70,000 Brits make eBay living
NEARLY 70,000 Britons are making a living from the eBay website, the company claimed yesterday.
There has been a huge increase in those making at least 25% of their income from buying and selling anything from cars to handbags at the click of a mouse.
While 25% is the minimum needed to qualify as an 'eBay entrepreneur', many rely on the website for their entire income.
Chief executive Meg Whitman yesterday described eBay as 'a significant enabler of economic opportunity'.
Items worth more than £2bn have been sold on the UK website in one year alone. A car is sold every two minutes on the eBay.co.uk site, a piece of golf equipment every minute and a handbag every 36 seconds.
Nearly one in three adults in Britain have registered on eBay and typically use it for almost two hours every month.
With 68,000, Britain has the largest number of 'eBay entrepreneurs' in Europe. In The Netherlands, for example, just over 1,500 users regard eBay as a major source of income.
In the US, however, 724,000 are totally devoted to the website. The 'eBay entrepreneurs' are typically small business owners who use the website to boost sales or those who have regular jobs but make extra money using it during the evenings and weekends.
Many are women who have given up jobs after having children. They use eBay to set up a business they can run from home.
Former childminder Sally McGurn, 45, is one of the new breed of 'eBay entrepreneurs'. She used to hate computers but then her husband Roy, 53, bought one to keep in touch with his children in New Zealand.
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