Charities are increasingly relying on eBay delivery services to sell items online as the charity marketplace moves into the world of ecommerce in a bid to maintain its relevance in the changing retail environment, a report from the Charity Retail Association (CRA) has suggested.

The CRA report found that 56 per cent of all charities sell items online, with 94 per cent of those engaging in ecommerce utilising eBay as their main point of sale.

This is followed by the charities' own website - which 31 per cent of sellers use - and Amazon (17 per cent).

Despite the availability of these other options, eBay is clearly the biggest driver of sales with 76 per cent of these coming from the online auction veteran.

Furthermore, the majority of those surveyed expect online sales to increase over the course of 2012, a prediction in line with many of those made by other figures in the ecommerce world over the past few months.

Most charities (87 per cent) anticipated some kind of jump in the number of goods being purchased over the internet, with 45 per cent expecting a major increase and 44 per cent only predicting a minor one.

Of the charities not currently making use of ecommerce, only seven said they were not going to start selling items over the internet this year. A number of reasons were given for this decision, including a lack of trained staff, the difficulty of fulfilling orders in a logistical sense and a shortage of volunteers to process online orders.

Wendy Mitchell, deputy chief executive of the Charity Retail Association, told the Financial Times that attempting to sell goods online is often a useful option when an item has been on the shop floor for some time and has not been picked up by shoppers.

"Mainstream retailers conduct about ten per cent of their sales online, but most charity shops tell us their online sales are less than five per cent, though they're definitely becoming more alive to the opportunity," said Ms Mitchell.

Author:  Adrian Medland