posted on October 22, 2001 03:07:35 PM
No wonder they are not reporting the totals, because at 5 million dollars out of 100 million dollars, that is rather pathetic.
posted on October 22, 2001 09:45:25 PM
Thanks, Granee. I haven't taken enough time to get the details of posting links etc here. AW is short in putting a help section for that.
posted on October 22, 2001 10:05:04 PM
They may soon have lots of people putting stuff up. I noticed that people who can't put their stuff up under regular auctions (too much WTC on them), put them up for .01 under A4A, then charge outrageous shipping (which they now collect for themselves).
posted on October 22, 2001 10:23:58 PM
I wanted to participate in AFA, but I didn't want to register for Billpoint. Since the $$$ wasn't coming to me, I couldn't see why "I" needed a Billpoint account.
posted on October 22, 2001 10:34:13 PM
95 million is gonna be hard to get done with 1 cent auctions.
I think Meg set the sights WAY too high, and all on the back of the sellers. Then on top of it, never consulted even the TOP ebay sellers.
Perhaps no 100 days, and perhaps just set an amount to reach, such as 10 million. That would have been a BIG contribution.
Then again, what they started as a publicity stunt could very well backfire and go down as one of the biggest ebay flops in history. Not something they want.
posted on October 23, 2001 08:20:42 AM
How obvious it has become that the $100million figure for AFA was "PFA".....
PULLED FROM the AIR!!!!
Not only will this poor showing provide a black eye and bruised ego to ebay management, but will help reinforce to an already nervous population that the economy is circling the bowl, instead of encouraging spending!!
MEG, et al, please be VERY careful how you handle the PR from this point forward so we have a chance at a good holiday season!
posted on October 23, 2001 08:28:38 AM
The way Pursglove talks about "building momentum" seems silly considering that momentum is working against them.
posted on October 23, 2001 09:02:27 AM
kerrigirl said:
"Then again, what they started as a publicity stunt could very well backfire and go down as one of the biggest ebay flops in history."
Right next to the ebay Stores which have been withering on the vine from total mismanagment and neglect.
The AFA could have reached their 100 million goal, if only ebay didn't do such a superlative job of alienating its users.
I have no doubt that should AFA have been a truly altruistic and community based effort, it would have easily succeeded. Ebay failed to involve the actual buyers and sellers in the planning and made a number of truly dumb strategic mistakes. Their bumbling continues to hurt all of us.
posted on October 23, 2001 09:38:53 AM
I bet a few of Meg's PR people have gotten blasted. They really shouldn't have put a dollar amount on what could have been raised--it would have come much rosier if they had done otherwise. This way it just looks foolish and so does Meg
posted on October 23, 2001 09:59:17 AM
It is going to make ebay sellers look "cheap" if the promised amount isnt met, and will upset many people. eBay is out of control now and it is our fault. If sellers stuck together from the beginning we could have stopped alot of this junk from happening. Now one woman has the power to do anything she wants including selling us down the river. What will she say when asked about not making the target "sellers dident give enough"? Thank goodness for outlets like the auction guild for reporting unbiased news, and reporting it to the media.
posted on October 23, 2001 10:42:39 AM
I think there are several reasons for the rapid decline of people participating in Auctions for America. Many of the issues have already been discussed here in great detail so I will not recap them. I think at this point, we are all aware of the numerous shortcomings of the A4A program.
I feel there has been a decline in people giving in general. One reason is the economy, people are scared of what their financial future will bring and are holding onto their money. This is evident in the decline of sales worldwide. Also the immediacy of the situation is gone. It has been over a month now since the bombings. Most people give in the face of a crises and while the crises we face is far from over many people are trying to get their lives back to normal and move on. It’s kind of like how the spirit of giving is so strong around Christmas then dissipates shortly there after. The same seems to be happening regarding the tragedies in New York and Washington.
Another reason could be is the abundant amount of reports on the news lately stating how millions and millions of dollars has been collected or pledged and yet less than 10% of these funds have been distributed and of that 10% almost none have gone to the victims and their families. Fox, CNN, USA Today have all been voicing their concerns with how these funds have been handled. They have brought up many questions regarding these charities like;
Who is being held accountable for the disbursement of these funds?
Why the funds are not reaching the their intended destinations?
Why victim’s families have not received assistance and in most cases haven’t even been contacted yet?
Where is all the money?
How much of the money is going to administrative costs?
According to Bill O'Reilly of Fox News Hundreds of these families have contacted him, saying they're desperate for help, help that is very slow in coming. The New York Post is reporting that less than 10 percent of the money raised has been distributed so far. That's over 41 days after the attacks.
Things are chaotic, to say the least. The Tribute to Heroes telethon that all the networks ran resulted in $150 million in pledges. Less than a quarter of that money has actually been collected, and a good portion of the money that has been collected is being paid to people working for the charities -- right now, there are 160 separate charities -- paying out money for trucking costs, warehouse costs, check-writing costs, utilities, phones, and so on. Everything but reason they were asking for our donations to be given for in the first place. In the meantime, those charities do whatever they want to do with the money and have no one to over see what is being done with it at all.
So why keep giving in light of this information? I have stopped all contributions until I learn more about what is going on and why none of the money has reached the people who so desperately need it. Not Auctions for America, not The United Way, not the Red Cross, no one! This is a travesty and should be investigated. In the mean time people who have suffered great losses are suffering even more because the help they so desperately need is not forth coming and the public keeps giving not knowing these needs are not being met.
Health & Happiness
"The Colonel"
P.S. There is currently 13,211 A4A listed on eBay. The numbers are dropping everyday.
posted on October 23, 2001 11:02:57 AM
Great post, kolonel! It's what many of us had feared would happen with these funds. We're too used to the United Way and their bloated administrative costs. Now we have many of these other so called "charities" and who the heck knows what the hell they're doing with all these funds?
posted on October 23, 2001 11:39:25 AM
From UK Press "Singing for America" on Saturday is expected to make The Twin Towers fund more than $150 million. This was a publicity stunt for Billpoint. eBay prides itself in "Community", but the only members who can sign up for Billpoint have to live in USA or Canada.
posted on October 23, 2001 12:43:00 PM
I read a short article in the kansas city star where a man had written that he thought he was donating his money to help the victims of the WTC and 11 people were flown from various place in the US to NY to attend a funeral. It did not say how close the relatives were, but I would suspect they were not immediate relatives. Was this what was supposed to have been done with the money? I bet not.
There was also an article about the OK City bombing. Some of the victims said that the Red Cross had gone to the post office and picked up letters addressed to the victims (during the stressfull first few weeks). These people (and they were a few of the victims relatives) said that when they received the mail all of it had been opened. Upon reading some of the letters, they had various things like here is $50, $10 etc. and there was no money in any of the envelopes. People from the Red Cross had opened all the mail and had taken all the money out of the envelopes. When questioned, the Red Cross didn't have a clue who did it. If I am not mistaken it is a federal offense to open other people's mail and is against the law to steal. Needless to say, actions like this affect the entire charity ring.
posted on October 23, 2001 01:23:22 PM
Maybe it is time for Meg to kick in the listing fees eBay is receiving.
What???
Give up revenue???
It would be excellent PR and very PC if Meg decided to try other means of reaching that hefty goal.
Like reaching into the Very Deep pockets of eBaY...
