This week, around 50 members of the eBay seller community gathered at an event at the UK Houses of Parliament for the eBay for Business Awards. Nine award winners were joined by other eBay small business owners who have benefitted from eBay’s small business grant programme and/or graduated from the eBay Seller Academy, as well as social enterprises who form part of the eBay for Change programme.

The event kicked off with welcoming remarks from Matt Vickers, Conservative MP for Stockton South and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Future of Retail.  

Eve Williams, Vice President, eBay UK, then delivered opening remarks in which she detailed the strong presence of eBay small businesses, of which the overwhelming majority are microbusinesses (fewer than 10 employees), throughout the UK, and how this contributes to the Government’s levelling up agenda.  

She also highlighted how eBay is empowering these small businesses to reach new overseas markets.  Currently, some 97% of eBay SMBs in the UK are exporting in some capacity, vastly outstripping the rate for the UK economy as a whole of around 10-20%.  

Following her opening remarks, Kevin Hollinrake, the UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business) provided the keynote address for the event, highlighting the importance of SMBs to the UK economy and welcoming the role that platforms like eBay play in enabling their growth.    

Later, we were joined by the APPG Chair on Small and Microbusinesses, Jo Gideon, as well as numerous MPs and staffers who popped in to meet sellers from their constituencies.

The eBay for Business Awards is an annual celebration of the best and most inspiring small and medium sized businesses across the UK on eBay.  Each of the winners are awarded a cash prize and a bespoke package of business and marketing support.  To learn more about the awards and past winners, please visit https://ebayawards.com/.