{"id":23930,"date":"2026-04-27T10:56:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/westernbid.com\/?p=23930"},"modified":"2026-08-10T08:47:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T08:47:37","slug":"western-bid-in-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernbid.com\/en\/news-events\/western-bid-in-the-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Western Bid \u2014 People write about us"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The modern world of e-commerce has no borders, but for many Ukrainian entrepreneurs expanding to international markets until recently seemed a daunting challenge. The company Western Bid<\/b>, founded in 2001 by Mykhailo Birman, has become that reliable bridge that connected Ukrainian producers with buyers from over 100 countries. Today the company is not just a financial intermediary, but a powerful logistics, educational, and consulting hub that serves over 50 000 clients and has shipped over 10 000 000 parcels.<\/p>

About Western Bid’s activities, its innovative services, and its significant contribution to the economy are actively covered by leading Ukrainian publications\u2014from Forbes Ukraine and Economic Truth to specialized portals such as Speka.media and ThePage. In this article we have gathered the most important points from what the press writes about the company’s evolution, services, and educational initiatives.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Transformation from a financial partner to a logistics giant<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The company’s history began in the United States, with its headquarters initially in Minnesota, and later in Miami, Florida. As reported in the press, since its inception Western Bid has been a reliable financial partner, helping Ukrainians receive payments for goods via PayPal for selling goods on eBay. Since 2008 the company has added support for sellers on the handmade goods platform Etsy.<\/p>

The real turning point and scaling occurred in 2018\u20132019. Understanding the market needs, the company formed partnerships with global transport giants (UPS, FedEx, DPD) and Nova Poshta, becoming a powerful player in the logistics sector. This decision was driven by the fact that Ukrainian sellers needed not only financial instruments, but also fast and reliable delivery abroad. Today Western Bid ships over 3,000 parcels daily, offering 20+ options for international deliveries (including consolidations and fulfillment services).<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00abEtsy-nomics\u00bb: How Ukrainian crafters are conquering the world (According to Forbes)<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The publication Forbes Ukraine<\/b> in its in-depth article ‘Etsy Economy’<\/a> analyzes in detail the phenomenon of the success of Ukrainian handmade goods on the global market. Journalists note that Ukrainian craftspeople have massively shifted from local fairs to the global market, where goods can be sold two to three times more expensive.<\/p>

There are currently more than 20 thousand Ukrainian shops registered on Etsy, which sell more than 1 million products per year. The publication emphasizes that such a boom has been possible largely thanks to the infrastructure provided by platforms such as Western Bid. Journalists note:<\/p>

Ukraine has always been famous for leather, wooden, and pottery products. It’s in our blood<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>

\u2014 and it is precisely such companies as Western Bid that help turn this talent into a stable foreign-exchange income.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\"Komok\" \u2014 a revolution in commission trading: Insights from \"Ekonomichna Pravda\".<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In 2021, Western Bid presented an innovative service “Komok”<\/b> \u2014 the first Ukrainian online commission shop for international markets, about which Ekonomichna Pravda wrote in detail.<\/p>

ATTENTION! The Komok project was suspended after the start of the full-scale invasion.<\/p><\/blockquote>

The project was also actively discussed on specialized resources, such as KeyCRM blog<\/a> and Dialog.ua<\/a>.<\/p>

Oleksandr Radich, Director of External Communications for Western Bid in Ukraine and founder of the Sales Academy, in his interview with Ekonomichna Pravda explained the philosophy behind the creation of the service:<\/p>

“Agency ‘Western Bid’ has been providing intermediary services in the field of e-commerce since 2001… but people often ask whether they can entrust the sale completely and focus on production. Since our mission is to make e-commerce as accessible as possible for every Ukrainian, based on such requests the idea for the ‘Komok’ service emerged. You provide the product to us, it is stored with us and sold on international platforms. And after the sale we ship the product to the customer, and you receive the settlement”<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>

The service allows listing on Western markets (on the company’s well-known American accounts) not only contemporary leather and wooden goods, but also vintage items and antiques, delegating all the hassles of listing, communication, packaging, and dispute resolution to Western Bid.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Practical solutions for business without obstacles<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A specialized IT and business publication Speka.media<\/b> published a detailed guide<\/a> on how to sell to Europe and the United States. The publication emphasizes that Western Bid takes on almost all of the entrepreneur’s day-to-day tasks.<\/p>

The company’s CEO Michael Birman<\/b>, in a comment to the publication, emphasized the agency’s customer-oriented approach:<\/p>

\u00abIf you are a master of your craft \u2014 all you need to do is detach from your favorite activity and take a few organizational steps: register, bring your goods and list new products… We take care of the entire process ourselves. […] We provide the possibility to sell your goods to Americans directly from America \u2014 you only need to ship it to our warehouse (Fulfillment Center), located in Miami, Florida\u00bb<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>

This topic is also explored in an interview with ThePage<\/a>, where the mechanisms of international trade without having one’s own platform (in particular, thanks to Western Bid’s own marketplace LAVKY, which allows goods to be listed for free) are discussed.<\/p>

An important confirmation of the quality of services is the feedback from the sellers themselves. For example, Ukrainian entrepreneur Ivan Kozak, in a comment for Speka, noted:<\/p>

\u00abYou can contact them with any request or question… Not long ago I had trouble with a payment on Etsy, which threatened the existence of my store. And this is despite the fact that Etsy’s support team told me there was nothing more they could do about it. After that I concluded that Western Bid knows Etsy better than Etsy itself\u00bb<\/i>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Educational mission: Sales Academy and collaborations with the state<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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One of the company\u2019s strongest areas of activity is its educational work. In 2017 the company launched an online school “Western Bid Sales Academy”<\/b>, through which more than 5,000 Ukrainian entrepreneurs have already taken part, attending more than 150 online and offline events.<\/p>

Oleksandr Radich, the founder of the Academy, is the author of electronic guidebooks on Etsy and Shopify. His expertise is regularly sought for joint projects with government and private initiatives. Specifically:<\/p>