How I raised £142,000 for charity using eBay for Charity
Howard Lake | 13 May 2016 | Blogs
This month eBay for Charity celebrates raising over £100 million for more than 10,000 UK based charities. Lynne Beckett, a retired theatre nurse from Worcestershire, explains how she began selling items on eBay for charity.
Nine years ago, I decided to begin selling on eBay after hearing from friends that it was a great place to sell my crafts. Who knew that nearly ten years on I would be using my eBay account to raise thousands of pounds for charity?
I found my career as a theatre nurse very rewarding, so when I retired I wanted to find something equally as satisfying. A typical day for me can mean up to 15 hours selling items from my eBay account and travelling between home and the post office to make sure that my customers receive their items on time. Being able to sell such a variety of items makes the job all the more exciting; over the years, I’ve sold a Broomfield Boxed Set gauge blocks, Queen Victoria jug, Boy George rag doll and even 12 Steiff bears which sold for £700!
Since beginning my eBay for Charity journey in January 2007 I’ve had more than 44,000 eBay transactions, raising over £120,000 for Midlands Air Ambulance Charity and just under £22,000 for my local children’s hospice, Acorns Children Hospice.
It was such a surprise to be named eBay’s ‘Charity Seller of the Year 2007’, just nine months after I first started selling and a few years later I was named 2015’s ‘Top Charity Seller.’ This was such an achievement knowing that all those hours spent sourcing and selling items made a contribution to charities all over the UK.
eBay for Charity is such a fantastic programme and I look forward to helping to raise more money in the future!
For those wanting to follow in Lynne’s footsteps, eBay.co.uk has lots of tips for how you can begin fundraising for charity using eBay.
Advertisement
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.