posted on October 9, 2001 11:57:14 AM new
Has anyone sold on ebay with the intent of giving the proceeds to some local charity, like a church or whatever?
If so, did you use your regular ebay handle? Did you do anything special to keep the charity transaction separate from your business?
posted on October 9, 2001 12:14:26 PM new
Very good question! Very good timing!
I too what to know the answer to this. Our elementary school 6th grade goes on an outdoor education program for four days and nights. The 5th graders need to come up with almost $14,000 (total cost) so they can go next year.
I was wondering if I were to put one item up per child - 60 total. With all the money raised going to this fund raiser. I consider this a charity...do you?
posted on October 9, 2001 01:10:58 PM new
In a sense, I don't know whether ebay has anything to do with it, unless maybe you advertise it as a charity. My confusion is this: if I auction something that belongs to some nonprofit group in order to raise more money than can be made at, say, a sidewalk sale, the item is not mine and therefore I do not think the money I raise would be MY charitable donation. My time, sure, but not the selling price.
If I did this as part of my ongoing business should I simply not record any elements of the transactions in my business records because the money is just "passing through" from the buyer to the charity? Or should I record all of it and write down the amount I give to the charity as an expense.
posted on October 10, 2001 12:36:32 PM new
keziak,
I personally would not mix it with my business auctions. You are simply volunteering your services. But I would sell the items under my regular id for many reasons- feedback, AW fees, etc.
I suggest you ask your accountant but I think you can only expense the charge for your services.
In my case, I too would be auctioning off items for the school that do not belong (never have) to me. I have emailed ebay to see what they tell me in regards to fund raisers. I will see what they say about mentioning it in the description. We are basically doing the same thing. Raising funds for a charity.
posted on October 10, 2001 12:42:48 PM new
Seems to me that I read something from eBay (about 3 weeks ago) that said something to the effect, that we can suggest people pay by two different checks. One made out to the charity (then it's their donation), and one to the seller, to cover postage/expenses. I've seen so much on this, I'm not sure if it was eBay's idea, or a poster.I know NYS has rules about what you call a charity.Don't know if they would apply.
posted on October 10, 2001 01:31:40 PM new
that make some good sense, but also seems a bit unwieldy having to write two checks, and also my organization might not relish a lot of out of town checks, I dunno. I just want to keep things simple and at first it seemed easier to just do it using my ebay set-up rather than trying to create a whole different account for the charity, especially since our group doesn't have a credit card.
I also thought of just creating a new ebay ID to use, but are you allowed to have more than one tied to the same email address and credit card?
posted on October 10, 2001 01:43:30 PM new
You must have a separate email address for a separate ebay id.
2 checks make NO sense. According to IRS guidelines a charitable donation is only tax deductible for the amount "OVER" the value of the item. ie You donate $100 to Kwanis for a 25 cent tootsie. That is a donation. You purchase an item that the church is selling that is NOT tax deductible unless you pay more then the value and then the amount over the value is deductible.
The bidder is purchasing an item, not making a donation. The donor is the person that gave the item to the church.
posted on October 10, 2001 07:29:15 PM new
Well, I got this email from ebay:
Thank you for writing with a question about listing items for sale on
the eBay site. I can appreciate your concern for helping a local school
raise funds, and while I cannot promise to tell you everything there is
to know about this activity within this message, we can provide most of
the resources you will need.
Details about fund-raising and charity activities are found at the
following page:
This information includes, but is not restricted to, the Auction for
America campaign that is going on right now within the auction
community. I'm confident this information will be helpful, and I hope
you have a super day of trading!
posted on October 10, 2001 08:52:59 PM new
<<2 checks make NO sense. According to IRS guidelines a charitable donation is only tax deductible for the amount "OVER" the value of the item. ie You donate $100 to Kwanis for a 25 cent tootsie. >>
Yes, to the letter of the law, that is correct. I think this was in reference to the overbids that were going on..sort of like buying Girl Scout cookies. A part of each box is tax deductible. I wouldn't write out two personal checks..but then I wouldn't buy form someone just because they said it was a charity. I'd only buy if it was something I wanted. The double check was something to do with overbuying.Actually there is nothing to stop her from going ahead and give all of her profits to what ever organization she wants. As long as she puts it on her schedule A (if she has one), she could even have a tax deduction.
If the IRS did any type of an and she sold under her name..they will go by their rules as to who made the money.
I glanced at the page eBay sent her too..and that looks like the way for her to go..to register the organization, with their EIN number.
![auctions for charity [not AFA]](/img/header/logo/vendio_logo_tag_2009.gif){kind=logo}
