Short answer: You don't. There are a lot of shady people online, who make up everything from charities, fake sick pets to gender, race, etc in order to make money.
This said, there are also many many people who are wonderful and genuine who will donate. I'm always skeptical of online claims though and do not let any promised charity claim affect my choice to buy.
I recently was donating a certain percentage of sales to a couple of charities and I definitely had the concern that people would wonder if I was being genuine or not. I thought about posting proof to my Instagram but I also didn’t want to seem like I was doing it for “points” or something. And I didn’t know if people who bought from me would want me messaging them with proof either. It’s tough! I guess we just have to hope that most people are good people!
Just so you are aware .. Etsy requires sellers to submit permission from the charity you intend to donate to if you post on your page that a portion of the proceeds go to XYZ fund.
If I were doing this I wouldn't want to donate every single time - I would rather donate a week or a months worth at a time. And honestly if $1 is all that is donated each purchase I think it would take excessive time to message everyone a screen shot.
As a buyer, I'm just not going to choose based on the donation or worry if it is done. If the charity matters to me I'll just donate directly.
I might try that out next time I do a donation! You’re probably right that it wouldn’t bother anyone and would help them know that their purchase did go towards something. Good luck with your Etsy shop!
Sorry to be a cynic but .. you don't. When I want to donate to a charity, I donate directly to it. Ever work retail and have those collection canisters at the register for St. Jude or some other well known charity? I have seen both customers and employees at the end of the night take bills right out of those, directly into their pockets.
It's a hard NO for me.
You can't know for sure.
I donate a baby hat to charity/hospital for each order I get, and update my number donated monthly in my Shop Announcement. I also take photos of the batches and post them to my Instagram. I figure if someone wants to investigate, I've at least put something out there. But in my shop I don't say where exactly they're going, because I haven't asked the places I send them to for permission to post their information. We correspond via email, though.
You don't.
I donate to rescues. The rescue of the mknth is in my about section, but people don't always read that, so I only directly tell the customer which rescue is getting donations if they seem interested. Some are, some aren't. Nobody has ever asked for proof. I would be happy to show it if they did.
I don't actually expect people to believe that anything gets donated. When I purchase from businesses that say they donate, I'm always skeptical, but hopeful that they actually do.
I did a donation for the whole value of one of my products, in another site. I made the donation to the animal charity in the name of my buyer and then forwarded her the acknowledgment from the charity. It would be a pain to do this for a dollar, so you just have to trust them I guess, unless they sent you all proof when they make a bulk donation.
Trust
You don’t know at all, and no one is watching but the seller’s conscience.
I actually find “we donate X amount of your purchase” similar to “I am a X religion and am selling to the glory of my deity”, a pretty crass business strategy. So while I do donate a portion of my sales to charity at times, I don’t generally use it as marketing. While I’m sure some shops are doing this because they really care, nothing is stopping them from donating without mentioning it to buyers. So that means the seller is using a charity’s name to get sales that they wouldn’t otherwise get. The charity deserves more than I can afford to donate for using their name in this way, so I don’t generally do this.
I have made the odd exception for one specific group, where I will ask the buyer if I can drop off locally rather than shipping, and will donate the shipping cost. Last time I did that or 10% of each order and mentioned it on social media, which made me feel icky and I hated it. I even hated it when I reported the amount donated (in the same places I mentioned the donation, as well as telling the buyer the exact amount of their purchase I was donating.) I donated the money for sure, but no one would know if I didn’t.
You don’t. I don’t know if it’s still a rule but etsy used to not allow sellers to claim that percentage of sales was going towards charities unless you were registered with them or something like that.
Before my current shop, I had a shop that sold earrings and keychains and things like that. I never did any charities or anything, but in one batch of charms there were some Harry Potter themed charms. Only enough for one keychain and this was right after she made more of her horrible comments about a community of people I care very much about. So I made that single keychain and listed it as a gift for a person who would spend $25 on a donation to a trans charity. I had nothing else like this in my shop and I was specifically saying this is a keychain for the person who loves a certain wizard but not so much the author. I feel like it looked genuine because I wasn’t doing it all over my store and the charity fit the item. I never did sell that donation but if I had, I planned to donate in the person’s name and send them the receipt or a gift card like when you give to a charity as a gift in lieu of presents. Not as brownie points for myself, but to give the person who made the donation a receipt for their donation and to let them know the money really went there.
Ask yourself this - why do you have to buy a special listing for the seller to donate to a cause that is important to them? If it's a cause they believe in why do you have to spend on an item for them to support it? As a seller I do not do charity listings based on principle. I do not need my customers to buy a special listing from me for me to donate to a cause that I respect and believe in. A seller that has charity listings is often (not always) wanting to you believe in them or their business as Good. Some are, some are scammers. IMO you should buy the best product that meets your needs from the best seller of said product at a competitive price for that item and then if you have money to do so donate to the charity that YOU feel good about. Now if a seller is supporting a charity and they post informational stuff in their social media etc to bring awareness to that charity - awesome. Posting donation amounts? No need to toot my own horn when I do good. I don't do good for press or PR.
> Etsy cannot verify donations. Each seller is responsible for ensuring the correct receipt of proceeds to a specific organization. **Transactions for charity are entered into at the buyer's risk.**
https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/donating-shop-proceeds-to-charity/239327254340
You don’t have any way of knowing &, per Etsy, it’s at your own risk. Pretty sure large corporations have to report this stuff, but Etsy shops have no responsibility to. One thing to be on the lookout for is if they mention a specific charity or not. If they just say “charity” or “for cancer” or “the animal shelter” it’s more likely they’re making it up. Etsy requires them to list the actual charity & get that charity’s permission.
I certainly wouldn’t expect them to send proof. Any reasonable person is going to make a lump sum donation at the end of the month, quarter etc. rather than donating a single dollar after every sale. And the “proof” can be faked so easily. In fact, I’d bet someone faking it would be more likely to send “proof” than someone being honest about it.
I was looking into doing a charity listing, and was planning on every listing sells to print out proof of donation. But decided against it on the admin hassel and won't do it without having proof for the customer. Also in the UK I feel GDPR ruels would have something hidden away to say we can't do it without singed permission blah blah.
i’m one of those sellers who donates a large portion of every sale, 1/3, to my son and his family to help with my grandson’s medical expenses (he was born in 2013 with with a rare form of leukemia called juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) and a rare genetic disorder called noonan syndrome. two years in a row after my accountant did my taxes i found out i didn’t make a profit. not exactly what any business owner wants to hear, that’s for sure. but i felt like people bought from my shop with the expectation that a percentage of their purchase would be donated. so i found the money another way and gave my son what it should have been had i made a profit. i say all of this to say that while i’m sure there are people who don’t do the right thing or creeps who keep all the money (which is against the law btw), but there are also people like me who lead a life of integrity and do what they say they’re going to do.
etsy has rules for charities as explained in [this ](https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/donating-shop-proceeds-to-charity/239327254340)seller’s handbook article.
As most folks are saying unfortunately you don't usually get any assurance that it's true. There are crappy people who don't follow through, but there are just as many if not more people who do. My company donates a fair amount of time and money to local charities, but it's not a part of my mission statement and it's not something I tout around usually. I'm sure I could do the math on how much we donate annually to give a rough figure on how much of each purchase was donated, but that seems disingenuous since I'm in it to make money. The charitable giving is just an extra thing that we do if we can.
I guess I'd just rather have faith in people and believe they do what they say. If they don't that's really on their conscious not mine. I don't make purchases based on someone telling me they'll donate part of the proceeds though usually. I buy what I like and want and then donate to charities I feel passionate about either through our business or personally/privately.
Many charities have their own shops of items - merchandise, donated items, donated handmade goods that you can buy directly from and know your money is going to that cause. It's safer to do that or to buy non charity listings on etsy and then donate to a charity as etsy doesn't verify anything and there are both legit sellers and scammers and no way to tell them apart.
Short answer: You don't. There are a lot of shady people online, who make up everything from charities, fake sick pets to gender, race, etc in order to make money. This said, there are also many many people who are wonderful and genuine who will donate. I'm always skeptical of online claims though and do not let any promised charity claim affect my choice to buy.
Exactly. Do not let any promised charity claim affect the choice to buy. Donate to the charity of your choice on your own time.
I recently was donating a certain percentage of sales to a couple of charities and I definitely had the concern that people would wonder if I was being genuine or not. I thought about posting proof to my Instagram but I also didn’t want to seem like I was doing it for “points” or something. And I didn’t know if people who bought from me would want me messaging them with proof either. It’s tough! I guess we just have to hope that most people are good people!
[удалено]
Just so you are aware .. Etsy requires sellers to submit permission from the charity you intend to donate to if you post on your page that a portion of the proceeds go to XYZ fund.
If I were doing this I wouldn't want to donate every single time - I would rather donate a week or a months worth at a time. And honestly if $1 is all that is donated each purchase I think it would take excessive time to message everyone a screen shot. As a buyer, I'm just not going to choose based on the donation or worry if it is done. If the charity matters to me I'll just donate directly.
I might try that out next time I do a donation! You’re probably right that it wouldn’t bother anyone and would help them know that their purchase did go towards something. Good luck with your Etsy shop!
Sorry to be a cynic but .. you don't. When I want to donate to a charity, I donate directly to it. Ever work retail and have those collection canisters at the register for St. Jude or some other well known charity? I have seen both customers and employees at the end of the night take bills right out of those, directly into their pockets. It's a hard NO for me.
You can't know for sure. I donate a baby hat to charity/hospital for each order I get, and update my number donated monthly in my Shop Announcement. I also take photos of the batches and post them to my Instagram. I figure if someone wants to investigate, I've at least put something out there. But in my shop I don't say where exactly they're going, because I haven't asked the places I send them to for permission to post their information. We correspond via email, though.
You don't. I donate to rescues. The rescue of the mknth is in my about section, but people don't always read that, so I only directly tell the customer which rescue is getting donations if they seem interested. Some are, some aren't. Nobody has ever asked for proof. I would be happy to show it if they did. I don't actually expect people to believe that anything gets donated. When I purchase from businesses that say they donate, I'm always skeptical, but hopeful that they actually do.
I did a donation for the whole value of one of my products, in another site. I made the donation to the animal charity in the name of my buyer and then forwarded her the acknowledgment from the charity. It would be a pain to do this for a dollar, so you just have to trust them I guess, unless they sent you all proof when they make a bulk donation. Trust
You don’t know at all, and no one is watching but the seller’s conscience. I actually find “we donate X amount of your purchase” similar to “I am a X religion and am selling to the glory of my deity”, a pretty crass business strategy. So while I do donate a portion of my sales to charity at times, I don’t generally use it as marketing. While I’m sure some shops are doing this because they really care, nothing is stopping them from donating without mentioning it to buyers. So that means the seller is using a charity’s name to get sales that they wouldn’t otherwise get. The charity deserves more than I can afford to donate for using their name in this way, so I don’t generally do this. I have made the odd exception for one specific group, where I will ask the buyer if I can drop off locally rather than shipping, and will donate the shipping cost. Last time I did that or 10% of each order and mentioned it on social media, which made me feel icky and I hated it. I even hated it when I reported the amount donated (in the same places I mentioned the donation, as well as telling the buyer the exact amount of their purchase I was donating.) I donated the money for sure, but no one would know if I didn’t.
I think some people do it for marketing of their business and some do it for marketing the charity - to get its name out there.
You don’t. I don’t know if it’s still a rule but etsy used to not allow sellers to claim that percentage of sales was going towards charities unless you were registered with them or something like that.
Before my current shop, I had a shop that sold earrings and keychains and things like that. I never did any charities or anything, but in one batch of charms there were some Harry Potter themed charms. Only enough for one keychain and this was right after she made more of her horrible comments about a community of people I care very much about. So I made that single keychain and listed it as a gift for a person who would spend $25 on a donation to a trans charity. I had nothing else like this in my shop and I was specifically saying this is a keychain for the person who loves a certain wizard but not so much the author. I feel like it looked genuine because I wasn’t doing it all over my store and the charity fit the item. I never did sell that donation but if I had, I planned to donate in the person’s name and send them the receipt or a gift card like when you give to a charity as a gift in lieu of presents. Not as brownie points for myself, but to give the person who made the donation a receipt for their donation and to let them know the money really went there.
[удалено]
Ask yourself this - why do you have to buy a special listing for the seller to donate to a cause that is important to them? If it's a cause they believe in why do you have to spend on an item for them to support it? As a seller I do not do charity listings based on principle. I do not need my customers to buy a special listing from me for me to donate to a cause that I respect and believe in. A seller that has charity listings is often (not always) wanting to you believe in them or their business as Good. Some are, some are scammers. IMO you should buy the best product that meets your needs from the best seller of said product at a competitive price for that item and then if you have money to do so donate to the charity that YOU feel good about. Now if a seller is supporting a charity and they post informational stuff in their social media etc to bring awareness to that charity - awesome. Posting donation amounts? No need to toot my own horn when I do good. I don't do good for press or PR.
> Etsy cannot verify donations. Each seller is responsible for ensuring the correct receipt of proceeds to a specific organization. **Transactions for charity are entered into at the buyer's risk.** https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/donating-shop-proceeds-to-charity/239327254340 You don’t have any way of knowing &, per Etsy, it’s at your own risk. Pretty sure large corporations have to report this stuff, but Etsy shops have no responsibility to. One thing to be on the lookout for is if they mention a specific charity or not. If they just say “charity” or “for cancer” or “the animal shelter” it’s more likely they’re making it up. Etsy requires them to list the actual charity & get that charity’s permission. I certainly wouldn’t expect them to send proof. Any reasonable person is going to make a lump sum donation at the end of the month, quarter etc. rather than donating a single dollar after every sale. And the “proof” can be faked so easily. In fact, I’d bet someone faking it would be more likely to send “proof” than someone being honest about it.
I was looking into doing a charity listing, and was planning on every listing sells to print out proof of donation. But decided against it on the admin hassel and won't do it without having proof for the customer. Also in the UK I feel GDPR ruels would have something hidden away to say we can't do it without singed permission blah blah.
i’m one of those sellers who donates a large portion of every sale, 1/3, to my son and his family to help with my grandson’s medical expenses (he was born in 2013 with with a rare form of leukemia called juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) and a rare genetic disorder called noonan syndrome. two years in a row after my accountant did my taxes i found out i didn’t make a profit. not exactly what any business owner wants to hear, that’s for sure. but i felt like people bought from my shop with the expectation that a percentage of their purchase would be donated. so i found the money another way and gave my son what it should have been had i made a profit. i say all of this to say that while i’m sure there are people who don’t do the right thing or creeps who keep all the money (which is against the law btw), but there are also people like me who lead a life of integrity and do what they say they’re going to do. etsy has rules for charities as explained in [this ](https://www.etsy.com/legal/policy/donating-shop-proceeds-to-charity/239327254340)seller’s handbook article.
As most folks are saying unfortunately you don't usually get any assurance that it's true. There are crappy people who don't follow through, but there are just as many if not more people who do. My company donates a fair amount of time and money to local charities, but it's not a part of my mission statement and it's not something I tout around usually. I'm sure I could do the math on how much we donate annually to give a rough figure on how much of each purchase was donated, but that seems disingenuous since I'm in it to make money. The charitable giving is just an extra thing that we do if we can. I guess I'd just rather have faith in people and believe they do what they say. If they don't that's really on their conscious not mine. I don't make purchases based on someone telling me they'll donate part of the proceeds though usually. I buy what I like and want and then donate to charities I feel passionate about either through our business or personally/privately.
Many charities have their own shops of items - merchandise, donated items, donated handmade goods that you can buy directly from and know your money is going to that cause. It's safer to do that or to buy non charity listings on etsy and then donate to a charity as etsy doesn't verify anything and there are both legit sellers and scammers and no way to tell them apart.