Warrington charity entrepreneur crowned national eBay award winner

06/10/2021 16:09

A local entrepreneur from Warrington has been crowned the winner of the Community Hero Award at this year’s eBay for Business Awards alongside the overall Grand Prize Award, receiving a £5,000 cash prize and support to help grow their business.

Daniel Taylor, ecommerce manager at St Rocco’s Hospice is one of 10 eBay sellers to be recognised for their entrepreneurial success in the nationwide awards, which saw a record number of entries this year.

Back in 2019, the charity spotted the charity retail online opportunity and employed an ecommerce manager – Daniel Taylor – who set about maximising St Rocco’s Hospice fundraising through ecommerce platforms like eBay.

During the pandemic, with stores closed up and down the country, this sales avenue became even more important for the charity, with St Rocco’s Hospice relying solely on selling donations online to fund care.  

The charity aims to build on its online success by recruiting more trainees and moving to a bigger warehouse soon to

Daniel Taylor, e-commerce manager at St Rocco’s Hospice, said, “We’re thrilled to have won the Community Hero and Grand Prize awards at this year’s eBay for Business Awards. The pandemic has been an incredibly tough time for everyone, but especially for charities who have been hit hard by store closures, so to be recognised for our achievements this year is brilliant. eBay has played a huge role in helping to fund the vital work that St Rocco’s does, over lockdown and in the months since. Now, we’re focused on growing our eBay offering so we can support St Rocco’s and the Warrington community for years to come.”

The eBay for Business Awards is an annual moment designed to recognise and celebrate the most inspiring sellers among eBay UK’s community of 300,000 small and medium-sized businesses. 

eBay received over 2,000 entries for this year’s awards across all categories, ranging from kitchen table start-ups and university ‘side hustles’, to established family businesses and those complementing offline stores with online avenues.

This year, there were hundreds of applicants from businesses that had started up during the COVID-19 pandemic, when eBay saw a 237% boom in the number of small shops setting up on the marketplace – the equivalent to a new business registering online every 2 minutes.

The Awards build on eBay’s £33 million investment to help its 300,000 sellers weather the challenges brought on by Covid-19, and follows the launch of Capital for eBay Business Sellers, a financing scheme to help small businesses access much-needed funding.

Murray Lambell, General Manager of eBay UK, added: “To turn an idea into a thriving business, it takes someone who is willing to take risks, who can think creatively to innovate, and has the determination to overcome whatever challenge is thrown at them. That’s never been truer than it is now.

“This year’s eBay for Business Awards has been a celebration of this entrepreneurial spirit that has withstood despite small business reeling from the impact of the pandemic. I’m delighted to have had the opportunity to recognise the very best and brightest of the small British businesses selling on our platform. It’s been inspiring to hear each of their unique stories and I feel privileged to celebrate their success with them.”

Visit St Rocco’s Hospice on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/stroccoshospice