An online auction selling garments and accessories donated by music megastar Ed Sheeran has raised nearly £30,000 for East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH).
The bumper bounty of nearly 450 items, the majority of which have been sold via the charity’s eBay site, included boxer shorts, jumpers, trousers and hats, as well as jackets, belts, bags, T-shirts and Ipswich Town merchandise.
So far, 263 items have been sold – raising an astonishing £27,163.
The average selling price is £103.29 and the best-selling item has been an Ipswich Town Football Club hoodie, which went for a whopping £770.
The top-earning pair of boxer shorts – the subject of much national and international media interest – was sold for £330.
“It’s been an amazing couple of months and the figures make astonishing reading,” said EACH ecommerce manager Scott Campbell.
“We couldn’t be happier with the way things have gone and this incredible amount of money will make such an enormous difference.
“We’ve now sold all the items that were included in the original auctions, but still have some stock remaining.
“We’ll be drip-feeding these for sale throughout the year, which means the final total, based on the average selling price so far, could reach around £45,000.
“It’s been a huge effort by our team to manage the auctions, especially over the festive period, and something very fun and exciting to be involved in.”
The auction first went live in mid-November, in time for unique Christmas presents, with the starting price per item being £9.99.
News of the donation led to widespread media coverage, from vast numbers of online reports to national press, radio and TV coverage, including ITV’s Good Morning Britain and 5 News. The story was also picked up by international outlets, including websites in Seattle and Minnesota.
“Our priority is always to maximise funds, but the attention and coverage we’ve received has definitely been a major bonus,” added Scott.
“It’s been incredible and overwhelming, in terms of raising awareness of the work we do.”
Suffolk-based Ed is a long-time supporter of EACH and he met staff and families at The Treehouse, in Ipswich, after becoming an Ambassador in 2014.
The 32-year-old memorably performed an acoustic set at a gala fundraiser at Cambridge’s Natural History Museum in 2016. He donated a drum kit which was auctioned for £2,650 and the evening raised more than £262,000.
The donations were delivered by a member of his team to the EACH shop in Bridge Street, Framlingham.
The complete breakdown of stock received was 26 plain T-shirts, 16 T-shirts with a logo or design, six premium T-shirts, 18 premium polo shirts, three plain jumpers, eight jumpers with a logo or design, nine premium jumpers, 11 pairs of trousers, three jackets, five belts, six onesies, 69 bags and accessories, 73 pairs of socks, 149 pairs of boxer shorts (around half of which have been worn and washed and half are brand new), 21 pairs of shorts, a pair of shoes, 14 hats and seven Ipswich Town items.
All photography for eBay was kindly provided free of charge by Norwich-based NIQ Brandbank.
