posted on September 17, 2001 01:45:43 PMPierre, the Founder of eBay, has personally donated an enormous amount of effort and money
I salute his efforts and generosity. I do doubt that he donated his funds a manner that gave credit to someone else or was done via a business doing PR work, increasing it's membership, and seller base as a result.
posted on September 17, 2001 02:09:44 PM
eBay, the horrible monster, has done many of you well. Otherwise, you wouldn't be wasting your time on this board...
Rather than work against eBay, why don't you work with them in this cause? After all, they have the platform to reach the large charitable audience.
The back patting can be done later and if you wish to take credit for all of your efforts, instead of eBay, I'll be pleased to send you a personal note to you to this effect, via email.
posted on September 17, 2001 02:30:17 PM
I have seen so many post about What have you done??, how much did you give?? and many people being put down for not giving enough.
I'm sorry but there are many people that can afford to do only so much and this attitude that I am seeing that the more you give the better person you are makes me sick.
Personally I don't think less of someone if they can't afford to contribute money and can only maybe put out an American flag as there way of a contribution or perhaps the only thing they can give is a prayer this is fine with me and others should be able to respect that and not make anyone feel less than anyone else because they are unable to give more.
There are many sellers here that give and contribute what they can and there are many sellers that rely on the income from ebay to pay the bills and from what I can see ebay never took these sellers into account when they implemented this program many seller will be financially hurt this season because of this program and possibly put out of business (See my other post in this thread)
This program is self serving to ebay only
If they wanted to help there are many other ways but the way they set it up it is nothing but a win/win for Ebay.
posted on September 17, 2001 02:40:23 PM
I knew seafood didn't smell too savory... I'll tellya what, it's too late now, but what I would've asked EBAY to do was for THEM to work with US before it formulated this at-the-very-least ill-conceived and horrendously executed program. Ummm, WE are the ones who will shoulder the vast majority of the cost for it. SOOOO, I guess the herring among us expects eBay to dictate the terms without them being questioned, and us sellers who will foot the bill to march in lockstep to those terms. <sigh> I can't BELIEVE anyone would seriously suggest that should be the case, but I guess we've all found quite a few things that are hard to believe about the last week...
posted on September 17, 2001 02:44:58 PM
Oh my Goodness! Well, finally something slapped me upside the head and said, get with it girl. I have been in shock since last Tuesday and not worth much.
This Auctions for America was just the thing I needed to get me moving!
How dare eBay ask we small sellers to bankroll their generous contribution to the National tragedy. I will do it my own way, thanks so very much eBay! And the kicker--we as sellers just pony up the shipping and insurance. And as a bonus, can only use Billpoint! I am naive at times and very trusting at times, but this stinks to high heavens. What were the Powers That Be at Ebay smoking the night they all decided it would be wonderful if we, the sellers, all sacrificed in the name of eBay?
I am listing like a mad woman tonight. This was just what I finally needed. A swift kick in the pants to get going and not let a corporation tell me how to contribute.
posted on September 17, 2001 02:53:22 PM
jeanyu: The eBay powers-that-be watched a national tragedy...and saw a marketing opportunity.
There is nothing that any of us can say that is half as damning as that simple fact.
I had an interesting weekend. Went to Home Depot, where they are giving away paper American flags. Went to Kinkos, where they are giving away six different patriotic posters. Then I woke up this morning, and found that eBay wants to give away my goods.
Mr. President, it is indeed "business as usual" in Campbell, California.
posted on September 17, 2001 02:58:15 PM
I have a question
since it looks like we are stuck with this 100 days of this program and the problems it creates for us as sellers, what do you plan to do for this season. Are you going to continue to list like always, Cut back on your listing, stop all together or try a different venue. I'm not sure what I am going to do. I do know that I can't afford to continue to pay listing fees for items that don't sell and I know I can't give free shipping. Any suggestions????
posted on September 17, 2001 03:04:44 PM
Shame on eBay...riding on the backs of small time sellers and then picking up the glory.
Folks...give to your favorite charity and avoid this shameful eBay corporate PR blitz.
posted on September 17, 2001 03:12:19 PM
dawna34: I'm going to try something different: selling directly to my established customers. We have a lot of repeat bidders. I've hesitated doing much of this up until now because I didn't want to keep two sets of books, eBay sales and non-eBay sales.
posted on September 17, 2001 03:37:55 PM
As I read it, no one is forced into participating in this program. So simply put, don't.
Possibly it will affect sales or operations for those who do not participate, time will tell, but there are also lots of other factors that could do the same, how will you know for sure unless you receive some kind of specific e-mail from a bidder? For the most part, potential bidders aren't idiots either, and they will look to find the items they want -- if those happen to be just ordinary eBay auctions, then fine, they will find them.
So, putting aside the obvious totally transparently cynical eBay "grand plan", why not just go about your business, get back into the flow of things, as difficult as that may seem right now, and concentrate on selling your items in the best way you see fit.
And if you want to donate to a charity, why would you wait 100 days anyway?
The families of this tragedy need your assistance now, and direct contribution is a far better way to go than some corporate promotional program masquerading as "community" and all the other bunk spouted by eBay in their announcement.
You want to do something tangible? Click on the direct charity links, or go to www.wtc.com or www.worldtradecenter.com, which have lots of direct links for helping out.
As far as eBay goes, all I can say, is shame on them for being so cynical in this tragic time. They may think they are doing a good thing, but we aren't fools, and obviously they are hoping for a major corporate benefit out of this in promotional value.
posted on September 17, 2001 03:40:58 PM
I plan to put something like the following in my auctions:
I have made my donations for the September 11th horror privately, and will continue to do so privately. I encourage everyone to contribute to their local Red Cross, or any of the many other charitable agencies that are in need now as they assist the survivors. Thank you.
posted on September 17, 2001 03:47:38 PM
After all this time, eBay has finally and deeply offended me with this totally offensive marketing move. How DARE they attempt to use our country's tragedy to their financial/PR gain.
posted on September 17, 2001 03:59:48 PM
Check the Community site on Ebay. They have a poll going asking who is going to participate. Right now 68% are NOT going to participate.
posted on September 17, 2001 04:05:53 PM
The auctions are designed for you as a seller to DONATE and item FREE of cost and agree (as a bonus to attract buyers) to SHIP FREE. No seller will be making anything on these auctions, except perhaps goodwill and a sense of having contributed to the cause. Technically eBay will not either. They are "donating" the space and collecting the money and doing all the record keeping and distributing the funds to various charities.
That's why BILLPOINT is a requirement. I would imagine it will be the ONLY WAY AN AUCTION CAN BE PAID FOR. Saves time.
It's also my understanding the only way to upload these auctions is to do it through eBay's "list item" page. I think I saw where it wasn't going to work for people using Mr. Lister, or other such programs.
I would imagine whether it's ill thought out or not, it will be sucessful and anybody trying to list a regular auction will probably notice a dropoff in activity while this is going on. Why would any bidder (unless looking for something specific) bid on a regular auction when they could bid on these charity auctions for their fellow Americans, not to mention getting FREE SHIPPING to boot?
edited for microbes to remove what could be perceived (though not intended) as an insult to sellers
[ edited by sulyn1950 on Sep 17, 2001 04:28 PM ]
posted on September 17, 2001 04:10:48 PMHow else would eBay be assured of collecting the money? It would never work waiting for sellers to collect money and sending it to them.
WHAT???? Are you trying to tell us that the most eBay sellers would DEADBEAT on charity auctions? Excuse me for saying so, but I think you just insulted a lot of people.
posted on September 17, 2001 04:20:07 PMMicrobes-It was not my intention. Waiting for a buyer to send you a check, money order, cash or whatever takes time. You as the seller would then have to convert it to whatever form eBay would require. They are the ones acting as an ESCROW account for this money. Sending it to them would also take time.
So, it is much simpler to just cut out all the extra work and take the money directly from the bidder since they have a way set up to do that already--Billpoint.
posted on September 17, 2001 04:25:46 PM
How amazingly convenient for eBay...the guys who've been trying to shove Billpoint down everyone's throat...fairly unsuccessfully...for it seems like eons.
posted on September 17, 2001 04:25:53 PM
They could do it through Paypal or any other payment service. But I'll just bet eBay never ran the idea past Paypal or any other payment system.
It would be simple to set up the auction page so all the auction payments are available to go through the competing online payment systems and let the buyer choose which one.
If eBay can set the auction page up to send the buyer to Billpoint, they could easily do to send the winner to a page where they could choose the online payment system they wanted to use.
All it would take is one special account at each online payment system that the payment is made to.
posted on September 17, 2001 04:27:35 PM
<<No seller will be making anything on these auctions, except perhaps goodwill and a sense of having contributed to the cause>>>
Yes, that's true and as far as I can see most sellers won't be making a lot if anything on their regular auctions. How do you compete with not only charity auctions but free shipping to boot. I understand that you may be gung-ho about this but let me ask are you a seller that depends on auctions to pay your bills and put food on the table. Or are you financially secure??? The least ebay could of done was to require shipping on the charity auctions like any other auction and crediting it to sellers account or also donating those funds as well at least this would have made thing a little easier, But the way it is now why wouldn't a buyer bid on an auction with free shipping. Remember the buyer is still receiving a product like they would any other auction. The sellers are the ones doing all the donating. And please spare me the line about what ebay is donating this is nothing more than a major marketing ploy on there part.
posted on September 17, 2001 04:30:36 PM
what they should have done is said we want to help and we know our sellers do to, all people that will participate in this cause we will assess an additional percentage of each sale for those that sign up, everything else will run business as usual. No changes, no BS, no special email and phone calls, don't have to sign up for billpoint etc. They could instead of matching fund(which would cost them less) say to all those that participate we will wave all listing or closing, or both costs until we reach the target amount.
As it is now they want to take the focus off the people that are paying the bills so to speak, the people that are running the regular auctions that will be paying fees and hoping that the buyers only search for the Auctions for America auctions. eBay has never cared about their sellers, if they did they would truly have a way to reward the people that spend the most, the power sellers. All their hope is that the media will pick up the story and they'll get the much needed exposure to help with people not buying from before the tragedies of the 11th.
But then again that wouldn't be as visual which you have to know they are going for. This is all to benefit ebay and the egos at the top, sure the sellers down the road may reap some benefit but not until Meg gets to hand over that big check from ebay for all to see.
If they are going to run the Auctions for America stuff in competition with my other stuff, I for one am abandoning ship. Looks like it will be yahoo and amazon(do they still have auctions?) and who ever else looks good for me. Heck it can't be any worse that our sell through these last few months on eBay.
The questions is why doesn't ebay just write the check themselves? the honeymoon is over folks, ebay is just wondering when the people will wake up and say, you know I could rent a good sized building for what I send to ebay every month and I would be building true friendships with people in my community. Or you know I could blow this stuff out of my grange this weekend I wont have to ship and I'll only have to work a few days. Or you know I think I'll donate all this stuff to the red cross so they can sell it and apply it to disaster relief.
Yep folks the reason they don't want to write that check is they are worried that people will wake up and realize that we are truly getting the shaft. I have 3 consignment booths they all do better dollar for dollar than our ebay business. ebay got us started down this path selling trinkets so I guess it's hard to let go, for me I think I'll be filing for a divorce ASAP.
posted on September 17, 2001 04:33:13 PM
It's WAY easier than all that. The auctions could VERY easily be paid thru billpoint TO what ever charity, WITHOUT requiring sellers to sign up an account with billpoint (which could / would affect ALL the rest of your Auctions). If I ran one (or several) of these auctions, all I would need is an Email from eBay saying:
item # 123456789 has been paid for, ship to:
Joe Buyer
1234 Whatever St
Where-ever
Pick-a-State
XXXXX
Edited to ADD: Want to make the whole thing simple? Set up one master Billpoint account for all these auctions to be paid for, and then email the "Donors" telling them it's been paid for, and to ship.
posted on September 17, 2001 04:41:26 PM
I have lots very suitable for AFA and am very happy to pay shipping fees. I guess they would be very popular with US buyers. I cannot sign up for Billpoint as I am not in USA or Canada. Guess eBay should get a Paypal option.
SympathyfromUK.
posted on September 17, 2001 04:45:30 PM
Thats a good question Packer!!!
I'm sure there is some way they have in mind but I thik there is going to be problems with it People not getting paid for regular auctions. It can become a big mess
posted on September 17, 2001 04:45:53 PM
I have looked through some of these auctions, and some DO charge shipping. When eBay was listing the points to sell, and said "seller resonsible for shipping", I took it as meaning, eBay will not pay for shipping, you have to put it in your auctions as usual, or if you choose, pay for it. Other sellers must have taken it like this too. I don't think any buyer would expect to NOT to have to pay shipping.
If you click on the "buy" link for the auctions. It says NOTHING about the sellers paying shipping costs. In fact it says, that it works "Just like eBay". I think eBay just worded this wrong. "Seller responsible", just means eBay isn't paying the shipping.
posted on September 17, 2001 04:48:18 PM2. eBay Online Payments is the only way to pay for an Auction for America item, so that The September 11th Fund will directly receive the funds.
This is copy/pasted from eBays AUCTIONS FOR AMERICA how to sell page.
They also have set up the search feature to locate only Auctions For America items. Found this on the "New to Auctions for America" help page linked from the HOME PAGE:
If you want to search for Auction for America items... From eBay's main Search page, enter a few words about the item you are looking for and click on the checkbox for "Show only Auction for America items". A list of matching items will appear, and you can begin bidding right away
I may find some problem with the auctions, but they have a very quick way to donate cash with links to your choice of two different funds. I like that. Perhaps they should have gone ONLY with that and asked all users upon arrival to eBay (from any route) to take a moment to consider donating before continuing on to the auctions.
posted on September 17, 2001 04:48:52 PM
I don't get this...what the heck is the big deal? If you don't want to be a part of Auctions for America, then don't register for it.
If you do, guess what? You have a few things to read and understand...1. You have to take Billpoint (at least right now). 2. You pay the shipping and mail out the item when you get the notice saying it was paid for. Pretty darn simple, I think, especially for something kitbashed together over the weekend, and especially for something created by eBay. I don't care who gets to take the charitable deduction...I just want to make sure the charitable CONTRIBUTION is made.
If eBay wants to use it as a marketing ploy, so be it. No skin off my nose either way, and if it helps take some of the stigma off online auctions (currently burdened by prevalent newsstories of fraud and bad sellers), more power to it and eBay.
If people want to donate in other ways, fine. Do it...as often and as much as you can.
My job and business right now is eBay and selling online. I've put flags in my auctions last week and I've made a donation to the Red Cross myself. This just helps me make a bit more of a statement...sort of like putting a flag on your desk at the office...and do my part to get some help (however small my contribution may be) to the victims and families affected by this tragedy.
Why must we always whine about what eBay does? If you don't like something they do, don't participate in it. It's that simple. Not everything eBay does is the ultimate evil. Who gives a damn how the money gets to the people that need it...as long as it gets there? Isn't that what's important?
Or am I missing something somewhere down the line here?
----
TRC
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[ edited by sulyn1950 on Sep 17, 2001 04:28 PM ]