Guide to running a successful charity shop on eBay
Howard Lake | 13 May 2010 | News
MissionFish and Help the Hospices have produced a toolkit help charities make the most of fundraising using eBay.co.uk.
The ‘Selling with eBay for Charity’ toolkit includes advice from successful charities and tips ranging from recruiting an eBay manager and creating successful listings to keeping customers happy.
Help the Hospices’ Director of Fundraising, Mike Palfreman, said: “In 2008 hospice shops generated a staggering £33.1 million profit for their hospices, so when MissionFish approached us to explore how they might support retail hospice operations we were delighted to work together. The toolkit is an easy ‘how-to’ guide for those hospices who are a little daunted by the idea of extending their retail operations into cyberspace, but it also gives plenty of information to help maximise the income of those hospices who are already successfully selling using eBay.”
Nick Aldridge, CEO of MissionFish said: “Charities have now raised over £16m through eBay for Charity. Many hospices with small shop networks are showing entrepreneurial flair and making significant money on the site.
“eBay now has 18 million unique visitors a month, and sales by charities are commission-free, making it a fundraising channel that shouldn’t be overlooked. Leading charities are now achieving profit margins of 80%, with some raising over £100,000 per year. We hope this guide will help all charities take advantage of the significant opportunity to raise funds on eBay for Charity.”
The toolkit can be downloaded as a PDF:
http://www.missionfish.org.uk/downloads/pdf/Selling_with_eBay_for_Charity_Toolkit.pdf
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.