Over 20,000 Israeli businesses began exporting their goods via Ebay during the coronavirus pandemic, an examination commissioned by the e-commerce corporation and conducted by Adkit Business Research Services revealed this week.

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It also said that 50% of small and medium businesses export or intend to export their goods abroad. For the vast majority of those who already do, export has become more than 50% of their businesses' sales volume, a number that has increased significantly since the outbreak of the pandemic.

According to data, home design items and furniture are the best-selling Israeli products (27% of all export), as well as jewelry (17%) and Judaica (12.5%). Most of these are exported to the United States, Germany, France, and Italy.

Nevertheless, the survey also showed that while Israeli sellers work with a variety of shipping companies and communicate efficiently with customers abroad, they still run into problems with regulations in the destination country and shipping costs and times.

"Israel is a key market, one of the most growing and sophisticated markets for us," said Alon Paster, head of Commercial Development for Global Emerging Markets at eBay. "In Israel, we see a strategic market that exhibits strong and continuous growth.

"The global market reacts positively to sellers from Israel. And in the last two years, there has been a significant increase of almost 30% in the average price at which an Israeli seller vends abroad," he said.

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Amid the constraints of the coronavirus pandemic, the sale of shofars ahead of Rosh Hashanah this year skyrocketed, according to eBay, the e-commerce giant.

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With limited synagogue attendance and many choosing to stay home altogether, Jews have taken to the online store to purchase the ancient musical horn traditionally used for the festivity.

eBay reported a 35% increase in the sale of Rosh Hashanah-related products over the past year and noted that more than 2,000 shofars have been sold at an average price of 280 shekels ($90) per item.

Shofars are a popular export item from Israel, most of which are sold to the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and even Puerto Rico.

The most expensive shofar, eBay noted, was a Yemenite one sold for NIS 4,500 ($1,400). Another one, bearing the image of Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, sold for NIS 1,600 ($499). A third shofar with a decorative pomegranate design was sold for the same price.

For those looking for more affordable options, there are plenty to choose from as well, for some shofars cost as little as a couple of hundred shekels or less. For example, a short Yemenite shofar is priced at NIS 147 ($46) and an Ashkenazi one for NIS 176 ($55).

A particularly fascinating item is the smallest shofar available. It is 11 centimeters (4 inches) long and costs NIS 41 ($13).

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Online commerce giant eBay on Friday said it had removed at least 15 Nazi-themed toys from its auction listings.

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Among the items now removed from the website included SS guard figurines and miniature Nazi tanks.

According to eBay's terms and conditions, it has the right to remove items that do not meet its community standards, including products that promote hate or violent ideologies.

Items promoting anti-Semitic stereotypes, as well as "Historical Holocaust-related and Nazi-related items, including reproductions, any item that is anti-Semitic or any item from after 1933 that bears a swastika [and] media identified as Nazi propaganda" are also banned from the auction site.

Nazi German coins are an exception.

Other online retail giants, including Amazon and Etsy, have also removed items promoting anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories following a public backlash.

Last year, Amazon stopped sales of some books following protests that the titles, including some for children, were Nazi-era "propaganda."

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Etsy removed a T-shirt with the words "Camp Auschwitz" following the Jan. 6 mob invasion of the US Capitol.

The e-commerce site made the move six hours after being called on by the Auschwitz‑Birkenau Memorial and State Museum to do so.

i24NEWS contributed to this report.

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In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in April, eBay noted a 40 percent spike in the number of Israeli sellers compared to the previous month and a 46 percent increase in sales of products sold by Israelis, eBay told the Israeli business daily Globes.

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Already trending back to 2017, Israel was the world's second-largest online commerce buyer per capita, only behind China, according to eBay. Israelis bought products on eBay every two seconds on average and sold items every three seconds in 2017, according to the company.

"It is no secret that e-commerce is growing worldwide and that every business owner – big or small – understands that you cannot run a business without an online presence," says Mordechai Arba, the 29-year-old founder and CEO of Ecomhunt.

"Israelis are definitely important players in the e-commerce world, but mostly as solo sellers," says Arba. His website gets more than half a million visitors per month and hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have used his website to grow their own stores.

Arba notes that "most of the big high-tech companies focus on payment solutions, sales analytics, and so on, which have a connection to the e-commerce world but more as behind-the-scenes players."

He predicts that a growing number of Israeli e-commerce companies will become major players in an industry that continues to trend well.

Along those lines, while the coronavirus has raged, many offline businesses have closed up shop, while technology in general and e-commerce companies in particular, led by the worldwide giant Amazon, have flourished. Amazon's stock price has jumped 73 percent so far this year.

The Israeli freelance-services platform Fiverr has seen its share price jump by more than 200 percent since its IPO less than a year ago and raised at least $120 million in its secondary offering on the New York Stock Exchange, according to Globes.

Companies in high-tech and other sectors that can easily function with employees working remotely have been able to continue working at almost normal capacity during the crisis.

"The world was already moving online, and this pandemic simply fast-forwarded it," says Arba.

The company provides trending products and other training to drop-shippers so that they can have success with their stores. Drop-shipping is a popular online retail method where stores can sell products by having the seller send them directly to the buyer without requiring keeping inventory. In this model, the e-commerce outlet serves marketing and sales roles for the supplier, many of them based in China.

It is these online sellers who are flocking to Ecomhunt to find winning products to sell in their stores. The website is about to release a new online course for anyone who wants to start their own online store; it also has a blog and YouTube channel.

Arba, who moved to Israel from France as a child, worked as a web designer and developer before he started online stores using the drop-shipping and print-on-demand models. After some success, he started Ecomhunt, which eventually took off.

"After failed attempts, I finally figured out how to sell online and saw that there was a need to help people quickly figure out how to succeed," he says, insisting that "now is the best time to start selling online."

'More custom-made and personalized products'

David Popovich, an e-commerce specialist for North Africa and the Middle East for Colgate-Palmolive, started his e-commerce journey in 2016 after working as a marketing manager for 17 years in major companies such as SodaStream, Pelephone, and Club Med.

Popovich recognized a trend in 2016 towards e-commerce, and in particular, private brands – smaller products launched through platforms such as Shopify and WooCommerce, and then use social media to create a community around them. The logistical methods revolve around drop-shipping or bulk orders from China to warehouses in the United States.

Popovich targeted his Wolvestuff.com brand at a specific audience interested in wolves and Native American culture; it grew fast, bringing it seven-figure sales in the first year. The Petah Tikva resident and father of three recently sold the company.

Like Arba, he sees e-commerce booming since the start of the coronavirus outbreak (and even before), which has led to many new players moving their businesses online.

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Popovich says that "we will see more and more consumers buying online. For example, those over 55 who typically buy less online have started to buy more since the pandemic, and there has been growth in other demographic categories as well."

While he still foretells opportunities in e-commerce for new companies, he thinks that the focus may move to more custom-made and personalized products that "cannot be found in local physical stores such as Walmart."

"All the processes occurring worldwide are also happening in Israel," he says. "Israelis love to buy online, and they want to be able to receive their orders quickly."

He adds that "e-commerce in Israel is still young, and there is much to do. If you have a great product and ship fast, you can target a specific audience with a product that will solve a problem or have an exciting feature."

Already during the pandemic, Popovich has created a new brand in two months that sells knitted dolls and figurines at bubot.co.il and is selling in the KSP computer store branches in Israel.

He doesn't think some great secret is involved in his success, declaring that "if I can do it, anyone can!"

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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To mark the new agreement, Gett Delivery is offering Israeli sellers a significant discount on fees and even a 30-shekel ($8.75) credit for purchases executed using the new delivery platform.

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The terms of the deal allow Israeli eBay merchants to work with Gett Delivery, whose couriers will collect the purchases from the seller's home or business and bring them to the customers' door the same day.

According to eBay and Gett Delivery, the process will save sellers time and make it easier for them to process dispatches, as well as offering them the option of keeping tabs on each delivery, from the moment of shipping until the customer signs for it.

Buyers will also be able to track the delivery of their purchases in real-time and be able to contact the courier.

"This is another example of how technology and operative excellence allow us to help large companies focus on their core skills and adjust to the changing demands of the market," said Ofer Oringher, head of strategic partnerships at Gett Delivery.

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Ebay said that it would reveal special discounts on electronics each day until July 22, with some prices dropping to more than 80% of their original asking price.

The company said that this was in celebration of the company's 25th anniversary.

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