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Hi all. I know we all talk about our efforts to help charities and usually those are donations we plan for.
On ebay I noticed seller dontating their profits from their bear sale to the Katrina victims. These artists I have great respect for and I actually own one of their bears, so I wanted to help their efforts by encouraging you all to check out their auction. The artists are Jean and Jan Olsen, some of you know them, and they make really cute bears.
Soooo, check out the auction! :D
ontario, canadahow come they can mention katrina and donations etc. on ebay and others can't?
What do you mean, Ellen?
Because eBay is very strict about auctions that claim to be for charitable purposes. And for good reason; people DO lie and take advantage, and eBay doesn't want to be a part of that.
I think it works like this:
In order to legitimately post "for charity" auctions on eBay, you must go through Mission Fish, which screens and approves charitable organizations. There is a setup required, about which I'm telling you a little bit more than I actually know. 
But the gist of it is that -- to post a charitable auction on eBay, using their "Giving Works" program, which utilizes the services of screening service "Mission Fish" -- you must set up your auction in a way that automatically pulls the winning bid amount out of one of your own personal credit cards, or PayPal account, if you don't forward it to the charity as you said you would in your auction listing within a certain time period (I think it's seven days.) I'm getting this a little wrong, but it's something like that; there's some kind of automatic, payment-deducting, electronic fund transfer backup built into the way these charitable listings must be set up from the outset, to prevent sellers from keeping winning bid payments to themselves, instead of giving them -- as advertised -- to charity.
I have just this light overview of understanding because the TEDDIES 4 CHARITY auction effort needed to select a charity from Mission Fish, or get one approved, and will need to use eBay's Giving Works program, if we want to advertise our auction pieces as "for charity."
Nancy Tillberg is the expert on this and has done far more research on this than I have; I have just a smattering of knowledge. But I think what I"ve written, above, is on the right track.
If you go to the Olsens' auction you'll notice that both Giving Works and Mission Fish are mentioned all over the place.
Kudos to eBay for creating this obstacle to fraud, though. It prevents slimy sellers (is there such a thing? :|) from claiming auction proceeds will go to charity, and then pocketing those huge sums for themselves, instead.
What do you mean, Ellen?
I think she's referring to Shari's auction being pulled by eBay. I skimmed that thread but I believe Shari mentioned that her listing was yanked because she mentioned donating to Katrina rebuilding efforts... but didn't go through Giving Works and Mission Fish.
Who knew?
ontario, canadaohhhhhhhh! thanx Shelli. i should have known that.
yes, i was thinking of Shari's auction.
cheers!
That's interesting Shelli. Do you know if this is a recent thing and whether it just pertains to Ebay.com?
My sister and I have been running a bi-annual charity auction on Ebay.co.uk and to do so, have had to register with our charity to make them aware of our activites. Then we had to register as a charity auction with Ebay and provide contact detail and charity registration info to prove we were authentic.
As we had the responsibility of auctioning well over thirty bears, we were keen to make sure everything was done according to the book. Fortunately, it has all gone really well in the past, but if the rules have changed, we should make sure we bring ourselves up-to-date.
I am about 10% clued in here. Nancy Tillberg, of NORTH COUNTRY TEDDY BEARS, is a good bearmaking/bearselling resource for you, and she's from Canada, so she might even have a better grip on the whole international eBay scene, which I most certainly do not.
Otherwise, my wish and suggestion is that you have loads of fun, dear one, perusing what appears to be an entire encyclopedia's worth of information/how-to pages on this stuff, both on eBay, and at Mission Fish. Let me know what you find! :D
PS It might be the case, absolutely, that this Giving Works/Mission Fish stuff only applies to US/domestic eBay auctions. I really am out of my depth on this one...
Nova Scotia,CanadaI'm just scanning here but wanted you to know that the olsen's bear was pulled also and they fixed it and relisted.
Pulled when... earlier today, or after the time I referenced it? I would be surprised if it got pulled in the version I saw because it did reference Mission Fish and Giving Works. Just curious... learning here, myself... !
Nova Scotia,CanadaIt was on last night without the mission fish reference and then was gone this morning.I noticed it was back and "fixed" this afternoon.Or maybe I am just dreaming the whole thing.
Whatever,I'm still going to be "poo"
Ahhhhhhhhh........ Well, that makes sense, then.
I didn't know anything about either Giving Works or Mission Fish until the TEDDIES 4 CHARITY thing came up, and Nancy alerted the group of contributors to it. And I've been selling on eBay since spring 2004. So it's certainly not an everyday thing that any old person should assume they would just "pick up" by spending time buying, selling, or even just "browsing", eBay.
I do understand and support the need for it; I'd hate to try to contribute to "Katrina" but unwittingly end up contributing to some bozo buying himself a new car stereo, instead. Ugh.
Thanks, Shari! Will you relist your little one? If you said that already, I missed it. Busy here this morning...
Hugs,
Nova Scotia,CanadaI'm not sure at this point,I'm in a bad place right now.I'm outa here. 
Well, if it makes you feel any better, eBay has pulled my auctions once or twice for listing violations I didn't realize were violations, and there are many other bearmakers who can say the same. Try not to personalize it; obviously, your heart was entirely in the right place, which makes the nuisance of it all that much more hurtful.
Big hugs (and, for what it's worth -- even though I caught the earlier funny reference -- I do not think you're "poo"),
Nova Scotia,CanadaOh thanks Shelli but you didn't read Daphne quote for the day in reference to her dog picture... "Be the poo ....and not the leaves." It's all good to be "poo".
Thanks again for your support,Shari.
I've always quite liked the word "poo" actually. In my sorority, in college, which housed upwards of 40 girls, we had a "Poo Bathroom." That was actually its OFFICIAL name -- The Poo Bathroom.
It was downstairs in the basement... just 1-2 little stalls, if memory serves. As opposed to the first floor bathroom, which had about 3 stalls... and the second floor bath, which served the 8-way and 10-way (bedrooms for eight girls and ten girls, respectively), and had about 8-10 stalls.
The thinking behind designating one particular bathroom, THE POO BATHROOM was this:
Who wants to be dealing with "poo issues" when there are ten girls fixing their hair and applying mascara at the counter, a mere two feet away?
Ewwwwwwwww.........
Laughing here... thanks for the memories... :P:lol:
PS I did see Daphne's "Be the Poo" message, but even so, I'm not sure it's mentally healthy to be going around all day calling yourself "poo" on an internationally-viewable bulletin board. Just lending some moral support! :D:D
PottersHouse BearsI just found that my listing which was to end on Sunday has also been removed for listing it as a charity auction. I noted that the proceeds were to go to the Red Cross. I am not sure how to go about listing with giving works. I would appreciate any help. I would like to relist.
Apple Dumpling DesignsI'm cracking up here Shelli with your "Poo Bathroom" story. I went to a private high school and lived in a dorm my Jr & Sr year. We didn't have an official "poo bathroom" but it was always quite obvious what was going on when you'd see a girl leaving a bathroom that was NOT on her floor or her hall.
Dorm life...friendships built for life...two of my closest friends are from my dorm days. I have the best memories from those days!!!
Shantell
Bummer about auctions being pulled. I do understand why Ebay has to have strict regulation,but it bad cuz it discourages sellers....
Okay, I really have to find the original post about the "poo". Getting very worried about you all!
Apple Dumpling DesignsKirsten, it's under "Kapok as stuffing"...about 5 or so posts down...I think Shelli started it and Daphne added photos.
We are a bit punchy at times!!! 
