eBay® PowerSeller Business Practices FOR DUMMIES®

Chapter 16. Giving Back to Nonprofits through Giving Works

By shopping eBay's Giving Works, buyers have more fun buying unique things, and the money goes to charity. Many charitable organizations are selling their wares on eBay to raise money for their fine work.

eBay has partnered with MissionFish, an organization based in Washington, D.C., that has been raising money through online auctions since 2000. A forward-thinking, great group of people founded this company with the purpose of doing good for others. Now, MissionFish is a service with the Points of Light Foundation and operates its Web site at www.missionfish.org.

MissionFish functions as the hub for nonprofit organizations selling on eBay. The service qualifies the organizations by verifying their eligibility before they can begin to raise money online with eBay. Aside from verification, MissionFish also provides other service and support activities including donation collection and disbursement, tax receipting, and online contribution tracking.

You can get some very rare and unusual items through Giving Works, like the annual NBC Today Show Green Room autograph book. This one-of-akind book has signatures and notes from the famous guests of the Today show. Following are some other super-hot items that have been up for sale:

• Lunch with Warren Buffett, offered yearly and raising 2 million dollars for the Glide Foundation.

• Three celebrity-signed Harley-Davidson motorcycles featured on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno raised a total ...