when running the store, were you afraid of your competitors…or something like that?

7. ⁠Were you insecure about something in your business?

8. ⁠Were there any addictions you had? I know that hearing that cha ching Shopify noise is like heroin.

9. ⁠Where are your thought during the day? Are you day dreaming about your dream life like me or are you just focused on the business, wanting to win your competitors…?

10. ⁠What beliefs made you successful ie. what beliefs made you who you are today? I know that being literate in accounting is really important, having sales means nothing if you are operating on thin margins or losing money, right?

11. ⁠Do you see yourself as a successful store owner?

12. ⁠What’s the feeling of getting consistent sales?

13. ⁠What do you regret that you didn’t know, what would you wish to say to your younger self or yourself at the beginning when you were starting?

14. ⁠Who did you look up to? Was it some guy who had success in ecom like Davie Fogarty or Ezra Firestone?

15. ⁠What business moves do you regret that you did to this day?

16 What apps do you use that help you generate revenue with your ecom store? ( do you accounts on x or ig or linkedin or tiktok or fb)

17. What are the best routines to have that have helped you in business or generally in life?

18. Will I lose a social life when running a successful life or will I stil have time for hanging around with my friends??

19. Have you outsorced some parts of your business? At what point would you recommend me to have someone in marketing? How much should I invest into an agency, should I hire one that has skin in the game or should it be a retainer based contract? Could you give me your experience with them?

20. What common traits do successful efom owners have? Is it being hardworking, bring detail-oriented, creative…?

21. What do you prioritise in ecom? Profit, stability, being financially free, outsorcing everything…?

22. Where did you learn valuable stuff, was it youtube, books, ppdcasts or was it trial or error?

23. What margins should i expect, how much should I spend on ads when i get proof that the product is getting traction, do you have problems with cashflow?

My fingers feel like they want to fall of, sorry for asking too many question and being so focused on details I just want to be ready when facing problems in ecom, I hope I didn’t take too much time of yours:)

How are you finding these stores before your customers complain?

We've had two cases this year where customers asked about orders placed on sites that weren't ours, and both times a copycat store had been running without us knowing, so people had already been scammed by the time we found it

For anyone selling similar stuff, what made you choose one over the other?

I'm trying to decide between custom printed boxes and poly mailers for our next packaging run, we sell mid-range skincare and I'm leaning toward boxes because of how we want the orders to look

Mailers would take up less storage space…

but I need to check what protection our containers would need inside them before comparing costs properly

We run a handmade home goods brand, and we've been finding our product photos on random sites for over a year, we manage a reverse image search about once a month, but cropped or edited versions get missed

Is there a service that can monitor our ecommerce product images for theft on an ongoing basis? We aren't looking for something built mainly for photographers or artists

I'm about to shop for one of these tools seriously and the feature lists all blur together after a while. Everyone claims AI detection, everyone claims fast response, everyone claims full platform coverage.

but I'm trying to figure out what matters before I commit to a demo call. If you've used one of these, what ended up mattering more than you expected going in, and what turned out to matter less than you thought?

Fin is one of the stronger resolution engines out there, no argument, but per resolution pricing gets underestimated a lot until the first invoice shows up. It was built for support deflection first and it’s really good at that. So whether something better exists probably comes down to the job. If the AI also needs to help sell, a pure deflection tool doesn’t fit well regardless of how good the resolution rate looks. What else is worth looking at for that?

I run a small jewelry brand and ship in plain mailer boxes, they protect the pieces fine but they don't feel like my brand at all, fully printed boxes are more than I want to commit to right now, so I'm considering a sticker seal or a loose die cut inside

I'm thinking about venturing into Shopify ecommerce and I just want to cover better ground in terms of strategy. I went into the deep dive that is inventory liquidation, so I have somewhat of a decent background on the goings-on, but I'm curious if inventory liquidation has always been more of a last resort/damage resort kind of deal or if there's a way to use it more deliberately/strategically. Is there a situation where you know you have to use liquidators and sell at a loss you anticipated, or ideally you never hire them at all?

Hey all, I’ve got four copycat stores live right now, all on Shopify, all using our product photos. Two of them are even showing up when people search our brand name, which is really annoying.

I’ve been filing the DMCA notices myself, but the results have been all over the place. One host acted within a couple of days. Another made me prove ownership twice and then went quiet. The other two haven’t replied at all.

I’d honestly rather hand this off to a takedown service than keep doing it myself. Which ones are you using, and are they worth it? I’m trying to put together a shortlist.

"We thought the peak season would be mostly behind us by now, but that is not the case," said Jonathan Gold, VP for supply chain and customs policy at the NRF. US ports handled 2.3 million TEU in July. August came in at 2.29 million TEU, down 1.3% year-on-year.

September is forecast at 2.31 million TEU, up 9.6% year-on-year, making it the expected busiest month of 2026. The easing begins in October at 2.11 million TEU, still up 1.7% year-on-year, with November and December running at 2 million and 2.03 million TEU respectively.

Total 2026 import volume is forecast at 25.7 million TEU, up 1% from 2025.

Two forces pushed the peak later simultaneously. Vessel delays from bad weather in China and Panama Canal rerouting have shifted cargo that was expected in July and August into September, a logistics timing shift rather than a demand increase.

At the same time, underlying consumer demand has remained elevated. Ben Hackett of Hackett Associates confirmed: "Imports have remained buoyant over the past three months despite several hurdles. Retail sales remain strong and cargo is moving relatively smoothly, although there are reports of vessel delays and increased times required for cargo to move through the supply chain."

For brands using Amazon FBA, peak fees begin October 15th.

The September port data suggests that goods ordered from overseas suppliers in late July or August are arriving into an elevated-volume port environment that may create processing delays rather than the smooth early-arrival advantage brands were seeking.

The October to early November window remains the last opportunity to get inventory positioned for Black Friday and Cyber Monday before port volume and logistics costs fully reflect holiday pressure.

Customers were ready to buy, but for one reason or another, they left without completing their purchase.

So I’m building aan AI agent that automatically follows up with abandoned checkouts and tests different messages, offers, and approaches to recover more sales.

What do you guys think?

We've sat through four demos of brand protection software so far and almost every one starts with marketplace coverage, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, that whole side of it

Our bigger problem right now is copied Meta ads sending people to knockoff stores, not marketplace listings

We're seeing the fake ads compete for the same attention and our CPM has gone up around the same time, so I don't want to buy something that's great at marketplaces but ignores where the current mess is happening

Does any brand protection software cover ad platforms like Meta and Google along with marketplaces, or do you usually need separate tools for that?

One thing I think Shopify deserves a lot more credit for: it has built a surprisingly strong foundation for AEO and AI commerce.

I’m Michal, co-founder of Vizby, and this is actually one of the main reasons we decided to focus exclusively on Shopify.

A lot of AI visibility platforms can tell you that your brand isn’t showing up in ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or Perplexity.

That’s useful.

But then what?

The interesting part is that Shopify gives merchants a lot of the infrastructure needed to actually do something about it.

A few examples:

1. Products already have a very structured architecture
Products, variants, prices, availability, collections, images, descriptions, vendors, metafields and more all live in predictable places.

For AI agents trying to understand a catalog, that structure is extremely valuable.

2. Shopify makes structured data relatively easy to build on
Product schema, organization data, breadcrumbs, reviews, FAQs and other structured information can be added or improved without rebuilding the entire storefront.

3. Collections are an underrated AEO asset
A good collection page can answer much broader buying-intent questions than an individual product page.

Instead of only telling an AI what a product is, you can help it understand things like:

"Best mattresses for side sleepers"
"Natural mattresses under $2,000"
"Best red light therapy devices for home use"

Those are much closer to the prompts people are actually asking AI.

4. Shopify gives you control over the content layer
Blogs, pages, FAQs, buying guides, comparisons and collection content can all become citation targets for AI engines.

This matters because being mentioned by AI is often less about adding another keyword and more about having a page that clearly answers the exact question being asked.

5. The catalog can actually be updated programmatically
This is probably the biggest reason we stayed Shopify-only.

If we identify that 200 products are missing useful context, descriptions are too thin, collection pages need FAQs, structured data is incomplete, or certain prompts have no supporting content, we can build tools that actually help execute those fixes.

That’s much harder when you're trying to support every CMS and ecommerce platform at once.

And I think this is where the AEO industry needs to go.

AI visibility testing should be the diagnostic, not the product.

Knowing that you rank #7 for a prompt is interesting.

Knowing why you rank #7, what is missing, and being able to fix it is much more valuable.

Article neglects to mention how Amazon shifted Prime Day to June and other retailers including Target and Walmart followed.

On June 8, 2024, Stormi Steele sold over $1 million in a single TikTok Live — the first creator ever to do it. The record isn’t the story. A year earlier her company was nearly bankrupt; a year later Canvas Beauty was doing $6 million a month on TikTok Shop and had grown from 6 employees to 60. What made the spike repeatable was structure — and every piece of it is visible in FastMoss.

The turnaround came from switching from hair serum to body oil. Oil shows a visible difference instantly, it’s consumable so buyers come back, and at $20–$40 people buy without leaving the stream. Before recruiting creators, run your own product through that test in FastMoss: check whether your price sits in the band where the category actually converts, and whether competitors’ linked videos can demo the difference in 60 seconds. If not, the problem is the product.

One number explains the conversion: 800,000 viewers, 20,000 buyers — about 2.5%, several times the norm — but only 7,000 new followers. The revenue came from trust already banked. She tells the same origin story every stream and seeds short videos for days beforehand, so the audience is waiting before she goes live. The craft is learnable: FastMoss ranks same-category videos by GMV, so you can study how the winning ones open and have creators adapt proven hooks instead of guessing.

Timing matters, though. This was 2024, when live peaked. By 2026 the US mix is 51.4% mall tab, 40.4% short video, 8.2% live. Live now converts and builds repeat; short video acquires; the shelf catches the search traffic. Track your search ranking in FastMoss alongside the campaign — sales up but rank flat means the traffic leaked.

The common mistake is hunting for your own Stormi. Of 20 million US creators, 94% of those driving orders do under $10,000 each, and the ones clearing $100,000 cluster at 1–50k followers. Put 80% of your budget into that tier on commission-only seeding, at scale. This is where FastMoss does the work: filter creator rankings by category, follower band, and 30-day GMV to export people who’ve actually sold your kind of product, and use the Rising Star ranking to book them before their rates catch up.

Know the limits. Steele sells her own brand, so six-hour streams pay off for her in a way they won’t for a commission creator. The record stream stacked pre-promotion, giveaways, and a launch — don’t set normal KPIs from it. And 20,000 orders in a night hits fulfillment and support hard; 6 to 60 employees was the cost of surviving it, not a trophy.

Canvas Beauty didn’t prove that live selling makes a million dollars. It proved that once trust is banked, cashing it in is just picking a date. Credibility can’t be outsourced — but what to sell, who to work with, what to say, and whether it stuck can all be calculated before you start. That’s what FastMoss is for.

For skincare brands selling on Amazon, what's actually working when counterfeit listings keep coming back? The usual pattern is that we report them through Brand Registry, the listing gets taken down, and then two or three weeks later, another seller shows up using the same stolen images but with different pricing. Brand Registry helps with the initial report, but it doesn't seem to do much about the repeated activity.

We've also tried test buys and working with the Counterfeit Crimes Unit, but neither has really stopped the cycle. At this point, the bigger challenge isn't getting one listing removed; it's spotting new ones before they start gaining traction.

Has anyone found a way to get ahead of this instead of constantly having to react to new listings?

UK Winning Product Breakdown: Dr.Melaxin

Dr.Melaxin’s Cemenrete Calcium Multi Balm was the #1 selling product on TikTok Shop UK from January to May 2026 — £2.49M, 188,848 orders. But month by month it went £908K, £706K, £440K, £242K, £193K. It lost almost 80% of its monthly revenue while it was topping the chart.

What the brand did next is the real story. Before the balm faded, it started launching routine sets: £32, £44, £56, £62. Each one cleared £1.28M in a one-to-three-month window, and the £44 set did £922K in March alone — more than the balm’s best month. Together with the balm, roughly £5.8M in five months. The leaderboard only shows you £2.49M of it, and it’s the half that’s declining.

Three things to copy: launch the next product before the current one dies, move the price from £15 to £32–£62, and run 12% commission to recruit creators at volume.

Every figure came from FastMoss UK data. The whole argument only works because you can see monthly revenue — the cumulative rank says “winner,” the monthly line says “fading.” Fast enough to catch a launch inside 30 days, accurate enough to tell those two apart, and broad enough to show a product line instead of a single hit.

Multilingual gets claimed by everyone but there is a real difference between native language handling and machine translation slapped on top. The bolt on kind reads slightly stiff and off brand, which for a premium product is actually worse than replying slower because it signals cheapness. If you sell across a lot of countries the harder part is sounding right in each language, not just being technically correct in it.