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As a seller or a buyer you can contribute to a charity either by listing an item with a donation allocated to a charity as a portion of the sale or as a buyer you can look for listings which have designated a portion of sales to a charity.

For the buyer the process is as simple as paying for the item they purchased and then the seller is responsible for the actual donation. If you want to receive a deduction for the donation you should search for products that are actually being sold by the charity itself and not a contribution made by a seller through missionfish.com.

When the charity lists and sells the product on its own there is no reason for missionfish.com to be involved and in this case in order to use this as a deduction you must read the description closely for information on fair market value of the item and any instructions they may have for obtaining the appropriate forms with their information that you would need to turn into your tax advisor.

Warning to sellers and buyers:

Please be aware that IRS has made large changes in the area of Charity Donations and the requirements to take the deductions are now being held firm including keeping receipts proving the donation. That being said I would suggest you contact your tax advisor for any possible requirements prior to bidding or selling if you plan to take a deduction.

If you plan to sell an item using the option to donate a portion of sales you should visit www.missionfish.com to sign up and you can find links to their site from within eBay. This is the nonprofit company eBay has chosen to handle charity donations and to ensure that donations are handled appropriately and timely following all legal guidelines set out by the governing agencies.

Once you have signed up it is relatively easy to select a charity to donate to on your listing as it is located in the pricing area at the bottom of that section with a drop down menu. You most likely will need to turn off your pop up blocker if your charity isn't in the list it will bring up a pop up window to mission fish.

Before you sign up and commit to donations you should read the requirements on missionfish.com and eBay to verify you meet the requirements set out by the government as well as missionfish.com.

Learn more about this author, Starr Sheets.
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