Works of Heart (and Tracy) are in trouble

airhead

airhead

Coffin Dodger / Keymaster
I was on-line with Tracy yesterday when she pointed this out to me. I had to read and re-read it to understand and comprehend that E-Bay (and PayPal) are NOT waiving any fees for the charity auctions. But in 90% - 100% auctions, Ebay will collect the fees then donate that amount to Mission Fish - thus giving E-Bay a big tax write-off from the sellers\' fees.

My feelings are that Tracy should not be out of pocket any money with the amount of time and heart that she has already spent on this. But she is out the cost of the initial army and the shipping to us of the various minis so far. (Quite a tidy sum I imagine.)


Our options:
1. Find someone besides ebay to auction the Works of Heart. Not really feasible as ebay rules the auction world and we are out to make money for charity here. Else we would all just give money and go about our lives.

2. Send Tracy enough money to cover your acution\'s fees. This means that the big guns are out $30-$50 to cover the fact that they are good, while I get off with $10 or so.

3. Send Tracy enough money to cover an estimated average acution fees. We could all send Tracy $20 (my wild guess) to cover the acution costs.

4. Set the auctions to go at 70% to charity. This will cover the costs and leave us not holding the bag.

In any case, Tracy will have to keep records and any extra at the end will be dontated and any underage at the end will also have to be addressed again - either by #2 or #3 or a large gift from a presently unknown source.
 
S

supervike

Super Moderator
I am willing to send some cash to help cover whatever...But, I\'m just one guy. How much would 100 bucks help?

Alternatively...I am not opposed to the auctions being listed as \"All money given to charity (after associated fees)\"

Red Cross has administration costs, as does every major charity, so I see \"Works of Heart\" as being no different, nor do I see it being any sort of conflict of the true purpose or mission of the effort.

So, after all that, I vote for #4!!
 
A

Anatora

Guest
Just found this thread after posting on other thread. I am re-posting here.

Tracy, Have you considered contacting the Charity to which you intend the money to go and explain what you are doing. Ask if the charity will register with eBay and allow you to auction under their name as a nonprofit, then they can assign you a portion of the money to cover Paypal fees. All other fees from Missionfish and eBay are waived. Ebay\'s policy:
Nonprofit Direct Seller
When a nonprofit lists an item through Giving Works to support their mission:
1. There is no minimum donation
2. There is no MissionFish fee
3. The nonprofit seller is responsible for
all eBay and PayPal fees
4. eBay will donate their insertion and
final value fees to the nonprofit if the
item sells
5. The nonprofit may also pay a portion
of the final sale price to an auction
management company, merchandise
consigner or other third party. This
information may or may not be noted in
the item description.

Sample transaction
Final sale price $100.00
Donation percent 100%
eBay fees- nonprofit seller $4.12
MissionFish fee $0.00
MissionFish credit card fee $0.00
eBay fee donation $4.12
Nonprofit receives: $104.12


The charity can assign $4.98 per $100 that would cover Paypal fees. You would just forward the other $99.14 to the charity and you are out no fees at all.

Ebay willl also waive their fees if 100% is designated as a donation, but you still would owe $1.78 per $100 in Missionfish fees and Paypal fees of $3.20 for a total of $4.98 per $100.

Donations of 10% to 90% will incur eBay, Missionfish and Paypal fees. Keeping 30% for fees would result in about $5.19 in fees on a $70 sale.

You would save $5.90 if you cut out Missionfish altogether and sent the money directly to the charity. Ebay fees of $2.33 per $100 sale would be incurred, but you could deduct both paypal and ebay fees for each sale before sending the money on to the charity. You can then accept checks or money orders made out to the charity and deduct those fees from another transaction.

No one doubts that this is less than a labor of love, but, to provide a measure of protection for yourself, you could post each transaction, along with fees incurred and amount deducted to cover those fees on this forum so everyone can keep up with the amounts generated for the charity.

Been there, done that.
 
airhead

airhead

Coffin Dodger / Keymaster
Anatora, that sounds like an idea. Tracy, you said your Mom(?) had a 503C corp? Register them as a seller and let the corp pay itself the fees.
 
M

MarkusTay

New member
I had just assumed that the costs for the auctions would be coming off the top before giving the rest to charity. That\'s why I opt for #4 as well... I thought that was how it would work anyway. It would be insane for one person to try to absorb all those costs.

On a side note, I also donated $100 to the Hurricane Relief effort at Walmart. They had this great fund raising contest - you buy a ten dollar raffle ticket and had a chance to win either a 54\" HDTV or a LAPTOP computer! I thought that was a great idea... each store donates a TV or a computer, and they raise 10 times what they are worth. People like myself get to feel good about giving AND it appeals to our greedy side as well. :D
 
T

THuff

New member
The only issue with placing this under her mom\'s nonprofit is that it would then be listed as the charity that will receive the donations, instead of the charity that we want it to go to in the end.
 
T

THuff

New member
Another option that may help....

I\'ll post this here and on the other thread as well.

The only way that ebay will donate their seller fees is if the auction is done at a 100% donation level. Now, if we can\'t get to that point, fine, we should just auction at 70% and make a final donation after the fees have been paid.

However, if we can get a large amount of donations in the Adopt an Elf program, these are donations outside of the auctions that can be used to cover the fees. In the long run, Ebay will be giving them to the charity anyway. Start selling this idea to anyone you know that may be willing to Adopt and we can see how many auctions can be covered this way.

Once this amount gets low, we can always switch over to the 70% auctions and start paying the fees that way.

-Terry
 
A

Anatora

Guest
There are still other options than those given. Works of heart can be registered as a seperate entity with ebay and Paypal linking back to TAB paypal account (credit card, bank account necessary for registering). Cut out missionfish all together since they direct the funds to the charity and leave you holding the bag for immediate fees. Instead, have the money paypal\'ed to TAB\'s paypal account. She can deduct the upcoming ebay fees (paypal fees already paid as soon as a payment is made) and even deduct the shipping costs she incurred when mailing out all the elves. Since ebay fees are not immediately taken out, but are invoiced once a month, simply intercept the ebay fee invoice every 2 weeks and click the \"Pay by Paypal\" and clear the eBay fees. Dah..dah...Fees paid. All remaining money can be sent to the charity every 2 weeks or once a month and Tracy is not out any money. All she would have to do is keep up with the receipts for postage and fees she deducts. She also gains, to her credit, good eBay feedback which none of us would complain about for all her hard work.
 
B

Braveheart712

New member
Screw eBay and their corporate bullshit. The way i see it, there is no alternative to selling there since they would draw maximum exposure for this auction, however using MissionFish, some eBay subsidiary so that more money falls in their pockets is outrageous. I think that the %70 auction is the simplest way to go. It does sadden me that a large corporation like eBay cannot help out when it comes to doing something charitable, but this knowledge is far from a surprise.

Tracy is doing a wonderful job, everyone reach into your pockets and mail her some money to cover the first auction!!!!!
 
N

Naukhel

Active member
I\'m not involved in the actual painting side of the project (I don\'t think I\'m good enough to be a worthwhile contributor, yet), but I\'d be more than happy to do what I\'m able to help out this very worthwhile project.
 
D

Drake Farstrider

New member
At this point I think the best course of action is to list the auctions at 70%. Tracy and her familly should not be left holding the bag.

I know that she has asked for us to send $3 back with the elves we paint,. but I for one know that I am willing to send more than that.
 
PaintMinion

PaintMinion

Member
I really wish I had more money to send, but I don\'t. That\'s exactly why I liked the idea of painting up stuff...using my talents in place of the cash. :(

It saddens me that they make it so difficult! Fer goshsakes, if you\'re going to forward the money anyway to the charities, why not give the seller, already giving to the charity with the auction item, a break instead?!

<sigh> Tracy, do what you gotta do, we\'re behind you 100%, not 70%! :innocent:
 
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