How to sell unwanted items on ebay and raise money for Contact A Family

Hey there,

Thank you all so much for the positive messages you've been sending about my challenge and the blog. It's been brilliant to feel so supported.

I realise taking a challenge this extreme is not for everyone, but none the less lots of you have been asking about how you can help. If you want to you can donate here or you could consider getting rid of something you no longer want by selling it on ebay for us.

This post is a detailed step by step guide to listing items for Contact A Family in a way that will raise the most money. I've used clothes as an example but really you can sell anything, got an old bike in your garage? Furniture you no longer love? Selling these things online with ebay's direct donate function is really easy and every penny Contact a Family receives is put to good use.

So here goes

Step 1 - identify the item you want to sell. Clean it up & make it photo ready. While you are doing this note any features or damage someone buying it might want to know about.

Step 2- Take photos. You can load up to 12 photos free, so take detailed close ups as well as photos from as many angles as possible.

Step 3 - Make a cup of tea and boot up your computer. If you've never used ebay before the next stage will take up to 20 minutes, if you are an old hand you can get a listing up in 6.

Step 4- Go to www.ebay.co.uk  If you have an account log in if not you'll have to set one up (there are easy instructions and it's very quick to do) - or use a friend's account.

Step 5 - Along the top of your screen you'll see a 'sell' tab. Click on it. On the top right of the page you have the option to 'switch to advanced tool'. Do this - ebay is going to ask you if you are sure. You are - it's the only way you can automatically donate to charity, so confirm 'switch'.

Step 7 - Fill in a basic title for your item. I typed 'pink jacket'. This helped ebay suggest a category I  could list in. You can choose 1 category for free, and if you want a second it'll cost 35p.

Step 8 - Once you've pressed enter you should be on the real listings page. Your first job here is to revisit your title and make sure that you have as many keywords as possible in it. Keywords are the words people would type to try and find an item. My item title was 'topshop beaded jacket pink blush wedding festival 12 14 #clothesoffmyback'. I included the hashtag so Contact a Family supporters can find everything that is being listed for us, if they want to help out by buying you item & so we can promote your item on social media.

Step 9 - Describe any faults or quirks the item has in the condition box.

Step 10- Upload your photos using the basic photo uploader. Make sure your best photo is on the far left as this will be your cover photo. There are little arrows on the bottom of your uploaded photos that move them left or right use these to give your best photo top billing.

Step 11 - In the details box, describe your item. Talk about it's size (dimensions are especially important for furniture),style and condition. Cut and paste the below text and links into the details box.

I am listing to raise money for Contact A Family. In their 2014 research they found 65% of parents of disabled children go without essentials like clothes in order to provide properly for their children. (The research is here along with the number of families – 33%- who can’t afford to heat their homes). This year a member of our team is raising money by selling all her clothes (except 35 key items) to raise money for Contact a Family to continue their work supporting these families. As a part of this she's challenged people to join in this summer by selling one wedding outfit on ebay for Contact A Family, if you want to get involved you can find the challenge here, and if you want to donate you can do so here.

If not- please bid generously - because this item is gift aided every penny you pay plus 25% extra is donated to Contact a Family. Happy Bidding.

Step 12 -Tab down to choose a format and price for what you are selling. Start as low as you would be prepared to part with the item for, items with a low starting price often end up making more than higher priced items as people become attached with repeat bidding.

Step 13 - Set a start time and duration for the auction. You want your auction to finish on a Sunday evening - that's when items make most money

Step 14 - This is the important one! You'll be asked if you want to donate all or part of the sale to charity, if you don't get offered Contact A Family as an option click select another charity, search for and select Contact a Family. Then you'll be asked what percentage of the sale you want to donate. Obviously I'd suggest 100%.

Step 15 - If you are planning on selling more than one item for Contact A Family Thankyou! You should tick the save this listing box - it'll make listing your next item much quicker!

Step 16 - Confirm your listing.

And you're done!

We can help you promote the things you are selling to raise money for us. If you tweet me @edarcherthinks or Contact a Family @ContactAFamily with a link to your listing we'll try and help you get the word out.

Thankyou for your time and support

Edx

PS here is what my finished listing looked like