The online auction community has always been generous - eBay members alone have raised over $6,080,000 for non-profit organizations since August 1999. This is a look at how some companies have reacted to help out in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attacks with the help of their members.
eBay made the biggest splash with its Auction for America program http://pages.ebay.com/auctionforamerica. Its goal is to raise $100 million in 100 days through auctions and donations. eBay Foundation kicked in the first million dollars. Members can list auction items under the program, with 100% of the proceeds going to charity (listing and FVF are waived). Some sellers who make a living selling on eBay balked at having to compete with charity auctions, especially since the charity auctions come with free shipping and handling for buyers (paid by the charity sellers).
After the program was announced, PayPal wrote an open letter to eBay asking that its payment service be accepted by eBay's program. eBay had limited transactions to its Billpoint payment system so it could ensure that 100% of the proceeds go to charity and as a condition of its partners, including Visa, Mastercard, Wells Fargo and Discover, which agreed to waive all processing fees. PayPal posted the letter in the auction forums, a public relations effort that was the only low point in the week.
PayPal had its own fund-raising effort in place soon after the tragedy. PayPal is allowing members to make online donations to the American Red Cross through its online payment service. It is waiving all process fees so that 100% of money will go to charity. Yesterday the site reported that 47,609 donations totaling $1,778,325 had been made. The donation program is advertised on PayPal's home page at http://www.paypal.com.
Yahoo Auctions http://auctions.yahoo.com has a banner that clicks through to a page, "Emergency and Relief Information in Wake of Terrorist Attack On U.S." listing charities and emergency contact information. While Amazon.com has a one-click online donation program with proceeds going to the American Red Cross, it is not advertised on the Amazon Auctions page.
Other online auction sites reacted in different ways. BidBay has a large banner on its site that clicks through to a message of condolence http://www.bidbay.com. Auctionweiser set up a relief fund that will "assist the city of New York in the clean-up and rebuilding of lower Manhattan" http://www.auctionweiser.com/WTC-Relief.htm.
Bidville organized a "Bidville Cares" auction charity event running from September 18 - 25. Individual sellers collect the money and decide how much will go to which charity.
BargainAndHaggle.com has a pop-up box with a message of condolence and some suggestions on how to help along with charity contact information. The message also says that its holding company, mindpepper LLC, will donate 10% of BargainandHaggle.com total revenues during the month of August 2001 to the American Red Cross http://www.bargainandhaggle.com.
Auction management software companies also came forward to help. Andale http://www.andale.com said it is working to make sure sellers can list through Andale to eBay's Auction for America program. The company said its customer support team called and emailed all of its New York and Washington, DC, customers on Tuesday and Wednesday to ensure they were okay, and it created an internal fund to raise money.
Auctionworks donated all revenue received on September 11 to the American Red Cross and will waive standard sales commission fees on all items launched to eBay's "Auction for America" program http://www.auctionworks.com.
ChannelAdvisor is waiving all fees for their marketplace management services to assist retailers and manufacturers in selling items through the Auction for America http://www.channeladvisor.com.
Other donations worth noting:
Disney Auctions said that all proceeds from items auctioned during the week of September 17 will be donated to September 11th Fund http://www.disneyauctions.com.
CheapPins.com, an independent retailer of lapel pins in the world, has announced it is manufacturing a memorial pin for the World Trade Center disaster. It will donate 100% of the profits (no less than $4.50/pin), to a charity to benefit WTC disaster-relief efforts http://www.cheappins.com.
Bags Unlimited, a seller of collectible supplies, links to the American Red Cross - Greater Rochester Chapter on its home page http://www.bagsunlimited.com.
This is by no means a comprehensive look at all the efforts being done by companies and individuals to help in the disaster relief efforts. I apologize in advance to those left out of this article. Feel free to email me or post a message in the forums if you have anything to add.
Remember to get receipts for all donations made to charity so you can deduct them at tax time. The IRS has strict rules about what is allowable when donating items - either the fair market value or what you paid for the item, whichever is less. (Totally unfair to the auction seller, in my opinion!) Check out the IRS Web site http://www.irs.gov or check with an accountant if you have questions.
Finally, how did AuctionBytes react to the tragic events of September 11th? We posted a link to the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army on our Web site. David and I made appointments to donate blood, and we will be making a donation to the Salvation Army, a worthy charity we have supported for years.
Here's to everyone who helped out in any way that they could - you are a strong, caring community!
