Rich Marsden leaves Ebuyer

The former CEO departs just over a year after the company was acquired out of administration

Rich Marsden has left Yorkshire-based retail and resell firm Ebuyer as CEO after a three-and-a-half-year tenure, continuing a trend of departures at the company since its buyout by Frasers Group.

Marsden announced the move in a LinkedIn post.

“Last week saw my time at Ebuyer come to an end, whilst the journey was not as anticipated I am pleased to have been on it non the less,” he wrote.

“The market, particularly in the hardware sector has gone through significant change & challenges over the last few years, it will continue to do so [and] I firmly believe the business is well positioned within Frasers Group to have long term success.”

Marsden first acquired the business alongside Mark Reed in 2022 for £26m, with the aim of reviving the company.

According to the administrator's report, Ebuyer sought additional funding from its existing investors, but they ultimately declined to inject further capital into the business.

Ebuyer subsequently reported a 22 per cent revenue dip to £136.5m for the period to 31 December 2023.

For the 12 months to 31 December 2024, the organisation’s turnover plummeted a further 20 per cent to £108.8m.

At the time of its collapse, Ebuyer owed more than £33m to creditors, including around £5.25m to Westcoast, £2.6m to Exertis-related entities, £2m to TD SYNNEX, £1.4m to HMRC, £755k to Spire Technology, £572k to CMS Distribution, £279k to Midwich and £171k to Ingram Micro.

The business was acquired by Derbyshire-HQ retail group Frasers Group for £2.06m in August last year.

Following the acquisition, 79 employees were laid off and 48 transferred to Frasers Group.

Reed left the business in September 2025.

Since the takeover, Ebuyer has also faced criticism in online reviews over delivery and customer service, while some long-time users have expressed dissatisfaction with what they describe as a shift away from its traditional PC hardware focus.

For the 52 weeks ended 26 April, Frasers Group’s revenue increased 8.7 per cent to £5.3bn, fuelled by a 59.2 per cent surge in international turnover.

CRN reached out to Marsden and Frasers Group but did not hear back by press time.

Ebuyer ranks number 29 on CRN’s Top VARs list.