Going, going, gone……

Howard Lake | 10 June 2011 | Blogs

Going, Going, Gone……
Have you been using eBay as one of your fundraising tools?
I thought I’d share here a short article I wrote for the BDVSA Newsletter (Braintree District Voluntary Support Agency).
Why not?
You cannot afford to leave any options unused if you are to survive and thrive.
According to the eBay UK web site on 14th April a total of 5,319 charities have benefited from money raised on eBay since 2006.
In fact, a total of over £24,809,000 had been raised at that point – though the online counter is constantly running!!
If you visit http://pages.ebay.co.uk/ebayforcharity/charities.html you will not only find the up to date figure but also a great deal of help on how to use the site.
There are a number of ways in which your organisation can benefit from eBay, but the two key ones are as follows:
1. eBay sellers can elect to donate a percentage of the money they generate through selling goods to a charity of their choice. eBay’s charity arm Missionfish is a charity in its own right and collects both the donation and the gift aid (where applicable) and then passes it on to the nominated charity (minus a small admin fee).
All the work is done for you, but you do have to register your charity on eBay in order for sellers to be able to select you!
2. The other main option is for you to set up your own charity seller account on eBay after first registering with Missionfish.
You then go ahead and list your item(s) for sale and choose yourself as the benefitting charity to receive 100% of the donation.
The item(s) sells, you receive payment from the buyer and a fee credit from eBay.
It really is as easy as that!!
eBay Customer Support will even talk you through the process if it all seems too complicated for you. And, of course, even if you are not a registered charity your organisation can still set up an ordinary seller account and sell goods on eBay. You just will not have access to the charity benefits. It is still a good option for you.
If you have surplus equipment for sale, or some good quality donated goods then you really cannot afford to ignore eBay. For larger goods you can stipulate that the buyer must collect, therefore doing away with packaging and postage costs.
I know of one local charity that last year raised over £700 in 4 weeks just selling unwanted goods their supporters brought in! That could be you!!
“Registering with MissionFish and selling through eBay for Charity has allowed Sense Trading to increase profits with minimal expense. It’s like having extra shops but without the overheads!” Jane Williams, Online Retail Manager, Sense.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.