Alec Featherstone wanted to create a “home for all nerds,” and opened a comic, video game, and toy store in his hometown of Denton, Texas in 2018. After initial success, COVID-19 caused him to shutter his fledgling business and sell the store’s space. Fortunately, Alec decided to try selling on eBay, which enabled him to keep his business afloat and his hopes of once again opening a physical location alive.
Welcome to
The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for small businesses and entrepreneurs across America and around the world. Supporting eBay’s vibrant, creative and compassionate community of sellers during these difficult times has been our top priority. We have actively engaged with national, state and local governments to offer our partnership and advocate on behalf of small businesses. While the world has forever changed, we are inspired to continue to do our part to help the United States emerge with a stronger, more resilient, equitable and inclusive economy.
84%
of sellers surveyed said eBay is essential to keeping their business open and connected to customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
*Survey conducted in February 2021 of 778 US eBay-enabled small businesses (sellers with at least $10K in annual sales on the eBay Marketplace).
Meet Some of Our Sellers
Meet Some of Our Sellers
Alec Featherstone
Freaks & Geeks LLC
Denton, TX
COVID forced us to shut down our physical store. Without any foot traffic to our store, we were not making a profit large enough to pay our store’s rent and eventually we were forced to sell. Facing the death of my business, I decided to give eBay a try. eBay gave us a place to transfer all of our retail and keep our business alive. Thanks to the growth we have experienced on eBay, we will be able to buy another physical location once the pandemic ends.
Laurie Wong
Reflections of Trinity
Powder Springs, GA
Laurie Wong has always used her success to help others in need. For over 15 years, she has used eBay to grow her thrift store, Reflections of Trinity, and build a non-profit charity that supplies clothing, shoes, accessories, and food to those in need in her community. Having served tens of thousands of people already, the pandemic brought thousands more to her door. Her eBay sales have enabled her to sustain her business and continue supporting those in need.
The COVID pandemic has increased the number of people in our community who need help from our food bank. We would not have been able to keep up with demand if it weren’t for eBay! eBay helped keep our business up & running so we could continue supporting our community even when our physical warehouse and food bank had to close.
Jennie Walker
Walker/Viden Luxury Consignment
Pasadena, CA
Jennie Walker has had a passion for fashion all of her life. With a successful career in retail, fundraising, and merchandising with some of the industry’s biggest names under her belt, she decided to pivot to styling. Along with a partner, Jennie founded Walker/Viden Luxury Consignment, providing unique wardrobe and styling services to clients all over the world. Like many small business retailers, COVID-19 threatened her business, but selling on eBay allowed her to keep it open and even expand her global reach.
In fashion, having a physical store where customers can actually come and look at the clothes is huge. So, when we had to close the doors to our store because of COVID, we were worried how our business would survive. To try to reach some of our customers during the pandemic, we began listing more of our retail on eBay. Doing so has kept our business not only alive but we are thriving.
Patty Whitlock
The Shopping Mom
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Patty joined eBay while working as a respiratory therapist in the neonatal intensive care unit at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami as a way to make extra income for her family. Though she found her full-time job challenging and rewarding, it was also emotionally taxing. The birth of her second child finally prompted her to make a change and start her own online business. Within four weeks, her eBay business, The Shopping Mom, was matching her hospital earnings. Patty also started traveling the country to various trunk shows to sell the unique fashion finds that make up her store. As an immunosuppressed individual, the pandemic severely impacted Patty’s normal means of selling at in-person events and festivals, but she has been able to make up for those lost sales while staying healthy by selling exclusively online.
It's a blessing how eBay has helped immunosuppressed sellers, such as myself, during the COVID pandemic. Without even meaning to, they have given me a sense of safety online, allowing me to stay home and sell and create an income with little risk to my overall health.
Yinka Ogunsunlade
Fashionably Legal
Silver Spring, Maryland
A lawyer by trade, Yinka Ogunsunlade turned his love of fashion into a thriving ecommerce business selling clothing and shoes. When demand for the professional attire he usually sells waned due to the pandemic, he quickly evolved his inventory to better meet the demands of buyers - expanding to include fitness attire and equipment. While COVID-19 has presented new and unique challenges, Yinka’s experience in ecommerce has helped him keep his business afloat.
eBay has played a vital role in keeping my business running during the pandemic. COVID made it difficult to source new items and to house my inventory. Thanks to eBay, I can shop online for new inventory and easily list and quickly resell items to people all over the world. I have been able to use eBay and the internet for every aspect of my business to survive.
United States Small Online Business Report
This report explores how independent small businesses and entrepreneurs across America were able to turn to eBay’s online marketplace during the initial months of the pandemic and use ecommerce to connect with consumers across the country and around the world. eBay helped small businesses, both existing and new to online commerce, meet growing consumer ecommerce demand and compensate for oftentimes declining local, in-store traffic. The report also provides insights into the trade and growth of eBay-enabled small businesses across the United States prior to the pandemic.
Key findings include that: (1) In the six months following the initial pandemic lockdowns of March 2020, the number of eBay-enabled small businesses in the United States grew 34 percent and sales grew by an even greater 38 percent compared to the same time period in 2019; (2) 84% of eBay-enabled small businesses said that eBay is essential to keeping their business open and connected to customers during the COVID-19 pandemic; (3) Nearly every eBay-enabled small business in the United States is an exporter and this rate dwarfs that of traditional businesses; and (4) The ability of small, businesses to reach consumers across the globe has helped foster enterprise growth in rural and disadvantaged counties, places that too often otherwise suffer from economic stagnation.
The findings presented in this report demonstrate that empowering independent small businesses to use technology to reach remote consumer markets, while operating in and supporting their local community, is a tool for long-term equitable and inclusive growth as well as economic resiliency. This will remain an eBay priority across America and around the world.
Sign Up for eBay Main Street
Make your voice heard!
When it comes to ecommerce, legislators have immense power. If you sell online, you’re probably already aware that legislators can affect your bottom line – and even threaten your company’s very existence – by creating unfair commerce policies.
The best way to protect yourself and ecommerce is to make your voice heard in the halls of power. Signing up for Main Street can help you do just that.
Sign Up NOW