UK Charities Can Sell for FREE on Preloved

March 17, 2011 - PRLog -- UK charities are being encouraged to take advantage of a new FREE advertising service from one of the country’s largest online classified sites for second hand items, http://www.preloved.co.uk. The new service will act as an exciting sales platform for charities wishing to sell any donated items, while also giving them the opportunity to promote their organisation and its work to the website’s 2.4 million monthly visitors.

The classified site includes thousands of adverts for second hand items in over 500 categories, ranging from clothing, jewellery, toys and games, to collecting, music and cars. By creating a charity account on Preloved, organisations can advertise for free any donated items for sale within the category of their choice, reaching millions of potential buyers.

The advertising service is already attracting a number of organisations, such as the homeless charity, Emmaus. Emmaus has 20 communities across the UK which help people to move on from homelessness by providing them with work and a home in a supportive, family environment. The communities’ companions, as residents are known, work full-time in collecting, renovating and re-selling donated furniture. The work provides financial support for each community, while also enabling companions to develop skills and rebuild their self-respect.

Neil Booker, Business Manager at Emmaus Gloucestershire said, “We are really pleased that Preloved is supporting us in this way. We are thrilled that they are prepared to engage with charities and help them not only to raise funds but also to promote the re-use of things. This is the Big Society in action!”

Any free charity advertisements that are placed on the website also automatically benefit from a priority placement in Preloved’s listings and remain on the first page of the site for twice as long as normal advertisements. Further benefits of the charitable membership include:
•   Every advertisements highlighted with an eye-catching yellow ‘charity’ star to gain the attention of buyers
•   The opportunity to include multiple photos of any items for sale – advertisements with photos consistently get a better response
•   A link to the charity’s own website in order to drive traffic and raise awareness of their work  

Ian Buzer, Managing Director of Preloved, said, “We want any charity, large and small, to get involved with this new service and advertise their donated items to our 870,000 community members and almost two and-a-half million visitors each month.”
He continued, “Preloved is one the UK’s leading websites for selling second hand goods and items, so it’s the ideal fund-raising platform for registered charities, which also heightens awareness of their work. We’re really excited about offering this new free service, which is tailored to charities’ fund-raising activities and has none of the hassle and costs associated with other UK auction sites. We want as many charities as possible to take advantage of this free easy-to-use service so would encourage them to sign-up and get fund-raising on Preloved.”

To register or find out more information about Preloved’s free charity advertising scheme, any UK charities should go to http://www.preloved.co.uk/charity/signup

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Preloved is the UK's leading second hand website, with hundreds of thousands of adverts in over 500 categories. Each month the site attracts over 2.4 million unique visitors and has a membership of 870,000. It is in the top 500 most visited UK sites.