Small Businesses, Big Dreams: How eBay Empowers Canadian Entrepreneurs

For more than 25 years, small businesses and entrepreneurs have found success on eBay. Whether small business owners are looking to bring brick-and-mortar stores online, grow global customer bases, or turn personal passions and pastimes into real professions, it’s our mission at eBay to empower entrepreneurs, connect communities, and create economic opportunity for all.

Since the beginning, small businesses have powered the majority of sales on eBay — and the relationship between entrepreneurs and eBay has never been stronger. With our inaugural Small Business Report, we surveyed more than 2,600 sellers in Canada, the U.S., U.K., and Australia to learn more about how entrepreneurs around the world are leveraging eBay to build their businesses and achieve new heights of success.

The survey results were resounding: eBay has become an essential economic driver and a key partner for small businesses globally. Here are just a few of the key findings of the report:

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• 71 percent of entrepreneurs say eBay helped them start their business and 79 percent say eBay helped them grow their business
• 85 percent of those surveyed say eBay enables economic opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs
• An overwhelming 95 percent of small-business sellers say they rely on eBay, and almost one-third say that without eBay, their businesses wouldn’t exist at all

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These responses reinforce what we’ve long known: eBay enables small businesses to succeed.

There are a number of reasons eBay is in a unique position to help Canadian entrepreneurs stay local and sell global. Through our Up & Running program — designed to help small businesses move their products online — we offer world-class tools to simplify global shipping, powerful insights to optimize sales, and educational resources to help sellers make sure their online stores are set up for success.

Of course, we also have a near three-decade legacy of building trust in our secure selling and buying experience that other platforms simply cannot match. Another factor that differentiates us from other online marketplaces is that eBay doesn’t carry our own inventory and we don’t compete with our sellers. In other words, we are truly here to help small businesses thrive.  

And that’s part of the reason we love sharing the success stories of the small business owners who have reached new heights with eBay. Recently, we celebrated several Canadian small business owners for their achievements on our platform with the 18^th annual Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

The unique stories of each award winner illustrate the diverse ecosystem of entrepreneurs in Canada using eBay to sell to the world:

• Sibtain Janmohamed and the team at A-Lectron have long used eBay in creative ways to grow their Richmond Hill, Ontario business, where they buy, sell, and repair used electronics goods. Recognizing eBay’s wide array of item conditions — from new-in-box to refurbished — A-Lectron joined our marketplace in 2008 and has sold more than 350,000 items on eBay since, while maintaining a 100 percent positive feedback rating. That’s why Sibtain and his team were honoured with the 2022 eBay Canada Entrepreneur of the Year award.
• Just like the 83 percent of eBay sellers who say they have turned their passion into a business, Christian Kentie was inspired by a lifelong love of pop culture collectibles to open The Frugal Dutchman in his hometown of Ridgeway, Ontario in 2016. When Christian wanted to grow the store’s online presence, he set up an eBay store. By 2022, the Frugal Dutchman had increased its eBay sales 10 times over, with 75 percent of those sales coming from international buyers. Thanks to that new global customer base, Christian was named eBay Canada’s 2022 Micro-Multinational of the Year.
• Swiss Watch Parts Distributors had a 70-year history as a brick-and-mortar store in Vancouver — exclusively serving in-person and mail-order customers — until the COVID-19 pandemic hit and owner Dorina Pasca decided to take her business online by adding listings on eBay. In its first year online, Dorina’s eBay business sold more than 1,500 items, earning her our 2022 eBay Emerging Ecommerce Entrepreneur of the Year honour.

Those are just a few of the entrepreneurs who inspire us, but there are countless more examples of Canadian small businesses that have leveraged the power of eBay’s 135 million active worldwide buyers to take their business to the next level.

At eBay, we’re deeply proud to be partners in that journey. We know our sellers dream big and work tirelessly to reach their goals. It is our mission to do everything in our power to support the success of small businesses, make those dreams a reality, and ultimately help to create economic opportunity for all.