Well, they're not the normal, everyday things that folks buy and sell on eBay. They're the items and experiences that have something unique or exciting about them.

Actually, it's impossible to describe exactly what makes an auction special, but they tend to have one or more of the following features:

• 'Money can't buy', one-of-a-kind items/experiences

• Items/experiences with celebrity or star associations

• Unique or extraordinary items/experiences

• Extremely valuable or rare items/experiences

These kinds of items or experiences capture the public imagination and engage people. They drive awareness, attention and hopefully, raise a lot of money for worthy causes.

Special items and experiences can be listed on their own or as part of a campaign with many listings.

Anyone can organise a special auction. Some are run by charities themselves, others are run by businesses, agencies or individuals. They come in all shapes and sizes.

Special auctions tend to do extremely well on eBay. The reason is simple - people love unusual and exciting things, and eBay is an incredibly efficient way to allow millions of people to get involved.

You can list special items for sale in pretty much the same way you sell anything else on eBay. However, there are a few extra things to consider, especially if you are planning something big.

These are the 5 essential ingredients of every successful eBay for Charity auction:

• Obtain great items and great experiences

• Generating awareness is essential, so make sure you let as many people know about the auction as possible

• Plan the auction and how you're going to manage things

• Consider branding and marketing any key messages you want to get across

• Learn and understand how to use eBay in the most effective way

TOP TIP: Be ambitious. Think about how each item could be enhanced and made unique.

To get started, you'll need to register with PayPal Giving Fund (eBay's charity partner). PayPal Giving Fund vets charities, processes donations and advises charities on how to raise funds on eBay.

eBay for Charity is an easy way for buyers and sellers on eBay.co.uk to support their favourite charities. Buyers can shop for items knowing they're supporting a good cause, be it an everyday bargain or a special auction. Sellers, whether they're individuals or businesses, can donate a percentage from any sale to a charity of their choice and add Gift Aid to their donations. Charities can also sell their own items directly on eBay.co.uk.

In addition, all eBay for Charity items will qualify for a fee credit on basic insertion and final value fees equal to the percentage donated.

PayPal Giving Fund UK is a registered charity (No. 1110538) that enables eBay and PayPal users to give to charity quickly and easily. PayPal Giving Fund certifies charities to participate in the eBay for Charity programme, and collects donations from eBay and PayPal users. It also distributes those donations and Gift Aid to donors' chosen charities, which receive 100% of the funds raised. Learn more about PayPal Giving Fund.

You can support a charity whenever you sell an item. When you're listing the item, just choose the charity you want to support and the percentage you want to give. You can support charities when shopping by buying items marked with the eBay for Charity ribbon, or by making a donation to a featured charity when you pay for an item through eBay Checkout.

Yes, you can make a donation via PayPal to any charity registered with eBay for Charity. Search for a charity using the "Find your favourite charity" button on the eBay for Charity homepage. Visit the charity's page on eBay by clicking on the "View" button, then select the Donate Now tab. You can also find a charity's page by clicking on the charity name within any eBay for Charity listing.

Every eBay for Charity item is marked with a blue and yellow charity ribbon in search results and in the item listing title. Within the listing, you will find the name of the benefiting charity and the percentage of the final sale price the seller is donating.

After an eBay for Charity listing ends, the seller receives payment from the buyer as normal. PayPal Giving Fund will then collect the donation from the seller and pass it on to the seller's intended charity.

If the item is being sold by a charity, the charity simply keeps the money you have paid for the item.

eBay for Charity:

• Keeps a close eye on the giving process to ensure every seller makes the donation they promised.

• Makes sure that every donation reaches a charity as intended

• Checks every participating charity's legal status and makes sure they meet our community standards against violence and hate.

There are a few ways you can do this, just pick the best one for yourself. You could:

• Look out for eBay for Charity listings when you search eBay.co.uk. You can tell them apart by the eBay for Charity blue and yellow ribbon .

• Visit the eBay for Charity homepage to view all the items being sold for charity. From there, you can search for a particular item or choose a charity to support.

• Run an Advanced Search for eBay for Charity listings by ticking the " eBay for Charity items" box.

When you pay through eBay Checkout for an item you've won, you have the option to add a small donation to your purchase. By adding a little extra to your purchase, you can support a good cause when you shop on eBay.

Select the amount you wish to donate.

Pay for your purchase with PayPal. If you do not want to pay by PayPal, you'll be asked to go back and remove the donation

• Tick the box that says "I want to donate ñ to...".

• Visit the eBay for Charity homepage to view all the items being sold for charity. From there, you can search for a particular item or choose a charity to support.

• Run an Advanced Search for eBay for Charity listings by ticking the " eBay for Charity items" box.

You can choose which charity (or charities) you see in checkout on the 'My Favourite Charities' page within your Donation Account.

Your donation will be collected and delivered by PayPal Giving Fund, eBay's partner charity. You can boost the value of your donation by 25% by going to PayPal and making your Gift Aid declaration.

Note that your donation will appear as a separate transaction, paid to PayPal Giving Fund, in your PayPal account.

Yes! Any eBay seller can choose to donate between 10% and 100% (1%-100% for vehicle sales) of their final sale price to a charity.

It's entirely up to you. You can choose to donate anywhere from 10% to 100% of your final sale price to a charity. For eBay Motors, the minimum is 5%.

You can search for charities in the charity directory when you list your item.

There are thousands of charities registered with the programme, so we hope you'll find a charity you want to support.

If you don't see your favourite charity in the directory, you can recommend they join the programme.

All UK organisations with charitable status are welcome to participate in the programme. All participating charities are fully vetted, so you can be sure that any charity you choose to donate to is legitimate.

No, you can only support one charity per listing.

When listing an item, just choose a charity to support and the percentage you want to donate. Here's how:

1. Once you're ready to sell your item, go to the Sell tab at the top of your eBay home page, and select Advanced Sell.

2. As you're filling out the details, look out for the charity box just below where you set your price. Select a charity to support and the percentage (10%-100%) of your final selling price that you'd like to donate.

3. 3 weeks after your item sells, PayPal Giving Fund (eBay's partner charity) will automatically collect the donation from you.

You may be listing using the 'Quick Sell' form, which doesn't include the charity option.

To switch to the 'Advanced Sell' form, scroll to the bottom of the Quick Sell page and click on the link that says "To view all listing options, switch to the Sell Your Item form now, and continue listing your item". You will then be taken to the Advanced Sell form.

In future, when you sell an eBay for Charity item, click on the 'Sell' tab on the top of any eBay page, you can opt to go straight to the "Advanced Sell" form.

If you're still having problems, contact us.

Yes, you can add a charity to an existing listing through the "Revise your item", "Relist" or "Sell Similar" tools in My eBay.

You can also use "Revise your item" to add a charity to auction listings, fixed price listings, and shop listings that are live on eBay.

Choosing "Revise your item" will allow you to add a charity to a live eBay listing, or increase the percentage you wish to donate. You cannot remove a charity or reduce the percentage of your donation.

Please note: A listing must have at least 12 hours remaining in order to add a charity through "Revise your item". In addition, you cannot use Revise to add a charity to a listing if it is a multiple quantity or Dutch listing and one or more of your items from that listing have already sold.

Through Relist and Sell Similar, you can add a charity to support and percentage to donate to your new listing.

When you have sold your item and collected payment from the buyer, the PayPal Giving Fund (eBay's partner charity) collects the donation automatically from the payment method you have on file with eBay. They'll collect the donation on the 4th Monday after the listing closes.

In both instances, the donation is paid to PayPal Giving Fund, which then claims Gift Aid (where applicable) and redistributes the funds to your chosen charity.

Your benefiting charity can cancel your item once you have listed it if they consider it inappropriate for their charity:

If your listing is cancelled by a charity, you will receive an email with an explanation of why the charity cancelled it. You can:

• Relist the item for a different charity.

• Revise your listing and relist it for any charity (including the one you selected previously).

• List the item on eBay without selecting a charity to benefit.

Alternatively, your listing may have breached eBay's listing policies.

If PayPal Giving Fund has a problem delivering a donation to your chosen charity, here's what they do:

1. Contact the charity over a period of at least 30 days to verify and correct their information

2. If they find that they still can't deliver the donation to the designated charity, they will deliver it to an organisation with a similar mission.

3. If a seller has completed a Gift Aid declaration, PayPal Giving Fund will still claim and deliver that Gift Aid to the charity that receives the original donation.

While PayPal Giving Fund makes every effort to deliver each donation according to the donor's wishes, they retain exclusive legal control over all donations and reserve the right to redirect any donation to a similar charitable organisation in the rare event that a charity does not meet their criteria for receiving a donation.

Gift Aid is one of the easiest ways to make your donation tax effective. Using Gift Aid means that for every pound you give, the charity will receive an extra 25p from the Government.

Go to PayPal Gift Aid and log in to make your declaration.

If you make a Gift Aid declaration, PayPal Giving Fund (eBay's partner charity) can reclaim the basic rate tax from the government on every donation you make through eBay for Charity. PayPal Giving Fund then passes on the reclaimed tax to the charities you support.

Specifically, 25p will be added to every £1 you donate to PayPal Giving Fund, including donations you made in the last four years.

The government deducts your Gift Aid contributions from your annual income tax payment. You can stop Gift Aid anytime by contacting PayPal Giving Fund.

If you pay higher tax rates, you can reclaim additional tax by including your donations on your Self Assessment tax return or asking HMRC to adjust your tax code.

To claim Gift Aid, the donation has to be made by an UK individual taxpayer, sole trader, or partnership. Gift Aid cannot be claimed by companies.

Gift Aid donations from the self-employed (sole traders) and partnerships are treated in the same way as Gift Aid by individuals. Your donation will be treated as paid out of taxed income and the charity will be able to reclaim 25p on each pound of the donation.

Sole traders that are higher rate taxpayers can also reclaim 25p for every ñ donated to charity. All you have to do is remember to include details of your charitable gifts on your tax return.

For more information, please visit the HM Revenue & Customs website.

If you are donating as a company, please do not tick the Gift Aid box. To receive tax relief, companies can deduct their donations from total profits prior to calculating corporation tax.

For more information, please visit the HM Revenue & Customs website..

To claim Gift Aid on your donations, visit https://www.paypal.com/donate/giftaid and log into your PayPal account. PayPal will do the rest for all future donations.

As part of the eBay / PayPal separation, previous declarations must be redone. Please visit https://www.paypal.com/donate/giftaid and log into your PayPal account. PayPal takes care of the rest.

PayPal Giving Fund collects your donation, then claims Gift Aid on top. The donation and the Gift Aid are then delivered to your chosen charity.

eBay will credit fees back to sellers when they sell through the eBay for Charity programme. Charities also receive fee credits when they sell items directly.

When you sell an eBay for Charity item, you are eligible for the eBay fee credit if the item sells. eBay's basic selling fees (basic insertion and final value fees) will be credited back to you according to the level of your donation.

For example, if you donate 50% of your item's sale price to charity, you will receive a credit of 50% of your basic selling fees.

The fee credit will appear automatically on your first eBay invoice after the item sells. Find out more

All your donations through eBay for Charity are paid to PayPal Giving Fund, which passes on 100% of the donation, including any Gift Aid, to your chosen charity.

Donations are sent to charities the month after they are received, so long as the charity is owed more than the minimum payout threshold. This delay protects the seller in case the transaction with the buyer falls through and they need to get their donation back.

It also protects the charity. PayPal Giving Fund doesn't want to ask for a donation to be returned once they've paid a charity, so they hold onto it until eBay's refund period expires.

PayPal Giving Fund claims Gift Aid on each eligible donation after it has been paid to the charity. If they receive Gift Aid funds from HMRC before the 15th of the month, we pass them onto the charity in the same month. Otherwise they are passed on the following month.

If a buyer has not paid you for their item, you have the right to request that your donation be refunded (if you've already made it), or waived (if you haven't).

You'll need to:

• Open an Unpaid Item Case from the Resolution Centre.

• Tick the Donation Refund box in the form when you open the case.

Once you’ve asked for a donation to be cancelled we will not collect it, even if you later receive payment from the buyer. If you wish, you can donate to the charity through our page on eBay.

Note: You must submit your request using the Resolution Centre 2-32 days after the end of your listing on eBay. If your request is submitted after 32 days, we may be unable to issue a donation refund.

If you ticked the Gift Aid box, you have the right to cancel your donation for any reason within 21 days after your item sells. To cancel your donation, you must contact PayPal Giving Fund and state that you want to cancel a Gift Aided donation. You may cancel a donation in this way whether you have waived your right to a refund or not.

Note: If you exercise the right to cancel, PayPal Giving Fund will not charge you any fee, and will waive or refund your donation. To prevent abuse of the programme, eBay reserves the right to block donors who cancel donations from using eBay for Charity.

If you did not tick the Gift Aid box, you can only request a donation refund through an Unpaid Item Dispute.

If you're a charity, eBay for Charity can help you raise funds and boost your profile with well over 20 million eBay users in the UK, and 250 million worldwide. There are 3 main ways for you to get involved:

1. Receive donations from eBay sellers: anyone can donate to your charity whenever they sell on eBay.

2. Sell your items on eBay: turn goods into cash by trading through your own eBay for Charity shop.

3. Hold a special auction: raise funds and your profile on eBay by selling big ticket items with great value

Registration is easy and free of charge. Once registered, you'll benefit from advantages that you can't get anywhere else:

1. You'll receive fee credits (100% of basic insertion fees and final value fees) when you sell an item.

2. Any eBay seller will be able to donate to your charity,

3. All listings that benefit your charity will be marked with the eBay for Charity ribbon , your logo, and your mission statement.

To get started, you'll need to register with PayPal Giving Fund (eBay's charity partner). PayPal Giving Fund vets charities, processes donations and advises charities on how to raise funds on eBay.

If you'd like only to receive donations from eBay Community sellers, then this is all you need to do.

If your charity would like to sell its own goods, you'll need to set up an eBay account and add your eBay ID as a "Direct Seller" in your PayPal Giving Fund account.

You can learn more about how to benefit from eBay for Charity by visiting eBay Seller Centre.

eBay may be able to give you some extra advice and support. You can learn more on our Special Auctions page.