How to Participate in eBay Giving Works as a Seller

EBay Giving Works is a way for sellers to donate all, or a portion of, the winning bid price to their chosen charity. All eBay sellers that have accounts in good standings, can create Giving Works auctions. The money that you donate to charity is tax deductible. Furthermore, eBay has found that Giving Works auctions are more likely to sell and often sell at higher prices than other auctions.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Click on "Sell" at the top of your "My eBay" page. The first page to load is where you choose the category you want to list in. On that page, tick off "Customize your listing". The "Keep it simple" option does not allow you to list a Giving Works auction.

2. Choose a non-profit organization from the list provided in the "eBay Giving Works" section of the "Sell your item" form. Then indicate the percentage of your final winning bid that you want to donate to the charity. The percentage range is 10 to 100 percent, with the exception of eBay Motors where you can donate as low as 5 percent. However, it is important to realize that the minimum donation per item is $5.00. Therefore even if you only choose 10 percent, if your item sells for $5.00 then you are actually donating 100 percent of your sell price.

3. Read, and indicate that you agree with, the eBay Giving Works terms and conditions. At this point you also need to choose your payment method for giving the donations to MissionFish. MissionFish is a non-profit agency which eBay uses to collect donations from sellers and give the donations to the charities.

4. Complete the rest of the "Sell your item" form to finish your auction listing. Then click on the "List your item" button at the bottom of the page.

5. Go back to your "My eBay" page and click on the link to "Donation Account." You can find this on the left side of the page under the "My Account" heading. From your donation account you can monitor your donations, change your donation payment method, and print donation receipts for your tax records.

Tips & Warnings

• Once your Giving Works auction is listed, the charity icon appears next to your auction title in buyer's search results. The icon is also displayed on your auction page. The charity icon is a blue and yellow ribbon which is looped at the top with both ends of the ribbon hanging down.
• To encourage sellers to participate in Giving Works, if the item that you listed in a charity auction sells, eBay credits your seller account for both the listing and the final valuation fee in the amount equal to the amount of your donation. For example, if you chose to donate 20% to the charity, if the item sells eBay credits your fees for that auction by 20%.
• Charitable fundraising is highly regulated by many state and federal laws. When listing a Giving Works auction you can not list in the Real Estate Classified Ads format or Mature Audiences categories. For other restrictions placed on Giving Works auctions, check the charity and fundraising section of the eBay "Help" pages.
• The logo of the non-profit agency you are listing for is also displayed in your auction. If the non-profit agency feels you are listing an item that they do not want to be associated with, they contact eBay and eBay ends your listing.

Resources

• eBay charity and fundraising help