On eBay.com it does not indicate that the donation is not associated with the seller’s preferred charity.

Which is totally misleading to buyers.

There was no announcement of “this is a new program” “this is how it works” “This is an eBay sponsored program.” etc.

For those who shop on eBay and are familiar with sellers who donate a percentage of sales to charity – it is an easy leap to assume that by donating $1 you are supporting the efforts of the seller to raise money for a particular charity.

Which is exactly why I donated on this particular purchase. The seller was awesome and I wanted to do something to support what I thought were her efforts to raise money for a cause she believed in.

Not that the charity itself is not worthy, or that program is bad – but eBay needs to word this clearly upfront so buyers know exactly what program they are donating to.

eBay needs to message this completely differently.

I also don’t think that it should be a part of the seller’s checkout process.

This is an eBay program being implemented on an independent seller’s checkout flow, it once again blurs the line between eBay as venue and eBay as retailer.

This doesn’t seem like a good move on any level.

@ # 18

It does look good PR wise and it does sound good on the surface until you actually think about it. I know here in the US it is common to see the convenience stores and retail chains offering a piece of paper for $1 claiming to be a donation for some charity.

I recently got a survey (I’m assuming most of you did) and it seemed like they wanted me to say the following:

“I like shopping at eBay because I can get a great deal and help out a good cause at the same time.”

I didn’t fall for it but I suspect this is what they are doing. eBay and PayPal both have a huge image problem and this is the eBay way of fixing it.

This doesn’t seem like a good move on any level. I wanna pay: don’t make me think.

I had the option to donate a quid to a books charity. I have nothing against this in theory… but it did make me pause. And that’s bad in the checkout flow.

I suspect that was the real reason all along. Think about it, if all sellers followed that advice they make an additional 1.3 million sales just by adding a little checkbox at checkout. Huge ROI.

I’d recommend everyone buy something on eBay and at checkout you’ll be able to see how it works ticking/unticking the box. If you don’t want to make a donation it’s no problem, just pay for the item but at least you’ll know what your customers are seening.

with an income of 46.9 billion with investments or over 75 billion
collectively
they are bigger financial players than the high st banks,
there getting NOWT from me

the guy in the door way with his dog gets my dosh first

Exactly. One of those is Missionfish and its parent, the Points of Light Foundation.

In theory it’s not a bad idea, but I like to know exactly what charities i’m giving to. As has been mentioned it creates even more confusion for buyers thinking it’s the seller that’s put that on. It could even make people think the seller is trying to scam them.

I like Sue would like to veto certain charities, and in fact if I had a choice there is one charity in particular I’d be happy to have promoted on checkout from my auctions.

I’d also like to know if when I list an item on eBay for Charity and it sells that a competing charity (or possibly a charity with diametrically opposite aims) would definitely NOT be promoted at checkout.

One also has to wonder what will happen the first time a seller refunds a buyer and gets a neg for not refunding the (separate but linked to the transaction) £1 charity donation

Ebay itself has donated ???

Oops.

Like Gill says, I can see sellers taking some flack for this. I’d like to see some choice in the charities offered – either by sellers or buyers, preferably both – and certainly buyers (and preferably sellers too) must be given the option to opt out of this forever.

Would also be good if eBay would publish a list of charities that might be supported by the scheme, because there are certainly some charities that I do NOT want anywhere near my checkout.

I can also see the possibility of it backfiring and sellers ending up taking the flak.