Donating to charity through eBay
Did you know you can donate to SOS Children through eBay? Many people now use this well known online auction site to sell unwanted items, but what many people don’t realise is that if you are selling an item on eBay you can donate part or all of the proceeds of the sale to charity.
How to donate
Supporting your favourite charity while selling on eBay is easy. Not only can you make a difference by donating between 10% and 100% of your item's final selling price, but you also benefit from your listing standing out from the crowd.
Your listing will be marked with the special blue and yellow ribbon, representing a charity sale, and will include the SOS Children's logo and mission statement. Buyers can easily search for charity items both on the main site and on the eBay for Charity hub page. Often this can mean more bids and even more selling success!
After your item sells, your chosen charity will find your donation paid into its bank account, along with Gift Aid (if you've ticked the box) and an eBay fee donation.
Buyers can shop online, safe in the knowledge that their money will find its way to the charity. Meanwhile sellers can choose SOS Children from a list of registered charities, followed by the percentage of the sales price they wish to donate - and eBay will do the rest. Charities can also sell items themselves.
The really good news is that, although it will require a little leg-work up front to get you up and running, once you're registered it requires little extra effort. You just tick the charity box when you're listing, choose the percentage of your final sale price you want to donate and to which charity, and eBay takes care of the rest. It takes just minutes to start really making a difference.
Getting set up
You can get set up through the normal eBay Sell Your Item form - just select "Donate a percentage to charity" in the "How You're Selling" part of the form. You'll be asked to choose the charity, SOS Children of course, and will then be taken through the quick and simple MissionFish registration as part of this process (MissionFish manages the charity side of eBay sales).
If you're not ready to sell just yet, you can go directly to the MissionFish website, www.missionfish.org.uk, and register to sell for charity now. You'll then be fully set up in advance for the next time you sell on eBay.
Please do pass on this information to your friends and family, so that they can also start supporting SOS Children through eBay.