With its 300 million active listings at any given second, odds are you’ve probably bought or sold something on eBay. But did you know that eBay Inc. is comprised of more than 30 businesses (including PayPal which facilitated over $145 billion in payments last year) and employs over 30,000 people?
In today’s webinar (sponsored by eBay so it’s FREE to you), Integrating Cause and Commerce, eBay’s Director of Nonprofit Strategy, Sean Milliken, shared the common thread that weaves together this vast engine of commerce: eBay’s vision to catalyze positive change in the world.
A component of eBay’s Social Innovation strategy has an audacious goal to power the world’s largest platform of giving. Based on today’s webinar, they’re well on their way.
The eBay Giving Works Program
Dubbed “cause marketing in a box”, each time a seller lists an item with eBay, they’re given the opportunity to donate a percentage of their sale to their charity of choice. The resulting listing has a unique identifier that helps that item stand out on the site.
From a buyer’s perspective, everyone purchasing something on eBay (whether that item supports a nonprofit or not) has the opportunity to add a donation upon checkout.
In 2012, 186,000 sellers created more than 14 million charitable listings. These programs resulted in $74 million raised for over 30,000 charities in 2012, bringing the total raised to date to over $350 million.
Lessons Learned: The Power of Personalization
eBay has learned many lessons processing this volume of cause-related transactions. At checkout, users are asked whether they’d like to make a donation to a nonprofit suggested by eBay. There is also an option in personal settings that enables the user to designate their own charity of choice. The result? When the user is presented with the charity they selected themselves, they give 20 times more than when presented with the eBay-selected charity.
Lesson Learned: Good For Business
Committed to measuring the success of their giving programs objectively, eBay found that buyers and sellers that participate in eBay’s giving programs are more loyal and active customers. Buyers spend 26% more and sellers sell 29% more than non-donors and are much less likely to stop using eBay services.
This post only covers a small fraction of today’s webinar. Thanks to eBay Inc. this webinar is FREE for you to watch on demand so if you’d like to hear more about:
- Tools for nonprofit organizations on both eBay and PayPal
- How and why eBay is increasingly turning to mobile solutions and engagements
- Additional ‘Proof that cause marketing works’ data
- Much more…,
Click here to access the webinar recording, available 24/7, on demand.
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