Top Selling Items on eBay - Utilizing eBay as a Fund-Raising Organization - By Abigail Beal

If you are a charity or school in this day and age there is a great tool to add to your fund-raising toolbox: online auctions at eBay. An eBay auction can be easy and convenient to run, without the overhead of the traditional fancy dinner with a silent auction. Volunteers will certainly be needed to photograph, package and ship items to bidders.

Still a bit shy about running an eBay auction? Here are some tips about the top-selling items on eBay and why not-for-profit organizations should dive into the eBay pool. Don’t worry – the water’s warm!

Jill Finlayson, author of Fundraising on eBay and former Senior Category Manager at eBay is well versed in the power of eBay for not-for-profit organizations. She was a founding member of the first eBay Foundation.

She believes that not-for-profit organizations should sell on eBay for two reasons: “I think the number one reason is that it allows you to tap into a much larger group of people which allows you to get more bids and more supporters. I would say that’s the first reason. The second reason is that eBay allows you to accomplish several goals instead of just one goal, so its not just about raising the funds, its about increasing awareness, finding donors, converting in kind gifts to cash and getting the market value for your goods. That’s what eBay does, it allows you to leverage a global marketplace and that’s what allows you to get the most bang for the buck. That’s why people use eBay.”

Finlayson states that top selling items on eBay include

1) Collectibles

2) Practical or new items

3) Experiences

She is enthusiastic about not-for-profits being creative about the idea of creating experiences for eBay bidders to bid on. “Experiences do very well with non-profits. You can do them very large scale with celebrities, or you can do them at a much smaller scale such as San Jose did where you get to turn on the Christmas tree and flip the switch and have that experience, or maybe meet the mayor. So there are experiences that have mass appeal and then there are experiences that have local appeal.” said Finlayson.

For the week of April 8, 2007 the most popular items eBay bidders were searching for included:

1. Wii. This game console by Nintendo just came out this year. Popular sellers featured the Wii console with remote and five games (that come standard with the console). Ending bids typically ended around $300.00 plus shipping.

2. Xbox 360. The game console is seen on eBay with starting bids at around $79. Games for Xbox 360 are selling for about $20 as a starting bid. There are many games available for sale on eBay.

3. Apple Ipod. The Ipod Nanos both used and new are selling for around $100 to $150. Apple Ipod Shuffles have starting bids at around $50. Ipods that are listed as “second generation” are of course older and are therefore cheaper than the latest version.
4. SONY Playstation 3. This Video Game Console is another popular seller, with ending bids at around $400 with many of bids.

5. Webkinz. They are stuffed animals that are actually interactive pets. You can own a Webkinz bunny, bullfrog, hippo, cat, unicorn or lots of other different kind of animal. They are made by Ganz, the popular stuffed animal maker. Each pet contains a secret code on the tag and when you “adopt” the pet (purchase it), you go online and discover if it is a boy or a girl pet. Then you name your pet and get a certain amount of Kinz Kash to redecorate your pet’s room and buy food.

6. Louis Vuitton. This popular handbag, wallet and briefcase designer is a big seller on eBay. Wallets can have opening bids at $100.00, handbags can start bids at $250.00. Vintage handbags can be just as pricey as new ones.

7 . Sony Playstation Portable. The Sony Playstation Portable is popular, as well as games for it are being sold too. Bids for the game console start at $50 and reach into the $200s. Games are sold for ten or twenty dollars. Memory cards for the game are being sold typically for fifteen dollars.

Knowing what items are best sellers on eBay can help you decide what items to feature in your online charity auction. You can get an idea of what types of auction items sell the best and what the ending bids could be. By choosing some of the top selling items on eBay your auction can be more profitable than ever.

Abigail Beal is a contributor at http://StepbyStepFundraising.com which provides information about a variety of fundraising options from events, to letters, to product sales and more. Visit the website to find out more about Fundraising on eBay.