A study found that the number of small firms trading online with a turnover of more than £1 million could reach the 130 mark during the last quarter of 2010.

The success of these online businesses is reflected in eBay’s recent global results which revealed that the UK business was its fastest growing division with consumers returning more frequently and more new users coming to the site.

Jody Ford, eBay’s director of SMEs, says: ‘It is tremendous to see this surge in the number of thriving online SMEs and start-ups at a time when the rest of the economy has been struggling.’