Demystifying Digital Transparency in E-commerce
Most small businesses selling online are operating inside systems they can't see. Rankings shift, listings get suppressed, categories get reassigned, revenue moves — and the explanation, if one comes at all, is a form letter.
This session pulls the curtain back on how marketplace decisions actually get made, using real cases from a Toronto business that has spent years on both sides of that process. We'll look at what large platforms disclose versus what they don't, how local and independent channels compare, and what sellers are actually entitled to ask for.
This is part one of a two-part series: attendees will leave having contributed the questions that shape session two, so the second session is built around what this room actually needs.
Rough outline:
- What "digital transparency" means in practice — ranking, visibility, catalog control, account standing
- Case study: a business Amazon filmed as a success story in 2022 — and what a single algorithm change did to it in 2023
- Case study: how local and independent sales channels handle the same decisions differently
- What you can request, document, and escalate — and where the real limits are
- Open Q&A: collecting attendee questions to structure Session Two
Who it's for: Anyone selling through Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, Square, Instagram or a marketplace they don't own. No technical background needed.
About the facilitator
Laura Sultan is the founder and CEO of Designs by Nature Gems, a handcrafted gemstone jewellery studio she built from a market stall into a multi-brand business operating out of the Centre for Social Innovation on Spadina. The company sells across Amazon, Etsy and its own storefront in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K., and employs artisan jewellers in Toronto at living wages with full benefits.
The company was named Fastest Growing Company – Canada at the 2022 Stevie Awards, and was profiled by Amazon in a documentary produced for its Rising Stars series. A year later, a marketplace algorithm change erased a substantial share of that revenue overnight — with no notice, no explanation and no meaningful appeal.
Rebuilding from that pushed Laura into policy work. She has since been recognized as a Female Entrepreneur of the Year and named a finalist for the Lenovo Evolve Small Grant, placing in the top 5% of more than 400 applicants across Canada and the U.S. She writes on platform accountability and seller protections, and has spoken with MPPs at Queen's Park as part of the Better Way Alliance's Meet the Business Owners series. She previously served as an Entrepreneur in Residence with RISE.