Rate of new sellers joining the site each day has doubled since the pandemic, as small businesses look for a way to keep trading.
Small businesses looking to keep operating during the retail shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have flocked to eBay to sell their products, with over 50,000 new sellers joining the marketplace last month.
New sellers ranged from toy stores through to fashion boutiques, with The Industry.Fashion reporting that the rate of new sellers joining the UK site each day has doubled since the pandemic.
The site’s UK vice president, Rob Hattrell also expects customer demand to remain high, even if the current lockdown restrictions on non-essential retailers begin to wind down as anticipated from June 1.
“Customers have had to move online to buy the products they need, but this has largely accelerated the shift we were already seeing,” Rob commented. “The sort of things people have been buying have reflected the way people’s lives have changed since lockdown, with stuff needed for home offices and home fitness equipment selling fast.”
The marketplace has also extended measures that it introduced in March to help small businesses trading on its platform. New businesses registering on the site will now pay no feeds to list or sell products until the end of July.
The move will apply to 250 product listings each month.
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