NEWS

eBay extends free ‘online shop window’ offer

Published on: 19th May 2020

New businesses registering on ebay.co.uk will continue to pay zero fees to list or sell until 31st July.

eBay has extended its offer of a ‘free online shop window’ for new businesses joining the platform for a further two months. It means that eBay will continue to waive fees to list or sell for new business joining eBay UK until 31st July or for 90 days after registration, whichever is earlier. The offer, which was originally launched on 26th March, will apply to 250 product listings each month – and is expected to help 99% of every new business-to-consumer seller listing on the site.

Since the offer was launched, eBay UK has welcomed thousands of new businesses and the number of daily seller registrations on the site has doubled. New daily registrations have also increased 175% since the beginning of the year.

The additional support from eBay will offer a much-needed boost to key parts of the SME economy, providing self-employed retailers and entrepreneurs who have previously relied on bricks and mortar stores a virtual shop window to reach eBay UK’s 27m customers, without paying any fees until August.

In March, eBay UK offered a 30-day payment holiday for existing sellers. Alongside the cashflow boost for sellers, eBay has also committed to maintaining seller standards for the next three months, ensuring the reputation, standing and profile of individual sellers cannot be damaged by events out of their control.

Murray Lambell, VP Trading, eBay UK, commented: “We recognise that the challenges are vast and wide-ranging for SMEs on Britain’s high streets. But, now more than ever, having an online revenue stream alongside a brick and mortar store represents a vital lifeline and offers the best chance of ensuring businesses survive. These things do not have to work in competition, and eBay offers that online shop window that so many small high street shop owners need right now. Even when businesses reopen, social distancing may still impact their offline revenues. So having a free online channel could really help, especially if they have excess stock to shift.”

Mark Buschhaus, director at Toy Barnhaus, told Toy World: “After months of contemplating whether or not to bring our business online, Toy Barnhaus finally went live on eBay this March. We accelerated the move due to the pandemic, and went live just as lockdown was announced. I’ve been astounded at just how easy the process of setting up our store on eBay was. I initially anticipated to be sending 10-20 parcels per week, but in the first weekend we had to ship over 150 parcels. We have managed to keep our business afloat through our eBay sales and are already thinking about how we can integrate this new sales channel into our core business plan, when our stores are able to reopen.”

If you’re interested in setting up your business on eBay or have any questions, please contact Nouman Qureshi, category manager for Toys and Games at noqureshi@ebay.com.

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