posted on September 17, 2001 08:57:46 AM new
The below is the text of an email I sent to Meg and Pierre regarding their "Auxtions For America" descent into gross hypocrisy. I urge ALL eBay sellers to NOT participate in this until and unless eBay PUBLICALLY RESPONDS to the issues I brought up below. We all have many other ways to donate whatever we want whenever we want WITHOUT it being cynically used by eGreed to further its own business, piggybacking on this unspeakable tragedy. I also urge all sellers not to participate in this bogus "help another eBay user" program. When has ANYONE ever heard of a Company openly soliciting its CUSTOMERS as unpaid Customer Service Reps???
<p>
This "Auctions For America" program is UNSPEAKABLY nauseating, given the fact that eBay as a corporation has been entirely MUTE on the subject of eBay's DIRECT CONTRIBUTIONS. NOT A WORD, AND I'VE LOOKED EVERYWHERE FOR A WEEK. MANY Corporations are donating MILLIONS, and not asking their shareholders or employees etc. to do something which appears to be cynically designed so that THEY can profit through publicity, while being INACTIVE in the same arena... Instead of giving sellers maybe a 50 cents per dollar reduction in their eBay fees when sellers agree to contribute a percentage of their proceeds FROM EBAY SALES, contributions to valid organizations helping with the relief effort, or some similar concession (which there are MANY), eBay looks to profit from the work of their sellers, APPARENTLY WITHOUT PLEDGING A SINGLE RED CENT of its OWN money, as far as anyone can see. Take a look at eBay's homepage- NARY A WORD about what eGreed is DOING directly, just rhetoric about "community," and what OTHERS should do. THAT'S a community?????? This seems to be the following variation of JFK's comment- Ask not what eBay can do for its country, ask what its country and its sellers can do for eBay...
posted on September 17, 2001 09:03:36 AM new
I also urge anyone who feels as I do to BOMBARD eBay Management with emails telling them so. MAUBE, just MAYBE, eBay in fact IS doing something THEMSELVES to participate in the American community, and that way, they can post it, and show us they are not just cynical, greedy *&$*&$s, looking to profit from this tragedy EXACTLY like the people whose WTC auctions they are cancelling are...
posted on September 17, 2001 09:09:17 AM new
Hopefully eBay is contributing without any fanfare or acknowledgement. That would be impressive! To give to a charity and then announce it, seeking praise, seems wrong to me.
posted on September 17, 2001 09:31:15 AM new
Whether giving to a charity then announcing it is wrong or not (and that's debatable), what to me ISN'T debatable is that profiting from sellers' donations with good-will publicity and not doing ANYTHING themselves, while spouting on about their "Community" values is, as I said, REPREHENSIBLY wro. In this case, if they are asking for sacrifices from their sellers, many of which have been directly affected by this monstrous tragedy, they NEED to show what THEY are doing, instead of asking US to do more first.
posted on September 17, 2001 09:31:39 AM new
Greedbay, I agress, but I already donated all that I could cash wise, if the few auctions I listed help then that is a good thing, I have at least a hundred things I could list, but cannot because of having to eat the shipping fee, a true shame.
posted on September 17, 2001 10:23:55 AM new
In the eBay e-mail I received announcing the Auction Off America, the lead was this line:
"We believe that people are basically good."
So do I.
However, corporations are not people. And it appears that eBay seeks to take advantage of the basic goodness of its sellers to promote...eBay.
A number of prominent American corporations have done swift and sure good works in the past few days. Check CNN for details. What does eBay do? It embarks on a 100-day campaign to extract money from the work of the people who can afford it least: those who make their livings selling on eBay.
Pierre, Meg: You well know each of you could spare $5 million, even in this economy. Shame. Shame!
posted on September 17, 2001 10:49:52 AM new
Billions of our tax dollars are already going to help. If I want to make a DIRECT contribution to a responsible charity, that's my decision. Why would I possibly want to funnel that through a dollar-draining promotional to make eBay look good and make less effective use of my hard earned money?
posted on September 17, 2001 10:56:31 AM new
I am with all of you. I will not be participating in their new programs and would urge other sellers to do the same. We will give blood and money directly to the red cross.
posted on September 17, 2001 10:56:50 AM new
<<<Why would I possibly want to funnel that through a dollar-draining promotional to make eBay look good and make less effective use of my hard earned money? >>>
Well, maybe if eBay had something to say other than their one-liner buried on page 2000 of their help text which reads "the eBay Foundation is making a cash contribution" END OF STATEMENT, no word of how much, to what organization, where, when, etc., you might feel that eBay is doing their part, and throw a few items up there to help... Otherwise, there's only one answer to your question- YOU WOULDN'T, and neither would I, and until eBay becomes a weeee bit more forthcoming about eBay, I sincerely hope that noone else would either.
posted on September 17, 2001 11:05:24 AM new
My concerns on the Auctions For America program is that 1 I have given and will continue to give as I choose. I can not afford this program. If I understand it correctly it will run 100 days. If that is so that is right through the busiest selling season. I have searched on e-bay and see several areas where buyers can click to look ONLY at the Auctions for America listings. As I see it my auctions that I depend on to feed my family will not be looked at. The box even has an American Flag. It is a lot of pressure being put on both the buyer and seller to purchase only for those sellers in the program. A program like this would be good but not if it eliminates all the the e-bay auctions we as sellers offer. I thought giving blood was a hard thing to do. It is much harder being a seller and having to worry about e-bay eliminating from auctions from search with An American Flag. All in the name of Charity....SAD !!!
posted on September 17, 2001 11:23:50 AM new
I feel that ebay did not think this through at all. It seems to me by creating this program they did not think about the effects it would have on the regular auctions. There are many sellers that depend on their income through ebay to suppot them an put food on the table. What I am seeing is that if a charity auction has a widget selling for $20.00 and a regular auction has the same widget (Or Close To) for $20.00 + $5.00 shipping why would a buyer bid on the regular auction when they can get the charity widget for $5.00 cheaper (NO SHIPPING) and the + is they can feel good about buying the widget because the amount went to charity. Even minus the good feeling why wouldn't a bidder bid on an item when there is no shipping cost (We all know the various threds about shipping and how bidders feel about it.) This is going to have a major finanical effect for many sellers through the whole X-mas season.
And yes I have seen the post about if you don't want to get involved in this program don't well that is true but it effects every seller even if they decide not to donate through this program.
posted on September 17, 2001 11:27:09 AM new
How is it going to disrupt normal eBay sales? If this promotion does, then eBay's stock will plummet when they release end of year earnings. A disruption ain't gonna happen! eBay couldn't care less about us, but they sure as heck DO care about their bottomline!
posted on September 17, 2001 11:32:29 AM new
don't forget, ebay is waiving all listing fees and FVF's for those who participate (features excluded) How generous!
posted on September 17, 2001 11:42:25 AM new
I think they've thought it through and I believe it to be consistent with their operation and culture.
They bolster their listings, take a business deduction for fees and collect money from sellers for listing, closing and shipment.
What do you get out of it? You're special and give Meg the opportunity to present a big check to a charity of her choosing sometime in the Fall. A Kodak moment, for sure.
Like the commercial goes:
Buy the item: $100
Picture: $ .25
Shipping $ 5.00
Warm & Fuzzy $ priceless
Please donate directly to the charities of your choosing and NOT help Ebay help themselves.
posted on September 17, 2001 11:43:57 AM new
<< eBay couldn't care less about us, but they sure as heck DO care about their bottomline!>>
That is true but think about it it does effect the regular auctions and yes ebay does care about there bottom line but still every charity auction is seen as a sale & of course listing + ebay gets a big promotional plug and brings in more people to billpoint and to the site itself and the big bottom line all the charity sales that they waved the listing fee and FVF fees equal a big tax write off for the year which will still help their bottom line.
posted on September 17, 2001 11:53:03 AM new
Where does it say that the seller is the one donating the shipping expense? I can understand donating the bid price, but I don't imagine anyone's gonna get their item if they don't cough up shipping fees.
posted on September 17, 2001 12:01:38 PM new
Eseller Please see Item # 2 this can be found easily at ebay
Fees
1. eBay waives insertion fees and final value fees on items listed and sold through the Auction for America program.
2. The seller is responsible for shipping & handling expenses related to their Auction for America items.
3. All features selected by the seller will be charged standard fees. However, eBay will donate all featured fees for Auction for America items to The September 11th Fund.
posted on September 17, 2001 12:17:40 PM new
Why do you have to be registered with Billpoint for this ????? Why cant they just take our listing and FV fee's for a certain time period, then match it with the same amount, and donate the total. This just seems like a way to get more users to join Billpoint by making them feel bad if they cant participate. There are more ways to make donations and I for one will not be joining Billpoint just so I can do this.
posted on September 17, 2001 12:22:39 PM new
alanuk: I believe you are absolutely correct. Among other things, it is an effort to boost Billpoint enrollment.
posted on September 17, 2001 12:42:08 PM new
I was thinking about this, and some threads from this board and other from the past keep coming to mind mainly the ones that talked about ebay no longer wanting the small sellers, as far as I can see what a great way to eliminate them by setting up this program it will definitely impact the income of the small seller. The charity auctions may have some smaller sellers donating an item or 2 but the corporate sellers will have no problem donating because it will be a great tax write off for them and they can afford to do so. So if you think that no one will donate to this program think again
posted on September 17, 2001 12:58:54 PM new
OK, talk to me like I'm a 6 year old.
I read the e-mail and the site for sellers. But it really didn't spell out what our part is.
Do I have this right...We list an item, eBay takes the winning bid for its said "charity" and what were left with is being responsible for shipping the item FREE to the buyer, or do we have to bill the buyer seperate for the shipping fees?
BULLSH$T!
NO WAY.....
And am I also to understand that we will get left out of the search loop if we choose not to participate?
posted on September 17, 2001 01:05:02 PM new
I've been trying to load my regular weekly auctions on Ebay today and late last night and I keep getting a message (Due to prolonged inactivity, please re enter password and try again.)I've tried over and over again and they just won't accept the listings. Then I tried listing it for a chairty auction, guess what. NO PROBLEM they took it immediately. I cancelled the auction real quick. I cannot absorb the shipping fees and donate the merchandise as well. I deal in pottery and will do all my listings on Pottery Auction this week since Ebay evidentally doesn't want us to list our regular listings on their site.
posted on September 17, 2001 01:09:34 PM new
Pierre, the Founder of eBay, has personally donated an enormous amount of effort and money to charitable organizations, so shame on all of you who have criticized this management. In fact, this upstanding individual has vowed to donate 99% of his wealth to various charitable causes in his lifetime.
Before any additional criticism is placed on this board, I ask you all to look at yourself and ask "What have I done to help?". If it's short of the pledge that is listed above, keep quiet, as it only further exposes your ignorance.
Do something yourself, instead of worrying about what others are doing! That's what charity is all about. The window watching that is being done on this board is a disgrace and the folks that are participating are not true contributors. We need action on the part of the people on this board, not additional reporters of who's doing what. There are enough of these folks on network TV already...
posted on September 17, 2001 01:24:41 PM newIf it's short of the pledge that is listed above...
Not to be argumentative, but with a net worth of $5 billion (more or less), I imagine it's relatively easy to be generous (at least, compared with one who is just trying to make ends meet).
posted on September 17, 2001 01:29:04 PM new
Anyone else but me smell some red herrings?
I don't much like seafood anyway. Speaking of staying on topic, mods... What's the topic now, a poster has to provide an audit of what they have personally done in the way of charity to post here? I'll bet my 10 to (someone's) one that percentage-wise, the people posting in JUST THIS THREAD have done as much or more in donating to charity as any other discrete group. I know my fellow sellers, and though I often disagree with them (hahaha, under other IDs at various boards), online auction sellers as a group are some of the most giving people I know... I KNOW I have donated my share and then some, and it's questionable whether I can really afford it, but I, like most, make that a secondary consideration... Does THAT satisfy all resume-takers?
posted on September 17, 2001 01:31:51 PM new
Pierre can give away 99% of his fortune and still live like a King - in case you haven't figured, 1 percent of just $1 billion is $10 million, we should all be so poor from our giving. When I hear about him living under an overpass and eating out of dumpsters after giving away his fortune away, I'll recommend him for sainthood.
The whole charity auction deal is just a branding and marketing ploy by eBay.
If they feel charitable, let them donate. If a seller feels charitable, let them donate proceeds from sales. Do you want to donate or do you want a press paltform ?
What this will be in 100 days is a 3 foot by 5 foot oversized check at a press conference with eBay and Billpoint's name all over it.
The press will sigh over eBay and you'll still be an anonymous seller under eBay's brand, just where they want you.
[ edited by REAMOND on Sep 17, 2001 01:32 PM ]
This topic is 13 pages long: 1new2new3new4new5new6new7new8new9new10new11new12new13new
eBay couldn't care less about us, but they sure as heck DO care about their bottomline!