In a lead up to the 2018 Shine awards for Small Business, eBay Germany recently held an event recognizing the top small business owners who are successfully using the eBay marketplace to expand their business. Out of hundreds of applications, a six-member jury determined seven category winners, who were awarded a custom package to help continue to grow their business.
"It wasn't easy for the jury to limit the many high-quality and exciting applications to just seven," says Nina Pütz, Senior Director of Soft Goods at eBay. "Almost all applications reflected what eBay stands for: Innovation, entrepreneurship and agility. It makes us proud to be able to award the winners - because eBay can only be as successful as our dealers are."
Here are the winners:
Jump Starter – Stephan Bugla, Boogardi
Stephan Bugla opened his eBay shop for house & garden products in late 2016. Already in its first full fiscal year, Stephan succeeded in generating annual sales in the high five-digit range via eBay. Meanwhile Mr. Bugla employs four employees in the warehouse and in the near future another employee in the office.
Young Entrepreneur – Vitalii Haak, schmuckhandel-haak
Duringhis studies in 2015, Vitalij Haak spent a lot of time browsing the Internet for jewelry for his girlfriend. The more knowledge he gained, the bigger his desire became to sell jewelry himself. He started his eBay shop in January 2016 with an initial investment of €300. After hard first months, he managed to generate €5,000 in sales in December 2016. His business grew by another 50 percent in 2017, in which he also finished his studies and started to work as an engineer. He is still passionately running his eBay shops as a side business together with his now fiancée.
Global Business – Tobias Krist, ceilingfanshop
Tobias Krist has been selling through eBay for over 13 years now. Thanks to eBay’s Global Shipping Progam, his products are not only being sold to the EU and Europe, but he also regularly delivers to Australia and South Korea. He loves the international business, which even led him to open an extra warehouse in the UK. He also wants to steadily expand his business in Australia.
Creative Business Idea – Torsten Hornung, feinesachwerte
Torsten started selling on eBay.com in 1997, when alando, the future eBay.de, hasn’t even been founded in Germany! He is sells collectibles and is an expert for coins and stamps. He runs a local retail store in the beautiful city of Wiesbaden and turned his shopping window into a smartphone, by presenting LED panels with QR codes so that his store is open 24/7. He also is an ambassador for eBay and helps local retailers in his hometown to succeed in modern retail.
Local Retailer – Dr. Alexander Holz, gesund_in_wickrath
Alexander Holz is a member of the “Mönchengladbach at eBay” initiative, through which he was introduced to selling at eBay. Today, he has around 700 active listings. Despite his relatively short career as an online retailer, he has been able to generate over 8,000 positive reviews and his eBay profile shows a record of 100% positive reviews. His next goal is to break the annual sales mark of €250,000.
eBay Plus Seller – Mathias Gummt, moebeplus
Mathias Grummt has submitted a very extensive application in which he describes how the company walks the extra mile for its customers’ satisfaction. Customers can reach their service team at any time by e-mail and on weekdays by telephone from 7:00 to 22:30. In addition, moebelplus offers a 5-year warranty on almost all kitchen electrical appliances, fittings and sinks.
Exceptional Background Story – Anja Wendt, anja-wendt
Anja Wendt’s story began in 2013, when she became a mother for the second time and just finished my 8 years of service as a staff sergeant for the German Armed Forces. With her baby in her neck and a milk bottle in her hand, she created her first listing. Due to the occupation of her husband, who is a military officer, the family has to move every 2-3 years and thus, Anja Wendt has to be independent of location. eBay offered her an excellent opportunity to work as a mother relatively free and independent. Currently, the family is living in Moscow, from where Anja Wendt runs her business.
If you are an eBay seller in the United States, now through May 10th, you can nominate your businesses to be recognized for the upcoming 2018 Shine Awards for Small Business.