The internet could turn the UK into a nation of online shopkeepers, according to figures unveiled yesterday by online auction giant eBay.

It revealed that more than 68,000 cottage industries in the UK depend on the site for at least a quarter of their income, more than in any other country in Europe.

And despite controversy over fraud and the sale of illicit items, the hugely popular website provides a significant chunk of the income of more than 170,000 small businesses across Europe.

On average, each eBay-based business employs nine staff and almost half earn more than three-quarters of their income through the site. From CD shops to a Spanish sculptor who sells exclusively through eBay, the company claimed a growing number of sellers who began trading on the internet as a hobby were quitting their jobs to buy and sell full time.
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