Auction Information

Fundraising Ideas Using eBay


Have you thought of using the online auction site eBay as your next major fundraiser?

I have, and it was a huge success!

Like many other businesses the fundraising business has seen an incredible change since the internet. Everyday there are new tools, softwares and websites that are making fundraising not only easier but a lot more fun. One of my favorite fundraising sites is eBay.com

There are many different ways you can take advantage of eBay's services and use it as a fundraiser:

? Selling your member's junk - This is something I did to fundraise for my son's preschool. I collected items from member's attics, closets and garages and sold them on eBay. We rose over $3,000 for our little preschool, which was a lot for us. However, even though I got volunteers to help, it was way too much work. At the time, eBay was my business and I knew what I was doing. I cannot imagine someone who does not know anything about the collecting business or selling on eBay to attempt this.

? Selling your member's junk using a professional eBay seller - Since eBay has become a major profession for many people, there are businesses today that specialize in selling for you. Find such a business and have them do all the work. All you have to do is collect the stuff and they will advertise, sell, and ship the items for you and send you a check. You can find a seller on eBay that lives near you through eBay's Trading Assistant program, or use a service like Auction Drop or I-Soldit.

? New items donated by members - Many times members will donate products rather than money. EBay makes it easy for you to sell these items. Not only will you probably get a better price in a market that has millions of buyers but also this will increase your organization's visibility and potentially attract new members.

? Sell local and national gift certificates - I've done this with the preschool auction. Besides selling member's stuff, we collected local and national gift certificates. Most businesses are very generous and are happy to give you a certificate. If the business that donated the certificate had a website, I put a link to it from the eBay ad. The great thing about listing gift certificates on eBay is that you don't have to take a picture and the description is easy. However, You MUST advertise the gift certificates: Besides sending out emails to all our members with instructions to forward the email to family and friends, I placed a free ad in the local Santa Cruz Market newsgroups advertising the auction and the gift certificates. You can find newsgroups that are specific for your area.

? Sell a calendar or cookbook etc. - eBay has a cool section especially for charity organizations. Go to eBay and check it out by looking for Charity Auctions. I've seen some organizations sell their calendar, cookbook, or whatever on eBay. If you have a supply of these items you can have an ongoing auction selling that item (you would have to re-list it every 7 days).

This has great potential for a nonprofit that helps more universal causes like homelessness, Cancer/AIDS, ecology and so forth. Signing up on eBay as a nonprofit organization gets you listed under a special section. Some people browse these lists and will often buy something from the organization just for the support. EBay also supplies nonprofits with their own web page describing the organization with links back to their major site.

? Encourage members and friends who sell on eBay to sign up for eBay's new Giving Works - EBay's Giving Works program helps sellers to easily donate a portion of their sale to their favorite nonprofit. The seller chooses a nonprofit from a list (or can add a new one) and pledges to a certain percentage of the sale to that nonprofit. The pledged percentage is taken out automatically by eBay after the auction. It could not be any easier.

Frustrated with the usual unorganized school fundraisers Suzanne Wouk turned to the internet in search of a better way. To her amazement and delight, she found so many new and exciting ways to fundraise that she started the site FundraisingMom.com in order to share the information and ideas with others.


MORE RESOURCES:

Do charity art auctions help or harm local artists?
Duluth News Tribune, MN - 4 hours ago
An artist donates a painting to an auction held by a worthy cause — say, a group that rescues stray dogs, or a little school that struggles to provide a ...
Information about local charity art auctions Duluth News Tribune
all 2 news articles


AP tobacco auctions fetch record Rs 1401 cr
Hindu Business Line, India - 12 hours ago
Virginia Tobacco auctions that concluded this week fetched a record Rs 1401 crore for farmers in Andhra Pradesh and for the first time in the history of the ...
AGRI-BIZ & COMMODITIES Hindu Business Line
all 2 news articles


Baywatch babe auctions car to save India’s snakes
The Times, South Africa - 8 hours ago
FORMER Baywatch babe Pamela Anderson has auctioned her 2000 Dodge Viper sports car for 65000 as a donation to a campaign against the slaughter of snakes. ...


TradeMe in court for "black market"
Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand - 8 hours ago
Meier claims TradeMe auctions sold thousands of counterfeit Ab King Pros made from lower-grade steel and imported from China by TradeMe members. ...
TradeMe sued for counterfeits TVNZ
Meier plans TradeMe lawsuit Newstalk ZB
TradeMe responsibility limited Newstalk ZB
all 29 news articles


OverTheLimit.info

Britney auctions clothes for charity
The Post, Pakistan - 11 hours ago
Britney Spears is planning to auction seven items of clothing for charity. Outfits including a T-shirt she wore on the New Mickey Mouse Club, ...
Spears auctions clothes for charity Digital Spy
all 40 news articles


Auction-rate securities mess hits Austin investors, companies
Austin American-Statesman, TX - 7 hours ago
LeBoeuf's money is tied up in auction-rate securities, a once-obscure investment that is becoming a symbol of how financial instruments that were thought to ...
Bond buyers claim fraud Anchorage Daily News (subscription)
Firms warned of auction-rate market failure Worcester Telegram
all 3 news articles


AFP

Bumper auctions fetch half-billion dollars at Sotheby's
AFP - Jul 3, 2008
LONDON (AFP) — A bumper set of auctions of impressionist, modern and contemporary art by Sotheby's fetched upwards of 250 million pounds (315 million euros, ...
Dead Artists Breathe Life Into Auctions Wall Street Journal
Oil profits help art market defy gravity CNNMoney.com
Inside Art London Swings as a Dynamo for Selling Art New York Times
Business Report - Bloomberg
all 273 news articles


DEL MAR: North County ag groups dominate livestock auctions
North County Times, CA - Jul 4, 2008
(Photo by John Raifsnider- For The North County Times) DEL MAR ---- All eight Grand Champion awards from the Junior Livestock Auction held Friday at the San ...


40 properties up for auction
The Republican - MassLive.com, MA - 3 hours ago
By MIKE PLAISANCE SPRINGFIELD - Another 40 properties the city seized for nonpayment of taxes will be auctioned off on July 15. "We're turning over more ...


Grab yourself a little piece of the auction
Scotsman, United Kingdom - 8 hours ago
But how easy is it to pick up a bargain at an auction and what are the pitfalls? At a recent auction in Glasgow, it was clear many bidders were private ...

Auctions - Google News

home | site map
© 2006