New to the eBay marketplace? Got a unique and personalized customer service approach with great earning potential? You could be the next eBay recipient of the eCommerce Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

This year close to 240 eBay sellers entered the Canadian competition.

Many small business owners start their enterprises online; some focus solely on e-commerce like Toronto’s Myriam Barreiro who won this title for her online brand name camera and video equipment sold at discounted prices (eBay ID: mystuff630).

With an online business, owners like Barreiro eliminate overhead costs and pass on the savings to  buyers. Just three years ago she left her job at a bank to build her eBay business full-time. Now she’s forecasting sales of $1 million dollars for 2012 and hasn’t looked back.

Other winners include Joshua Roter and partner Chantal Varela named Service-preneur of the Year for their business selling vintage and collectable clothing to buyers around the world (eBay ID: invtgwetrust).

Good first impressions made by sending buyers a personal message after each transaction and providing them with additional product information and images is what lead to their win.

E-commerce success is not however, restricted to the young startups we hear so much about.  And sometimes what sells well online is unexpected like large auto parts.

Newcomer of the Year award goes to a 70-year-old automotive parts retailer, Mathieu Gagne of Sainte-Sophie, Quebec’s Lecavalier Auto Parts (eBay ID:lecavalierautoparts).

In under a year, and with the help of e-commerce salesperson Mathieu Gagne, Lecavalier offers more than 50 per cent of their inventory online (approximately 70,000 auto parts) and their monthly sales to Canadian and U.S. buyers reach approximately $80,000. To their surprize, buyers showed great interest in engines and transmissions which make up the majority of their sales.

As eBay’s successful entrepreneurs demonstrate, e-commerce is alive and well in Canada.  Could your small business dreams, potential and reward harnass e-commerce? 

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