Thousands of small businesses have been approved for £25million in funding as part of eBay UK’s ground-breaking finance programme, Capital for eBay Business Sellers (CEBS).
Three months on since the programme launched with its first financing partner, YouLend, eBay has seen strong demand for the initiative, with 17 businesses funded on average per day.
To help provide more choice for sellers, eBay UK is also extending the programme with two further financing partners, Funding Xchange and Wayflyer. Both partners join YouLend to help provide business owners with an easy and accessible way to secure additional finance, offering funding ranging from £500 to £5million.
Eligible sellers only need to complete a short application form, with 90% of sellers receiving confirmation and the funds on the very same day they accept an offer.
The most popular motives sellers have provided for joining CEBS include:
- Inventory: investing in new and varied products
- Employees: growing the number of employees to help power their business
- Advertising: finding new ways to promote their business through spending on various advertising channels
David Brackin, founder of Stuff U Sell, said: “Flexibility in financing is very important to us at Stuff U Sell, especially after the many disruptions we’ve faced over the past 18 months. As a small business, we found that traditional banks were not great at giving us what we needed, so when we were looking to secure additional funding, we turned to the Capital for eBay Business Sellers programme. We were pleased to find that YouLend made us an offer for a six-figure loan that flexes according to our sales volume.
“We were particularly impressed by the speed of YouLend’s service, as after only a few days of checks they turned around an offer within a few hours and the money then entered our account on the same day we agreed terms. The subsequent servicing and support have been great, and we’d have no hesitation using YouLend again.”
Diva Patang, founder of Diva Group, said: “Our YouLend loan was approved three months ago, and we’ve since used the money to expand our stock in order to keep up with growing demand from our customers, while offering them even more variety. Our business sells a range of household goods, so having a large product range is key to our success. Every penny counts when you’re setting up a business, so securing financing has been an important step in helping to keep scaling the business.”
Murray Lambell, General Manager, eBay UK said: “The interest in Capital for eBay Business Sellers has far exceeded our expectations. We’re seeing a clear demand for capital among small businesses, especially those that have been operating for less than three years and where it’s more challenging to get a traditional loan. With so many entrepreneurs and start-ups emerging through the pandemic, we’re exploring ways of expanding the programme to ensure even more businesses in our seller community have access to the finance they need to grow and scale.”
The expansion of CEBS is part of eBay UK’s ongoing commitment to help the 300,000 small and medium-sized businesses on the platform grow and scale up as the pandemic restrictions end. The expansion of CEBS follows a number of eBay initiatives set up to support businesses including the launch of eBay fulfilment by Orange Connex; its first end-to-end fulfilment service for UK sellers with faster delivery options, improved logistics management, more streamlined processes and enhanced seller protection.
