How it works - CharityStars

Knowing exactly how the money is spent is important to us. It’s important to our charities. And we know it’s important to you, too. That’s why we’ve made transparency one of our core values.

For every online auction, CharityStars shows the donation percentage to charity directly below the timer. These amounts vary, depending on the source of the item. Unless otherwise noted, 80% of the net raised amount is remitted to charity. When auctions are provided by one of our suppliers or private donors, CharityStars has a minimum donation rate of 5%.

The purpose of our service fee is to ensure optimal delivery of our services and to sustain operational expenses crucial for CharityStars' existence. This fee contributes to covering our daily costs, including sourcing exclusive lots and experiences for auction, quality control efforts, promotional campaigns, marketing initiatives, pre and post-sales support, as well as maintaining the technological infrastructure essential for hosting numerous online auctions. The service fee will always be displayed in percentage terms in the bidding widget within each auction and may vary from a minimum of 10% to a maximum of 15%.

All of our charity beneficiaries are aware of each item’s donation rate and fee structure.

In addition to the CharityStars fees, where necessary, the following will be deducted:

2-4% flat rate for payment processing fees;
VAT;
Third party costs (e.g. agency fees, travel expenses, payment due to private donors, etc). When possible, estimates of these costs are provided to the charity prior to launch.

When working with a private donor, the donation percentage and commission withheld, by means of personal reimbursement, is at the discretion of the donor. CharityStars has a minimum donation rate of 5% for all private donations accepted. The private donor must select a charity beneficiary that is registered with CharityStars.

Private donors are collectors, designers, art gallery owners, artists or anyone who is qualified to put their articles up for sale (objects and/or experiences). Once the articles have gained approval from the CharityStars team, they are put online with the donation percentage clearly listed under the bid box for the item/experience.

In the case of gala dinners and, Live Auctions, the commission due to CharityStars will be agreed with the charity before the event, taking into consideration a range of variables including but not limited to: size of gala, expected number of attendees, network coverage.

For all Sweepstakes, CharityStars offers a free method of entry which may be found at the bottom of each sweepstakes page. No donation is required for a chance to enter to win.

We offer two main types of sweepstakes, those that are provided by our registered 501c3 charity partners and those that CharityStars owns.

For sweepstakes provided by our charity partners, an adjusted donation amount, typically around 80%, (total donations minus experience costs, only if and when they apply + processing fee’s) is distributed to charity.

For sweepstakes that are owned by CharityStars, a minimum of 10% of the total adjusted donation goes to the designated charity beneficiary. CharityStars uses the remaining amount to cover the cost of prizes/experiences and our advertising and operating costs of providing and maintain the technology needed to operate our services. Owned experience inherently have higher costs as these are not donated and require promotion to amazing people like you!

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