1. Using eBay to your Charity’s Advantage
Nick Aldridge and Angela Cruz

2. Using eBay to your Charity’s Advantage
How eBay for Charity works
Case studies on how charities are using the online world

3. About eBay for Charity
• Helps charities get the most from the eBay marketplace, by
– Enabling charities to trade effectively in the eBay marketplace.
– giving 17 million eBay.co.uk visitors a secure, trackable and efficient way
of supporting good causes.
• The programme is managed by eBay.co.uk in partnership with PayPal Giving
Fund UK, a registered charity

4. Online fundraising growing around
40% pa as share of voluntary
income:
- 2% in 2007/8
- 3.7% in 2010/11
www.missionfish.org.uk/research
Event fundraising: over £1bn raised via
JustGiving since 2000.
But, UK is behind US nonprofits (8%).

5. Ways to get involved, and what you’ll need
A supporter base, particularly Access to goods, whether “Star items”, or the ability to
online supporters donated or in-kind secure some
Marketing/fundraising Retail capacity: shop Creative ability: designing a
capacity management, pricing, newsworthy concept
accounting
A recognisable and Web design to create a fun
compelling brand and logo “brand” for the auction

6. Receive donations from eBay sellers
• eBay sellers give 10-100%
of a sale to a charity of their
choice
• Listings appear with giving
ribbon , charity logo and
mission statement
• You can cancel listings that
clash with your charity
• Donors get a fee credit from
eBay
• PayPal Giving Fund delivers
funds and Gift Aid

7. Cause-related marketing
Items with a donation
generate 34% more sales than
non-charity equivalents.
Analysis by
Columbia
Business School
(2010)

8. Product then cause
Oh, and you’re supporting a
good cause.
(So, no guilt then)

9. Give at Checkout
Possible as online retail has:
• Lower transaction costs
• More “flexible” checkout tech.
eBay model is unique:
• Requires no effort from the sellers
• Enables Gift Aid collection (where we can get a declaration)
• Enables buyers to choose their favourite charities
• £8m raised for UK charities (small + large)
• 2M donors making 6m separate donations

10. Predicting online conversion
Concrete, emo
tive imagery
NOT
Abstract, ratio
nal
explanations.
10

11. Ask supporters to make you their
favourite charity

12. Special auctions
Offer unique, exciting or high value items to the public on eBay
• Eliminate the costs and hassle of hosting a live event.
• Reach a larger audience than any other online auction
platform.
• Use the eBay brand to increase awareness of your auction.
• Need promotion and management to succeed.

13. Spot the opportunities: be reactive
• Harrods donated limited edition meerkat toys to children in
hospices
• Charities asked to auction the “surplus” toys in eBay
 Campaign raised £100,000 for 6 charities in 1 week.

14. You don’t need a “big brand” to be successful
Wild Trout Trust has raised £325k by
auctioning fishing and conservation
experiences.
• £5,100.00 A week for 2 rods
fishing in Tierra del Fuego
• £3,500.00 5 nights for 2
rods, sea-trout and brown trout
fishing
• £3,431.00 A week trout fishing
for 2 at Futa Lodge Chile
• £3,000.00 4 days / 5 nights for 2
rods, bone fishing based at
Abaco Lodge

15. Extensive support and promotion for special auctions

17. Running a shop on eBay
• Reach a bigger customer
base than a high-street shop
• Find the right buyers for
specialist items
• Listings appear with charity
ribbon , your logo and
mission statement
• Save money on overheads;
you don’t need retail
premises or round the clock
staffing
• No fees or deductions from
eBay or PayPal Giving Fund

18. Ecommerce and charities
• 10-15% of retail is online vs
1.3% of charity retail.
• 76% of charities online sales
are via eBay
But gradual move online:
• Charities’ eBay sales grew
34% last year
• Charity retail growth is less
than 3% each year

19. Children’s Society: an opportunity
• Children’s Society has a
partnership with a major
delivery company
• Expertise in trading
standards, have recruited
eBay expertise
• £24k in sales in Q4 2012

20. From high street to ecommerce
MillRace IT
• Replaced several high street shops with
one eBay shop.
• Selling over £140k per month of
refurbished hardware (£1.5m last year).
• Promoted via eBay house ads (200m
impressions donated).
Sales growth (MoM)
• Jan: 5.7%
• Feb: 27.4%
• Mar: 12.8%

21. Sue Ryder: plan ahead
Sue Ryder
• eBay shop launched last year and
already raising more than £24k pm
• Separate accounts for donated vs
bought-in goods.
• Significant planning and preparation to
sort out logistics before going live.

22. Integrating PayPal and eBay
• PayPal donations up 69% year on year
• Over 1 BN banner impressions donated by eBay
• Links to auction, shop, donation flow from
homepage
• Last full year: over £430k raised from eBay
users, including £120k in donations

23. Enabling/encouraging charity is good for eBay
70%
eBay buyers who donate to charity:
• spend 40% more than buyers who 60%
Buyers
don’t, on average
Sellers
• are half as likely to lapse in the 50%
next year
40%
Sellers who donate
30%
• sell 35% more than sellers who
don’t, on average 20%
• are 37% as likely to lapse in the
next year 10%
0%
Retention (%) Spend/sales (%)
1 Internal analysis of donor vs. non-donor behaviour, comparing against non-donating users with similar profile/behaviour.
23

24. Download our guide to getting started
www.paypalgivingfund.org.uk/research

25. What should I do first?
1. Register your charity with PayPal Giving Fund
www.paypalgivingfund.org.uk
And to start selling:
2. Register as an eBay seller
www.ebay.co.uk/register
(choose business registration)
3. Set up a PayPal account
www.paypal.co.uk/charity (1.4% instead of 3.4%)

26. How can I make it work?
• Make sure colleagues know they can:
• Sell items to a huge audience for free
• Run special auctions to engage supporters
• Tell your supporters to make you a favourite
• Explore with corporate partners as a fun activity
or business model

27. What does all this cost?
• Free to register at paypalgivingfund.org.uk
• 100% of all donations (and Gift Aid) passed on
• No charge for your sales on eBay
• PayPal offers discounted rate for charities

29. Thank you for listening
For more information, contact us at:
020 8605 3191
info@paypalgivingfund.org.uk
www.paypalgivingfund.org.uk Conference House Ltd. 24 St. Clements Passage, Huntingdon, Cambs. PE29 3TP