Charities across the UK are earning vital income from an innovative platform that turns
unwanted books, CDs, DVDs, and games into cash.
WeBuyBooks is helping to steer vital money into charity coffers as record inflation bites into
contributions from the public.
Danaher Animal Shelter, based near Wethersfield in north Essex, is one such example.
The charity takes in and cares for around 500 animals every year, making every effort to find
them permanent new homes with loving owners.
Average running costs for the shelter are £800,000 a year. During the pandemic the charity
experienced a dramatic drop in income – losing around £300,000 due to the enforced closure of
its shops and cancellation of events such as its annual Summer Fun Day.
Danaher is currently experiencing a major influx of animals and has a long waiting list of
animals due to be brought in when kennel space becomes available.
At the same time, the charity itself is struggling with increased costs, including energy bills,
pet food bills, and a rise in staff wages to meet the new minimum wage. It is also facing a
fall-off in the number of volunteers.
However, in the 18 months since the head of retail for Danaher Animal Home, Julia Askham,
has been selling books via We Buy Books, nearly £7,000 has been raised.
It has been spent on kitting out the newly-built extra-large kennels, a project which has
recently been completed to cater for larger dogs which are increasingly coming into the home.
Samantha Garvey, general manager of the shelter, said:
“With continually rising costs we are having to be more inventive in the way we raise funds –
discovering that we could quadruple the amount of money raised by working with We Buy
Books has been a real gamechanger.
“Previously, we would be selling books in our charity shops for around 50p a time.
By contrast, for a little work with sorting and scanning the book donations, I can achieve an
average of £2 per book and sometimes even more – which makes a significant difference.
“Because the system is so quick and efficient, it also relieves space pressure in the shops, the
shelves are no longer stacked so full of books which means we can display more items and
tempt people through the doors to make other purchases.”
Julia says the We Buy Books team has been incredibly helpful.
As a regular seller with a high number of books, she now gains an extra percentage on each
sale and is also allowed to sell multiple copies of the same book.
“We often find after Christmas that several of our shops will receive donations of the same
‘must have’ book that people have been given as presents,” added Julia. “It might be a
cookbook, a biography, or the latest best-seller – previously we could only sell one at a time
online but the team arranged for us to be able to sell them more than one at a time, which is
super.”
“It really is the perfect storm for animal welfare charities so every penny counts.
“There are far fewer people now who are deciding to take on a pet, especially a rescue animal.
Instead, they are watching their own household budget and, after being on lockdown for so
long, they are taking time to enjoy life rather than take on a pet that will probably need extra
TLC
“We very much hope that will change in time, but there is a very difficult future ahead for
charities like ourselves and this is why any opportunity to boost our fundraising with ventures
such as this, is so important.”
WeBuyBooks has not only boosted the charity sector, so far this year the average site user
has pocketed an average of £29.10.
The simplicity of the platform is the secret to its success – users simply enter the barcode of
ISBN of their item, get an instant valuation, package and post their item for free, and receive
their money.
Ben Wadsworth, marketing manager at WeBuyBooks, said:
“It has been remarkable to see what people have achieved using our technology.
“We know the rising cost of living is presenting new challenges for everyone.
“But with the WeBuyBooks app now becoming a vital tool for fundraisers across the country,
we look forward to helping people and charities achieve their fundraising goals over the next
12 months.”
WeBuyBooks Boosts Charity Sector
