An organization of eBay and online sellers announced it has received notification from the IRS of its approval of the organization as a 501(c)(6) Nonprofit/Tax-Exempt Organization. Steven Grossberg, President and founder of the Internet Merchants Association (IMA), said, "We are extremely proud of this accomplishment as it appears the IMA is the first and only trade association connected to e-commerce to be officially sanctioned by the IRS as a 501(c)(6) Nonprofit/Tax-Exempt Organization."

Grossberg said the IRS tax-exempt status provides the IMA members with total transparency. "It assures our members that no board member or leader is making money off IMA." According to organization's press release: The IRS regulations mandate that all monies must be used to benefit the members of the organization equally and no funds can be distributed to any members. It also ensures that the IMA holds legitimate and transparent elections for board seats and that the IMA is governed by the elected board of directors. The board of directors is then mandated to follow the by-laws of the organization, which were scrutinized and approved by the IRS as part of the tax exempt approval process. The IMA has passed an in depth investigation, by the IRS, to make sure that our by-laws, elections, finances and governess of the organization comply with IRS non profit guidelines.

IMA was formed in 2006 by several members of the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA) after that group announced it was no longer pursuing non-profit status and experienced accountability and communication issues. Both organizations were founded by eBay sellers. PESA's members are exclusively Platinum and Titanium PowerSellers on eBay, according to its website. The IMA membership includes small as well as large ecommerce companies, including those who do not sell on eBay, and has a tiered membership fee structure ranging from Bronze level membership for companies with up to 10 employees ($129) to Platinum level membership ($4,000).

The IMA is hosting its second annual conference for Internet merchants in Las Vegas on March 3 - 5, 2008, where eBay Senior Vice President of Auctions Philipp Justus will present the opening keynote address.

http://www.imamerchant.org