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A "Bring and Sell" sale
- Avoid the drizzle at your local car boot sale by holding a “Bring and Sell” sale with eBay for Charity online.
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Why do it?
- Instead of the village green, sell on eBay and enjoy a wider audience likely to bid up the prices of your listings, and have your items on sale for days rather than hours.
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How it works
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Here are the key steps:
- Recruit some volunteers
- Collect items to sell
- Write descriptions and take photos
- List the items with eBay for Charity
- Promote your listings
- Ship items and leave appropriate feedback
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Recruit some volunteers
- Ask your volunteers to help out. Need more help? Many schools and clubs encourage their students and members to volunteer. You can find hands at local organisations, or on websites such as Craigslist.org or Gumtree.co.uk.
Collect items to sell
- Ask your supporters to clean out their attics, garages, and closets, then bring their items to you. Check in with local businesses to see if they have overstock or out-of-season merchandise they’d like to donate. You may be able to claim Gift Aid on some of these donations.
Ready, set, sell!
- Closely inspect those items that were donated. Most likely not all of them will be in saleable condition. For the ones in good shape, get ready to list them. For every category of item eBay has handy tips to make selling more successful. See category tips here
. Write descriptions and take photos
- Write colorful, informative descriptions of your items. Don’t forget to mention any scratches or wear-and-tear your items may have. An honest, solid description will increase your chances of selling successfully.
- Nominate a volunteer to be your in-house photographer. He or she should take photos of each of your items. Since the buyer won’t be able to see your item in person, taking clear photos is essential. You can place one photo of the item in your listing for free.
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List items with eBay for Charity
- Make sure your eBay ID is included under “My Direct Sellers” in your MissionFish account before you begin listing. This is so MissionFish and eBay know you are a direct seller, and won’t try to collect donations from you.
- You can list your items with eBay’s Advanced Sell Your Item form. Select your charity and “100%” as the donation amount in the “How you’re selling” section.
Promote your listings
- Once your listings are up, let the promotion begin! Put a link on your site to your About My Charity page, where all of your live listings appear automatically.
- Send the link to your organisation’s email list and write a press release for local media outlets.
- If you have a MySpace or FaceBook page, include a link there as well. A key to your success will be promoting your auction to anyone and everyone who is interested in supporting your organization. The more bidders you have, the more funds you will raise!
Shipping items
- Double-check that you have received payment from a buyer before sending the item. Package items carefully and ship on time.
- In every package you send out, include some information about your organisation with information about how the buyer can continue to support your fantastic work.
- Don’t forget to leave appropriate feedback for buyers.
Learn for the next time
- When your auction is fully wrapped up discuss with your volunteers what went well and what could be improved upon. Then start planning your next ‘bring and sell’ sale.
"The eBay for Charity programme is a fantastic offering that is a great oppurtunity for the hospice. eBay's worldwide customer base in excess of 240 million is an ideal way to raise awareness of the hospice and at the same tie raise valuable funds" — John Savage, Executive Director, Nightingale House Hospice