A national online auction platform is helping charities cash in on the value of unwanted household items.
The Salvation Army, the RSPCA and CanTeen are among a growing number of high profile registered charities to join forces with AidArena - an online goods and services charity auction website.
Instead of being wantonly discarded, donors can simply photograph unwanted items, list them on AidArena, and then choose a charity to receive the sale proceeds.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
AidArena spokesman Don MacMillan said the motivation for setting up a charity platform built around the successful eBay trading model was to assist a wide variety of charities in challenging economic times.
"Charities have obviously found it more difficult in recent years to maintain public support with people reluctant to part with their cash," he said.
Established by a group of southeast Queensland business people, the concept of AidArena is to provide a means for people and companies to donate goods and services while receiving a tax benefit.
"A tax receipt is issued for the full sale price of the donated item when the resulting cash donation is deposited into the bank account of the chosen charity," Mr MacMillan said.
He said AidArena provided buyers with a secure online account for the payment of items and distribution of funds to the nominated charities.
"The charity simply and seamlessly receives the funds directly into their bank account," he said.
AidArena is free for everyone to use and all donated items must have a starting value of $9.
Services can also be auctioned online to raise funds for charity.
