In a recent eCommerce Bytes article, Brian Bieron, Head of eBay Inc.’s Public Policy Lab, discussed the important of encouraging small business cross border trade and the opportunities that digital technology creates for small businesses looking to expand globally.  According to a recent eBay Inc. study, 97 percent of “commercial sellers” on eBay engage in exporting. That is a staggering number when compared with offline small business exporting, which comes in under 5 percent.

Although technology and the digital marketplace have removed many barriers for small business trade, governments and policymakers still have an important role to play.  Bieron explains that current trade policy is crafted in a way that is focused on opening up trade opportunities for the "500 person widget factory in South Carolina," not the mom and pop team selling on eBay.  eBay Inc. has been trying to change that policy trend, by taking the message of small business cross border trade to policymakers around the world.  "What is revolutionary is the ability to scale in a way that's never been doable before at a super-low cost," Bieron said. "In the world that I come from, that just doesn't happen."