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Donations, Deductions and Timetables
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MissionFish delivers Community Seller donations
- 1. What’s the difference between Community Selling and Direct Selling
- 2. MissionFish collects eBay for Charity donations
- 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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What's the difference between Community Selling and Direct Selling?
- Any eBay seller can choose to donate 10-100% (1% 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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MissionFish collects eBay for Charity donations
- As eBay.co.uk’s partner for the eBay for Charity programme, MissionFish processes all donations that the public make to charities through the programme. It is our responsibility to make sure that donations happen as intended for everyone.
- When sellers promise to donate the proceeds of their sales on eBay, Wwe 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.
- Every charity registered with MissionFish also has a Donate Now tab on their About My Charity page. This feature allows anyone with a PayPal account to donate to an organisation straight away, without buying or selling an item on eBay. Users have the option to donate any amount they would like to.
- MissionFish collects and distributes these donations and Gift Aid (where applicable) onto the benefitting charity.
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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
- eBay for Charity community seller donations
We make up to two payments a month to participating UK charities: - Donations are sent to organisations towards the end of the month
- Gift Aid is sent around the 10th of each month
- It can take up to three working days for the funds to enter a charity’s account. Please read the Donation Delivery Schedule to learn more about our payout dates.
- 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 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 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. - 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
- eBay for Charity 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
10th May No
30th March
10th June February
Yes
30th March
10th June No
30th April
10th July March
Yes
30th April
10th July No
30th May
10th August April
Yes
30th May
10th August No
30th June
10th September May
Yes
30th June
10th September No
30th July
10th Ocotber June
Yes
30th July
10th October No
30th August
10th November July
Yes
30th August
10th November No
30th September
10th December August
Yes
30th September
10th December No
30th October
10th January September
Yes
30th October
10th January No
30th November
10th February October
Yes
30th November
10th February No
30th December
10th March November
Yes
30th December
10th March No
30th January
10th April December
Yes
30th January
10th April No
28th February
10th May - * Gift Aid delivery dates assume that MissionFish receives Gift Aid payment from HM Revenue & Customs within 60 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. - 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 “Points of Light Foundation – POLF,” the registered name of our charitable trust.
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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
