eBay to help small Irish businesses during Covid-19 pandemic

eBay is offering Irish SMEs the chance to sell their products on its platform for free. 

Small and medium-sized businesses can avail of the offer for a minimum of three months, whether they currently have an online presence or not.

EBay said the programme will help any local Irish business that wants to quick start or increase its online selling capabilities, but do not have the resources, budget or knowhow to do so.

The new programme is called the "Up and Running" initiative and more information can be found on eBay Ireland's website. 

"This is a difficult time for businesses of all sizes, but I hope that the launch of Up & Running initiative will help alleviate some of the challenges that Irish SMEs are facing, and help them to stay open for business," said Hazel Mitchell, site lead for eBay Ireland. 

Ms Mitchell said the initiative is not just a way to help businesses to stay afloat, it is also an opportunity for them to grow and reach new markets. 

"The Covid-19 restrictions have shrunk our physical world but there is still huge potential in ecommerce," she said. 

 "We want to help businesses quickly and remove any barriers that might otherwise prevent them from transitioning to online, so we invite business owners to contact us today to see how we can help them.

"This is a practical solution to a critical and immediate problem," Hazel Mitchell added.

The latest initiative follows a similar model to eBay.ie's Retail Expansion Programme, which was launched in 2019 and saw more than 100 Irish SMEs join the ecommerce site and grow their business capabilities online.

Source: RTÉ