Can I give to charity through eBay?

Giving Works is a program by which sellers can choose to have a portion of the revenue from an item's sale donated directly to a charity of his or her choosing. Both the charity and percentage of the donation are chosen when the seller lists the item. Buyers interested in giving to a specific charity with their eBay purchases can search for items by charity in order to ensure that their bids go to help someone in need.

For sellers: To list an item on eBay with a percentage of proceeds going to charity, follow these steps:

1. Begin listing an item as you usually would.
2. On the details page in section 3 of the selling form, find the "Pricing and Duration" area, which contains (among other things) the minimum bid and Buy It Now price.
3. Find the "Donate percentage of sale" drop-down list located just below the minimum bid and Buy It Now price boxes and select "Select a new nonprofit..." from this list.
4. You will be prompted to register for MissionFish, the clearinghouse responsible for collecting nonprofit donations promised through eBay transactions.
5. Once you have selected your preferred donee and registered at MissionFish, select the percentage of the proceeds that you want to go to the nonprofit in question using the drop down list immediately to the right of the "Donate percentage of sale" list.
6. Complete the rest of your listing as you normally would.

When your listing goes live, it will automatically be indexed for buyers wanting to give to the charity that you have selected (regular buyers will see your listing too, through the standard eBay search). Once your item sells, the selected percentage of proceeds will automatically be calculated for you based on the auction's closing price, and you will be sent payment instructions by MissionFish. Once your buyer has paid you in full, you can then pay the chosen percentage of the sale to MissionFish through the credit card that you have placed on file there.

Note that for larger donations ($1,000 or more), MissionFish also accepts electronic funds transfers and certified checks.

For buyers: Auctions that give to charities can be identified by the presence of a blue and yellow ribbon icon in listing search or browse results, as well as by the presence of a box at the top of the item description that gives both the amount of the donation as a percentage and the nonprofit to which the donation will be sent. You will receive a receipt for the amount of your donation.

To search the body of charitable auctions by keyword or description (of the item), use the search form at the top of the eBay Giving Works page.

To search for listed auctions that support a particular nonprofit or charity, use the MissionFish nonprofit search, which lists each of the eBay auctions currently marked to give to each nonprofit in the index.

For nonprofits: eBay gives several options for community and nonprofit fundraising on its Giving Works for Nonprofits page. As a nonprofit, you can choose to become a certified nonprofit at MissionFish, after which sellers can elect to give a portion of their sales proceeds to you.

Nonprofits also have the option of making direct sales on eBay for direct fundraising and revenue growth. Whichever method you choose to use, eBay is there to help.