eBay buyers and sellers donated over £7.5m for UK charities in 2010 and that’s on top of a further £4m raised by charity shops on eBay UK. That’s a 20% increase on the total raised in 2009, and a 200% increase from 2007 to 2010.
Much of the increase is due to the donate at checkout feature launched in 2008. That has since been coupled with the “My Favourite Charity” feature which gives you the choice to donate to a charity that you support when buying on eBay. Users who pre-select a favourite charity are 17 times more likely to donate at checkout than those who haven’t and that led to a 100% increase in donations from 2008 to 2009 (£3.3 million to £6.3 million).
It appears despite the recession buyers and sellers are still finding spare funds to support charities through their eBay activity. It’s also on a purely mercenary level worth remembering that even donating a small percentage of your selling price gets you greater exposure in search. Your item will have the charity ribbon displayed next to it and will be featured in the eBay for Charity pages where buyers who specifically want to support a charity will find your listing in preference to those not making a donation.
2 Responses
Having raised a bit for the Haiti earthquack, I wonder what happened to it all (I mean the mega amount raised worldwide) when I see the news on how the people are STILL living there.