eBay said it was setting aside $1 million for eBay business owners in the region affected by Hurricane Katrina. A post on the announcement board by eBay North American President Bill Cobb explained that eBay will deposit $1,000 into the PayPal accounts of its top 1,000 sellers who reside in the affected areas. They will be able to use the money to help themselves or share the money with others in their local community, either directly or through local or regional charity organizations.

Cobb wrote, "They know best what their community needs, so we'll rely on them to make these dollars work as hard as possible. And we believe that getting these funds to them via PayPal will enable evacuees to access it faster."

eBay has also extended its Giving Works program for charity auctions. Sellers had been required to donate 100 percent of the final sale price of auctions to charity in order for eBay to donate insertion and final-value fees (paid by sellers) to the charity. Now, eBay will forward fees to charities for auctions in which sellers donate at least 90 percent of the final sale price to charity.

Cobb urged users to have patience with buyers and sellers in affected areas. He said when eBay users attempt to give trading partners negative feedback, it will trigger a message reminding them that their trading partner may be impacted by the disaster.

Last week, the eBay Foundation had made a $250,000 donation on behalf of the eBay Community to the American Red Cross and is matching employee donations dollar for dollar up to $500 per employee, and eBay established a Natural Disaster & Relief Information discussion board.

PayPal set up a link on its home page to allow users to donate directly to the United Way Hurricane Katrina Response Fund using PayPal accounts. The total collected as of Sunday evening was $533,600.73.

Amazon.com, Yahoo, Overstock Auctions and other marketplaces also had links to the Hurricane Katrina relief organizations on their home pages.

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200509091450542.html