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Donations, Deductions and Timetables
- 1. MissionFish collects donations from eBay and PayPal users
- 2. What’s the difference between Community Selling and Direct Selling?
- 3. How does MissionFish pay charities?
- 4. When does MissionFish pay charities?
- 5. Donation delivery schedule
- 6. Why there is a delay in delivering the funds to the charity
- 7. Notify your accounting department
- 8. Undeliverable donations
- 9. We’re a charity selling on eBay. Why is MissionFish asking us to pay a donation?
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MissionFish collects donations from eBay and PayPal users
- As eBay's partner charity, MissionFish processes all donations that the public make to charities through eBay for Charity and associated channels. It is our responsibility to make sure that donations happen as intended for everyone.
- eBay for Charity: community seller donations
When eBay sellers promise to donate the proceeds of their sales to charity, we collect the donation from the seller and pass the donation onto the charity. That way we know that the seller definitely paid the donation (to us) and the charity definitely received it (from us). This also enables us to collect and distribute Gift Aid on behalf of the benefiting charities. - eBay Give at Checkout donations
When buyers pay through eBay Checkout for an item they've won using PayPal, they may choose to make a small donation to a featured charity, or a charity they have previously chosen to support. MissionFish collects and processes any donations made in this way. - Donations via PayPal and other channels
Every charity registered with MissionFish is eligible to receive donations from PayPal users and other users through cash donation features and tools provided by MissionFish. These include: - a Donate Now tab on your About My Charity page on eBay
- an entry in the charity directory for relevant PayPal Mobile applications
- a page on the www.paypal-donations.co.uk
website - the ability for businesses registered with MissionFish to make or facilitate donations to your charity through MissionFish
- These features allow people without an eBay account to support charities through MissionFish without buying or selling an item on eBay. MissionFish collects and distributes these donations and Gift Aid (where applicable) to the benefitting charity.
- Please note: Every eBay user has the option to select their favourite charity (or charities) in the 'My Favourites Charities' page in their eBay Donation Account. They can then support those charities with donations when they buy and sell on eBay.
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What's the difference between Community Selling and Direct Selling?
- Any eBay seller can choose to donate between 10% and 100% (5% minimum for eBay Motors) of their final sale price to a charity – this is called ‘Community Selling’. Community Sellers pay the donation to MissionFish, we add Gift Aid (where applicable) and deliver the funds to the chosen charity.
- Charities can also raise funds by selling their own items on eBay – this is called ‘Direct Selling’. Direct Sellers collect the payment directly from the buyer on behalf of the charity. MissionFish is not involved in this transaction, and does not collect a donation or claim Gift Aid.
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How does MissionFish pay charities?
- We pay charities through BACS transfer once a month. We deliver funds to the bank account provided by the charity when it registered with MissionFish. All donations for a given month are delivered to the charity in a single payment. Reclaimed Gift Aid is then delivered as one additional, separate payment.
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When does MissionFish pay charities?
- Community seller donations
Donations from eBay sellers are sent to organisations at the end of the month. It can take up to three working days for the funds to enter a charity’s account. We then submit any associated Gift Aid claims and will include these with a future payout once the funds are received from HMRC. Gift Aid payments typically arrive two months after you receive the original donation. Please read the Donation Delivery Schedule to learn more about our payout dates. - Cash donations via PayPal
- If a user decides to donate to your organisation via a cash donation function provided by MissionFish, you will receive this donation in the following month's payout. For example if someone donated to you in February you would receive this donation in the March payout. Gift Aid claims are submitted after you receive the donation, and usually reach you approximately two months after the original donation.
- Give at Checkout donations
If your organisation appears in eBay checkout flow, you will receive any relevant donations in the payout the month after your feature ends. For example, if your charity was promoted in January you would receive the funds in the February payout. You will receive the donations in a single amount via a BACS transfer. Gift Aid claims are submitted after you receive the donation, and usually reach you approximately two months after the original donation. - Note, if your feature spans two months, you will receive two separate BACs transfers for the corresponding months.
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Donation delivery schedule
- Community seller donations
Several factors influence when a donation and Gift Aid (if applicable), will be delivered. These include: - When the donation was paid to MissionFish
- Whether the seller opted-out of a donation refund
- Whether the seller declared for Gift Aid
- The table below helps to illustrate these dates:
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Donation made in
Seller waived right to a refund?
Donation delivered by
Gift Aid (if applicable)
sent by *January
Yes
28th February
30th April No
30th March
30th May February
Yes
30th March
30th May No
30th April
30th June March
Yes
30th April
30th June No
30th May
30th July April
Yes
30th May
30th July No
30th June
30th August May
Yes
30th June
30th August No
30th July
30th September June
Yes
30th July
30th September No
30th August
30th October July
Yes
30th August
30th October No
30th September
30th November August
Yes
30th September
30th November No
30th October
30thDecember September
Yes
30th October
30thDecember No
30th November
30th January October
Yes
30th November
30th January No
30th December
28th February November
Yes
30th December
28th February No
30th January
30th March December
Yes
30th January
30th March No
28th February
30th April - * Gift Aid delivery dates assume that MissionFish receives Gift Aid payment from HM Revenue & Customs within 21 days of filing each claim.
- Donate Now donations
- If a user decides to donate to your organisation via the Donate Now function on your About My Charity page, you will receive this donation in the following month’s payout. For example if someone donated to you in February you would receive this donation in the March payout via a BACS transfer. Gift Aid payments will follow approximately two months later, depending on the speed with which HMRC makes the payments to us.
- Give at Checkout donations
If your organisation is featured in the Give at Checkout promotion on the eBay checkout flow, you will receive the donations in the payout the month after your feature ends. For example if your charity was promoted in January you would receive the funds in the February payout. You will receive the donations in a single amount via a BACS transfer. Gift Aid claims are submitted after you receive the donation, and usually reach you approximately two months after the original donation. - Note, if your feature spans two months, you will receive two separate BACs transfers for the corresponding months.
- You can visit your MissionFish charity account to keep track of all your eBay for Charity activity and download funds raised reports.
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Why there is a delay in delivering funds to the charity
- MissionFish holds donations from eBay sellers for at least 45 days, unless the seller has waived their right to a refund*. This protects the seller in case the seller's deal with a buyer falls through and they need to get their donation back.
- It also protects the charity: we don't want to ask for a donation to be returned once we've paid a charity, so we hold onto it until eBay's refund period expires.
- *Sellers can speed up our payout to a charity by waiving their right to a refund. Many sellers do this once they know that their deal with the buyer has been completed
- Please note, Donate Now funds and other cash donations not linked to eBay transactions are delivered more quickly. Donations from these features are delivered to charities in the payout the month after they are collected by MissionFish
- Gift Aid: We do not file for Gift Aid with HM Revenue & Customs (formerly Inland Revenue) until after delivering the original donation to the charity. Due to HMRC back logs, it takes time to receive Gift Aid. Therefore we deliver Gift Aid approximately two months after the original donation is delivered.
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Notifying your accounting department
- Please inform your accounting department, and/or anyone who oversees the bank account information that you provided to us, that your organisation has registered with MissionFish and may be receiving monthly BACS payments.
- Your donations will be delivered directly into your account towards the end of each month and will be deposited from "MissionFish-UK."
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Undeliverable donations
- If there is ever a problem delivering a donation to a charity, MissionFish will:
- 1. Retry the BACS payment
- 2. If that fails, we contact the charity to verify and correct their bank account information
- 3. If we can’t reach them, we’ll keep trying over a period of 30 days
- 4. After our best efforts, if we find that we still can’t deliver the donation to the designated charity, we will deliver it to an organisation with a similar mission
- If a seller has completed a Gift Aid declaration, we will still claim and deliver that Gift Aid to the charity that receives the original donation.
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We’re a charity selling on eBay. Why is MissionFish asking us to pay a donation?
- This happens if you didn’t add your eBay Seller ID as a Direct Seller inside your MissionFish charity account. Completing this step tells us that your Seller ID belongs to a charity, and we'll know that we don't need to collect donations from you in the future.
- Learn how to add a direct seller
