Small business owners from across the UK have flocked to a new eBay Elevate training course helping them to boost growth and fight back against current economic challenges.
Over 5,000 small business owners took part in the free eBay Elevate programme, run in partnership with Small Business Britain, which has seen success in helping Britain’s small firms to accelerate sales and counteract the tough financial climate.
Jan Tait, owner of Amaviti Jewellers, has celebrated her 1000 sale milestone since joining the Elevate programme, and shares how bringing in fresh perspectives has supported her business growth.
I put together a new business plan a few days after doing the course and it has helped me to change my approach to growing my business. I’m now much more conscious about goal setting and am currently ensuring I am well positioned to apply for more funding.
I’ve built my business up from my love of finding hidden treasures, to a thriving enterprise that supports my family and helps people to shop more sustainably for jewellery and give timeless pieces a new lease of life. It’s been an amazing journey, but to get to this level it’s been important to bring in outside support.
– Jan Tait, owner, Amaviti Jewellers
Hosted over six months, eBay Elevate included a series of training events and webinars featuring insights on everything from building a rock-solid business plan to mastering social media on a budget.
Stephen Penistone, owner of High Street Brands 4 Less, said the programme has supported his business’ international growth, which has scaled from small roots to a turnover of over £700k.
Our business started by accident after I was ill and recovering from ME. The business has grown to heights I could never have imagined.
I’m a big believer in the importance of not standing still. Being an entrepreneur, and working from home, can be isolating. It’s important to keep learning new things and not get bogged down in just running the business. The programme was full of useful insight, particularly around trading online during a downturn. It has helped me identify new focus areas for growth, such as social media.
– Stephen Penistone, owner, High Street Brands 4 Less
The last few years have been an incredibly tough period for small businesses. In the current flat market, with costs rising and consumer demand struggling, firms often need support to find ways to diversity, adapt and bring in new income. The Elevate programme was designed to offer small firms this extra firepower and it’s wonderful to hear about the numbers of businesses benefitting and the boost this has driven.
– Michelle Ovens CBE, founder, Small Business Britain
High Street Brands 4 Less also benefited from grant funding from the eBay Business Roadshow, which ran in partnership with Small Business Britain in 12 UK locations across the last 18 months.
Nearly 200 small businesses that attended these roadshows have benefited from grants and support packages worth over £1m, and winners have also received a year of 1-2-1 mentoring with an eBay ambassador to help them accelerate growth.
We know what a difference it can make to have the right encouragement, support, and empowerment to turn a passion into a thriving business. We are so pleased to hear about the impact that the Elevate programme has had in guiding business owners to grow while navigating continued challenges.
– Eve Williams, General Manager, eBay UK
11 Responses
Sorry we dont think selling a few items of low grade jewellery a week ,can be considered a run away success
Nice little business, well done.
This is the type of business that works on retail, well-known brands that Chinese sellers do not sell.
Although I imagine the margins could be quite slim.
We know what a difference it can make to have the right encouragement, support, and empowerment to turn a passion into a thriving business. We are so pleased to hear about the impact that the Elevate programme has had in guiding business owners to grow while navigating continued challenges.
Maybe ebay should have a look at how they treat sellers with metrics and defects if they want to support sellers. Keep getting emails to offer same or next day dispatch with accurate delivery times. Yet if a seller does that and something goes wrong like a late acceptance scan ebay punish small business which they keep claiming to support with defects on accounts for up to a year. Which can cripple a small business if accounts below standard.
Rob,
For my business, it’s same day dispatch for 99% of items, next day dispatch for the rest.
Ebay does not punish any of the late deliveries. It’s the complete opposite. They remove almost all the late delivery defects from the report automatically. It’s usually less than 0.5%, when it should actually be around 9%. I think the 0.5% is a glitch between click and drop and ebay, not automatically uploading tracking. I could appeal and have them removed too, but there is no point. Well under the 3% limit.
There are a mix of carriers and delivery methods used, but Royal Mail take the bulk and are behind all the late deliveries. No surprise there! But ebay are happy that when the Royal Mail click and drop daily manifest has been done, automatically uploaded, scanned as collected by postie, that is has happened.
If you run a small business and do the same thing, you should have no worries about late delivery defects and punishments. I can’t see a good reason why you would do it any other way.
Hi Gav, I don’t use Royal Mail as send anything from a small large letter box up to the odd very large DPD size box and have a local third party I use. Most go with Evri who get a lot of parcel there next day even on 48hr delivery. Yet at peak times parcels may get delayed going into the next work so no acceptance scan till it goes into the network.
I know I have done my bit and dispatched and local courier has picked up and taken to main Evri depot but that is not good enough for ebay. Yet I could drop something off at 11:55 at night and no hope of it moving anywhere and get there late but still be covered as scanned that day.
Hi Rob,
If the courier is coming to you to collect the Evri parcels and not scanning the items there and then, that must be your problem, right? If so, you know how to solve it. It is avoidable and you just have to decide whether to make the changes, or live with it, because unfortunately, ebay cannot just take a seller’s word for it. You might be great and dispatch 100% on time, but some others will not be so great.
TransGlobal Express have their own tracking/scan kind of like Parcel2Go but ebay don’t accept that scan even when direct to the website. I have no issues with Amazon and no issues on own website just ebay creating more issues with defects and punishments. If a item is dispatched or delivered a day or more late not exactly the worst crime with a defect on the account for up to a year. Which if an account has over 3% in defects could cripple a business on ebay.
Still Rob, you know there is a way around it. You have other options if ebay won’t accept data from all the players in the parcels market.
Gav, the way around it like many other good sellers who seem fed up with ebay policies of punishments and defects is to find other places to sell like Amazon or own website.
ebay seem to think their main competition is Amazon yet many other options available now with like of specific marketplaces of certain categories or likes of Shopify or Wix which are a much lower percentage in fees and relatively easy to set up.
But Rob, why find other places to sell instead of ebay, when you can sell on all of them, including ebay? As long as you can handle the workload of course.
I thought the same way about Amazon, when their VTR (valid tracking rate) team called to say I needed to improve their metrics, or they might suspend what they deemed to be failing listings. I might have told the guy on the phone I’d close the account if that happened. I may have used a few swear words too. But I’m glad it didn’t come to that, because I’d be financially worse off for it. And that’s what we’re in business for at the end of the day. To make money. In both your ebay situation and my Amazon one, it’s better off just doing whatever it takes to follow their rules, no matter how stupid their rules sounds.
Gav, because other places offer better opportunities and support. ebay have helped to get me to where I am now in business but that is declining each year and they don’t help themselves with the way they treat sellers.
Not exactly crime of the century if a few items get delayed or delivered late. As many small business it may be one or two people running it and things like illness or other family emergencies happen. Own website you deal with it apologies and people generally ok with it. Amazon hit with defect for 30 days which I can live with and fair reflection. ebay punish you for up to a year for a few late deliveries or dispatches. Yet many private sellers break the law by running a business with no distance regulations and ebay turn a blind eye to many as they say they are below the VAT threshold.
ebay are only interested in helping you if you are paying extra to promote listings now. I already pay ebay around 16-18% in fees for FVF, shop and listings without paying them anymore. I’ve had conversations with them about “account health checks’ but as soon as you mention you are not interested in promoted listings the tone of the call changes and they soon lose interest and end the call. Mainly down to the fact you are not going to help achieve their bonus if they get so much revenue in extra ad fees.
Just put my store on holiday mode, back on the 27th and ebay telling buyers estimated delivery from the 26th – 2nd. That means to get there on the 26th I would have to dispatch it likely on the 24th. The more they try to help the worse they make things. It’s not even to do with current postage policies as that would be estimated for 24th – 25th.