Bol.com

Online store Bol.com stopped selling laughing gas cylinders, meant to be use for whipped cream sprayers. The canisters are increasingly used in combination with balloons or N2O crackers as drugs, and Bol.com therefore finds it irresponsible to keep selling them, a spokesperson confirmed to NH Nieuws.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday turned out to be very busy days for Dutch online stores, with Bol.com, Coolblue and Mediamarkt all reporting record breaking numbers in visitors and sales. PostNL warns that there may be some delay in delivering packages.

"Over the past days there were many extra online orders. We are delivering most packages today. For a small part of the packages, we expect a delay. We will deliver those packages tomorrow", the Dutch postal service wrote on its site on Tuesday.

Online store Bol.com has to stop selling fireworks, because it is illegal to send fireworks by post. The online store removed all fireworks from its website after a reminder from the Environment and Transport Inspectorate, AD reports.

According to the newspaper, about 225 different types of fireworks were for sale on Bol.com, ranging from sparklers to fireworks packages. But the Inspectorate does not differentiate between types of fireworks - no fireworks may be sent by post, a spokesperson said to AD.

Department store chain Hema was once again voted the Netherlands' most needed brand in research institute Eurib's annual top 100 ranking. Bol.com came a close second and Ikea came in third.

An expectant mom was pleasantly surprised by an endearing letter from Bol.com telling her that a product she ordered is unavailable.

Retail group Ahold, parent company of among others Albert Heijn, Etos and bol.com, released its annual figures for the 2014 financial year today.

The packages streaming into PostNL formed such a tall tower that it collapsed. The 56 year old PostNL employee, Ellen, had to stop sorting the packages or she would literally have been buried by her workload, the Volkskrant reports.

Fifty freelance couriers contracted by PostNL, DHL and UPS have taken action against Bol.com, alleging poor working conditions and financial exploitation. Bol.com’s offer of “free delivery” has become a target for the FNV trade union who claims that it is the couriers who pay the price for cheap parcel delivery.

Online shop Amazon.com is negotiating with Dutch publishers regarding the sale of e-books. Making the speculations about a possible move to the Netherlands concrete.

Toy company Fisher Price sold its last Zwarte Piet dolls in The Netherlands yesterday after various media reported that the company would stop production of the doll, which is part of a set including Piet, Sinterklaas and his horse Schimmel. Online as well as in stores, there was a rush to buy the dolls, which sold by the hundreds.

John Green's novel The Fault in Our Stars is topping book charts worldwide, and is even the number one sold book on Bol.com's Top 100 English Books list. Now, the book's film adaptation is set to be the hit if the summer for young adults. Many of the film's locations are set in Amsterdam, which means that the city might experience fan tourists visiting the locations.