eBay’s finance program is called Capital for eBay Business Sellers (CEBS).

In a bid to help out sellers and small businesses that have launched on its platform, eBay UK will offer them financing through a tie-up with YouLend. As part of the CEBS, YouLend will offer eBay business sellers funding in the range of  £500 to £1m. (eBay)

Pandemic difficulties for small businesses

A survey by eBay UK found that a third (31%) of the UK’s 5.9 million small businesses are at risk of folding in under a month due to inadequate access to financing.

Further, two in five (40%) small businesses have been denied a loan from a bank, while one in three (31%) have been turned down for a loan by the government.

About 44% of respondents said they had been unable to avail of any COVID-based loans over the past year.

In sum, entrepreneurs and start-ups across the country face a cash flow crunch caused by the pandemic. These problems also extend to eBay’s legions of small and medium-sized businesses that sell via its UK platform – about 300,000 such firms sell to 29 million active buyers.

However, the CEBS solution offers prompt funding (90% of sellers receive the funds the same day) with minimal paperwork.

Finance pain points

“This solution helps small businesses overcome the many challenges that have left them financially excluded from high street bank loans and COVID support schemes,” eBay said.

“Lengthy application forms, years of trading history, high interest rates, and high-risk payment structures are just some of the pain points that CEBS aims to remove for business sellers in need of finance.”

Traditional banks, already under siege by agile and technologically superior fintechs, however, consider tech giants such as eBay, Amazon, and Apple a bigger competitive threat.

These companies already have an edge from their huge quantities of data and ongoing relationships with businesses.

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