Other cards sold in Harrods give 10 per cent or less. But the card packs still declare the fact that money is going to charity. Books etc and Rymans chains sell cards from publisher EMS, which gives between 6.5 and 10 per cent to charity. Card chain Scribblers stocks cards giving 3 or 4 per cent, while cards bought in John Lewis give around 10 per cent on average. Card publishers pay charities royalty fees for the right to use their names on card packaging.
Retailers give nothing from the card price to charity but benefit from customer goodwill.
And because publishers' donations are often fixed, the higher the price the customer pays, the lower the proportion to charity. That proportion of retail price is seen as an acceptable amount by many charities. To a publisher, which sells to retailers at maybe a third of the retail price, this may represent a significant proportion of its costs, but retailers publishing their own cards are making big profits, by cutting costs. Clinton Cards pays among the highest amounts to charity. For Good Causes says many charities are grateful for even small amounts but agrees that some publishers pay less than consumers might expect.