eBay Announces the Winners of Its First Annual SHINE Awards
July 29 2016 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
eBay Celebrates Outstanding Small Businesses
Across the Country
Today, at eBay’s inaugural seller celebration event in Las
Vegas, eBay OPEN, the company announced the winners of its first
annual seller recognition program, the SHINE Awards for Small
Business. The award program highlights the efforts and success of
entrepreneurs across the country and celebrates the contributions
of small businesses on eBay to the U.S. economy.
“We were thrilled to read the stories of the more than 1,300
eBay businesses that were considered for the SHINE Awards this
year,” said Hal Lawton, Senior Vice President and Head of eBay
North America. “Our winners represent the best of what eBay stands
for: innovative, fast-growing, global, diverse small businesses
that are grounded in their families and communities and work hard
every day. I couldn’t be more proud of the sellers we honored last
night.”
The SHINE Award Grand Prize Winner and eBay’s 2016 Small
Business of the Year is Laurie Wong. Her eBay store, Reflections of
Trinity, works to serve the needs of its community through
ecommerce and a local marketplace ministry. Over the past five
years, she’s been able to run and grow a healthy business,
increasing sales and her ability to give back to the community
every year. In 2015 alone, she distributed over 12,000 boxes of
groceries (622,965 lbs. of food!) to those in need in her
community. She was awarded a $10,000 cash prize as well as a
package of marketing tools and services to grow her eBay
business.
Winners from each of the five categories were also recognized
onstage:
- Woman Small Business Owner:
Tanya Crew, Motorcycle-Works. As a single mom trying to finish
college, Tanya started selling motorcycle accessories on eBay to
make some extra spending money and now, years later, has a
multi-million dollar global business.
- Growing Business: Spencer
Apland, 541-Motorsports. Spencer has eight full-time employees and
maintains a 20,000 square foot warehouse. His eBay business
provides a comfortable living for his growing family, and Spencer
expects revenue to increase by more than 50% from 2015 to
2016.
- Global Business: Neha Gajwani,
Smack-Tom. Neha sources electronics accessories overseas and sells
them through her own website and on eBay. As her business began to
grow, she has opened offices in Miami, India, and most recently in
China, and 23% of her sales are international.
- Charitable Business: Lauralee
Lindholm, Heart for Ethiopia. Lauralee uses eBay to raise funds
that are helping young children attend school and entrepreneurs to
start their own businesses in rural Ethiopia.
- Family Business: William
Wolstenholme, Rhode Island Internet Consignment and Sales. William
and his family run the one of the biggest eBay stores for Antiques
& Collectibles. The store is a full-time job for William, his
wife, two daughters and son-in-law.
The eBay SHINE Award winners were selected from more than 1,300
submissions that came from across the U.S. Submissions ranged from
new businesses just getting their start on eBay to global,
multi-million dollar multi-channel enterprises. Submissions matched
eBay’s breadth and depth of merchandise on the site, with entries
from every category – from electronics to motorcycle parts, art,
fashion, and sporting goods.
The eBay community had a chance to vote on 15 selected finalists
for category winners: three in each of the five categories. Nearly
40,000 votes were cast for the category winners by more than 18,000
voters across the country. The Grand Prize Winner and eBay’s Small
Business of the Year was selected by a panel of expert judges
including eBay representatives, a past winner from eBay’s Canadian
Entrepreneur of the Year program, eBay’s Open for Business podcast
host and entrepreneur, John Henry, and the Administrator of the
U.S. Small Business Administration, Maria Contreras-Sweet.
The category winners were awarded a $5,000 cash prize, as well
as a package of marketing tools and services to help grow their
eBay businesses.
For information on the SHINE Awards, photos of the finalists and
more, please see the SHINE Awards website.
About eBay
eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) is a global commerce leader including
the Marketplace, StubHub and Classifieds platforms. Collectively,
we connect millions of buyers and sellers around the world,
empowering people and creating opportunity through Connected
Commerce. Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay is one of the
world's largest and most vibrant marketplaces for discovering great
value and unique selection. In 2015, eBay enabled $82 billion of
gross merchandise volume. For more information about the company
and its global portfolio of online brands, visit
www.ebayinc.com.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160729005135/en/
for eBayMallory Thompson,
425-365-8322mallory.thompson@edelman.comoreBayAnnie
Luparduspress@ebay.com
eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Aug 2024 to Sep 2024
eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Sep 2023 to Sep 2024