There are more ‘eBay Millionaires’ than ever before, since 2013 the number of people turning over £1 million or more on eBay UK has grown more than 50% from 443 to 663.
Despite the economic turbulence of the early 2010s, the UK’s online economy has proven increasingly robust with over 200 new eBay millionaires, some as young as 19.
An eBay millionaire is defined as a business registered on eBay UK with a turnover of £1 million or more. There’s no real secret to becoming successful on eBay – it takes dedication and hard work but it doesn’t hurt to tap into the fastest growing categories – the latest eBay data shows the rising number of millionaires has been driven by booming online sales of fashion, furniture and electronics.
eBay Millionaire – Furniture Box
20-year-old Monty George is a newly minted eBay millionaire. He runs Furniture Box, a Wiltshire-based online furniture store, with business partner Dan Beckles, 19.
The business launched on eBay in 2015 after the two chose to focus on enterprise rather than pursue university education, and Furniture Box now turns over more than £1 million.
“If I was going to give one bit of advice to someone wanting to rapidly grow their business online, it would be to study the marketplace and find your niche among competitors. If you can identify a unique offering for consumers, your sales will fly!”
– Monty George, Furniture Box
eBay Millionaire – Lingerie Outlet
Fashion has proved to be the standout sector for another Wiltshire-based eBay millionaire. Clare Haines set up Lingerie Outlet Store in 2009, but it wasn’t until best friend Melissa Burton joined the business as a partner in 2014 that the working mums led Lingerie Outlet Store to 2,000% growth. The firm now employs 32 staff and is looking for a new warehouse.
“Our main advice to someone wanting to launch their own business is to keep a close eye on sales data. This has enabled us to start mapping out seasonal product trends to plan our inventory throughout the year, for example in the spring when we know that swimwear sales rocket as people plan for their summer holidays.”
– Clare Haines and Melissa Burton – Lingerie Outlet
Clare and Melissa are part of the strongest growing category on eBay UK by business registration – Clothing, Shoes and Accessories. Over a quarter of new business joiners to the site in 2016 set up a Clothing, Shoes and Accessories store. Other fast growing UK categories include Electronics sellers and Home and Garden items.
New business registrations on eBay UK in 2016, by sector
- Clothing, shoes and accessories – 26.3%
- Electronics – 22.9%
- Home and Garden – 20.2%
- Collectibles – 8.6%
- Parts and accessories (motor) – 7.4%
- Lifestyle – 6.7%
- Business and industrial – 5.4%
- Media – 2.5%
eBay Business Awards
The new eBay Millionaire numbers have been released as eBay prepares to launch the first ever eBay for Business Awards. The Awards are free to enter and open to all eBay businesses, regardless of size. The winning businesses will receive a cash prize, a trip to meet eBay’s global executive team in the United States, as well as tailored assistance to help boost their presence online and help them to sell their products.
12 Responses
turning over £1 million ‘
Turnover for vanity, profit for sanity!
I’m surprised that it took a detailed review of their sales performance for Lingerie Outlet to figure out that Swimwear sales increase in the spring.
As Ian A has mentioned, turning over a million is easy. Bringing in a million pound net profit is much harder.
Really it should be £10 million to actually realise a net profit of £1m.
Well I say well done to them. It’s good to see success celebrated. Actually I think Lingerie Outlet turn over a lot more than £1m. They are a direct competitor for me, but I’m delighted for them.
And this is just eBay sales remember. All of these businesses probably sell on multiple channels in addition, so this will only be a portion of their turnover
furniture box has 73 feedback for this month, less than 1500 for the whole year.
yes they sell furniture (as do we) but the max single sale price appears to be about £400, the average much lower, andith about 30% of their feedback for 99p items.
how does this add up to being an “ebay millionaire”?
unless ebay are promoting things against their own rules, such as multiple accounts, there is no way in the world that adds up to a million.
or maybe they turn over a million by shifting all their sales to Amazon, they havent closed the ebay account yet so we’ll count that as an ebay millionaire?
Well done to both businesses mentioned. When you’re turning over a million quid, the chances are that people have jobs, families and responsibilities that depend on that business, and taxes are flowing into the governments coffers from VAT, PAYE, Business Rates, Corporation Taxes and so on.
All this points to the fact that ebay increasingly has a duty to ensure continuity and treat these employers and tax-payers fairly and responsibly. Dolphinning a business is no longer a matter of someone’s hobby being shut down but livelihoods and our society being affected.
The good news is that ebay is indeed getting better at this, and it’s no coincidence, then, that people like Monty and Claire have the confidence to commit to building their businesses on the platform.
Long may that virtuous circle continue. Treat sellers well, and they list more inventory and the marketplace attracts more buyers. This is not the Amazon way. But the world doesn’t need another Amazon.
Turnover Vanity, Profit Sanity
I’d like to see the “top 100 ebay sellers” thing again. There doesn’t seem to be one for the last year or so.
Also I expected more than 663 with over £1m turnover.
The sign says “How to become a millionarie”
What is a millionarie ?
My business turns over £10m in a tough engineering environment (proper company) and I am not a millionaire. It takes a long time to become a millionaire and maybe only if you sell.
Terrible misleading article …….should be ashamed of yourself !!!!!
I have regularly turned over £250,000 a year on ebay ,pay one part time staff member and struggle to make £15,000 net profit .The only one’s getting rich out of ebay are ebay