Tsunami Crisis Discussion Thread

[sundin@ebay.com]

This discussion thread is designed to offer members of the eBay.ca Community a place to record their thoughts and condolences for those who have suffered or lost loved ones as a result of the tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26th, 2004. Members may also use this thread to share ideas for contributing to worldwide relief efforts.

The devastation and loss of lives caused by the Tsunami and Earthquake in South Asia has touched and saddened us all at eBay Canada. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the legion of people affected both directly and indirectly by this disaster.

Regards,
eBay Canada

[bargainhunter060875]

I heard that there have been other small earthquakes which sparked the authorities to warn people to move to higher ground. Hopefully nothing happens...:-(

[sundin@ebay.com]

Hi Community Folks,

We're also trying to get a page up that will list some of the charities that our members can donate to. We hope to have this page up very soon. There is also another option available for PayPal account holders to fund their donations using PayPal to UNICEF. We'll make that option available on our site as soon as we can.

Thanks for helping out!

:: Sundin

[warm*fuzzies]

Thanks Sundin 🙂

That was so great to see that you can make donations through Paypal and that you gave a list of charities to make your donations.

[sundin@ebay.com]

Hi Folks,

Here's the eBay.ca page with a list of charities:

http://pages.ebay.ca/tsunamirelief/index.html

We will update this page with more charities when we have the permission to do so. Thanks to every Canadian for their outpouring of generosity so far!

:: Sundin

[warm*fuzzies]

Since this is locked Sundin, add this here as well 🙂

You can donate to UNICEF Tsunami Disaster Fund directly through Paypal. There are no fees - 100% of your donation goes straight to UNICEF 🙂

http://donations.paypal.com

[teresa@ebay.com]

Hi warm*fuzzies,

You absolutely can give to UNICEF via PayPal. You should be aware though that it is UNICEF US you are giving to, not UNICEF Canada. It all goes to the same cause, but you may not get a tax receipt if you make a donation to a US charity. If getting a tax receipt is important to you, you might want to consider giving directly to UNICEF Canada instead.

But either way, your money is going to UNICEF's efforts to make a difference in the affected areas - which is all good.

Happy New Year to all CTSers

Teresa

[warm*fuzzies]

Teresa. Thanks for that. UNICEF is such a good charity and for the children. I think so many thought paying direct through paypal was a good idea.


And a very Happy New Year to you and all the Pinkies 🙂

[stripeofzebra]

Happy new year pinks,

[skeeters_den]

All donations to the Indian Ocean Earthquake Appeal received by UNICEF Canada before January 11, 2005 will be matched by the Canadian Government.
The ebay page with links: http://pages.ebay.ca/tsunamirelief/index.html

UNICEF Canada donation page: https://secure.unicef.ca/forms/emergency_page.html

[verypatient]

I would really like to list some of my auctions to go to the relief fund. I've been wading through the numerous posts about this and I'm getting so confused. People will comment that someone's description is great, but I'll go to look at them and they'll have been removed.

So, can I get a response from eBay on what I *shouldn't* do? I know I can't mention any of the charities' names and I understand why. And is there anyway to donate through Paypal somewhere and use the email I would get back as proof of donation? Or would it have personal information on it that I shouldn't forward.

This is very frustrating for someone who wants to help by selling.

[teresa@ebay.com]

Hi verypatient,

First of all, happy new year.

It's great that you're thinking about the people of South Asia in this way. There is a big difference between ebay.com and ebay.ca in the area of charity auctions, so I can understand why there is confusion.

On eBay.ca, sellers are not allowed to post listings that say the proceeds will benefit a charity unless they are an authorized agent of that charity and go through our charity auction process. This is to prevent fraulent sellers from using a charity's name (or a situation such as the one in South Asia) to boost the bids on their item, then keeping the proceeds.

On eBay.com (the US site), sellers can sell items for charity by listing their items through Mission Fish, a third party that facilitates the auctions and donations to the charity. The seller never gets the money in their hands - Mission Fish removes it and donates it before the seller ever sees it.

At this time, eBay.ca doesn't have a relationship with anyone like Mission Fish, and Mission Fish will only accept items for sale on behalf of charities that have a US charitable registration number.

It may be that you can go on ebay.com, list your item through Mission Fish and give to an American charity that way. I don't work at all with them, so I don't know all the ins and outs (but am learning very fast this week). Check out more about Mission Fish.

I hope this helps, and that you can find a way to give to the people of South Asia in a way that works for you.

Best regards,

Teresa

[verypatient]

Thanks, it does help. Not the way I would have liked, but it helps. LOL

I don't care to use Mission Fish, and since I don't want my 3 CTSASIA auctions removed by eBay, I've taken everything I had mentioned on them about charity, off. I did leave CTSASIA on, so that if anyone from here wants to buy them, THEY will at least know what I intend to do, and a copy of a receipt will be sent. But I will leave the details off the auction itself.

I should be safe from deletion now. LOL

[eric4trades]

I too was moved to make a donation. I chose the Salvation Army but specified it was for the South Asian relief effort. Then a day later I learned on the news that the Canadian Federal Government was matching donations sent to certain charitable organizations, however the Salvation Army wasn't one of them.

Strange how we all are moved to do something in this disaster yet so little was heard (guilty here too) when 800,000 people were slaughtered in Rwanda back in 94.

[thebabysbasket]

Hello,
I have had auctions pulled because of the charity policy so I have been looking into what I can do to have them listed. Well I have found there is nothing I can do to list things as a Canadian seller. I read above that maybe if one listed through .com that they could use missionfish. You can't. You have to have a US address to register with missionfish and be a US seller.
In the policy page for charity auctions it also says that you can list if you have written consent (and you provide a scanned copy of it in the auction) from the charity itself. Well as you can imagine that is virtually impossible as all the charities are swamped right now and so that probably would take a long time to get.
In conclusion after reading a lot and talking to someone at live help there is nothing we as Canadians can do with our listings. We can still donate the proceeds from our auctions, we just can't advertise it in the auction.
If anyone has any new information please let me know. I run a Canadian Sellers group on .com and we are trying to figure out a way to help out more.

Thank-you,
Cassandra 🙂

[slavos4]

I've heard that the "top people" at UNICEF make quite a substancial income in that position. In fact, my husband has read of a hockey player who has stopped donating to this particular charity because of it. (He donates through another now). How do we know which charities uses the most of our donations for direct relief and aid, and the least in administration costs? Is this public knowlege? Anyone know where we can find out?

[atilio@ebay.com]

I was just sent this true story via my cousin who works in Hong Kong. It is about her co-worker who was in the heart of the tidal wave in Phuket, Thailand (with 3000 known casualties) during the Tsunami.

Had breakfast. His 3 children ran to the children's area - knowing where it was as they stayed at this resort on several occasions. He and his wife return to the hotel room to get their swimming wear. On the way back, they see the hotel mgr yelling - notifying everybody to run away from shore. He takes the situation lightly. People are seen running. They both run towards to children's area - a pool island. He takes hold of the youngest girl - a 3 year old Indian recently adopted (early 04). Anne takes the 2nd boy - the quickest of the 3. The eldest boy is nowhere to be seen. Anne and the boy run away. Vincent looks for a safe haven and spots a somewhat elevated area - all in 15 seconds. First wave hits, reaching his nose and he is 6 feet something. He holds on to the girl and an unknown elderly lady. Wave passes. He punches a hole in the ceiling (he is extremely fit - participates regularly in Action Asia, runs 40 km marathons, etc). He hoists up his son and elderly woman. 2nd wave hits and he hangs on to a beam - realizing that his luck is finally going to run out. He and his friends consider himself lucky. Anne is washed away along with her son. They pass by an enormous tree and hang onto a branch. The tree was guarding a large number of people....All 4 and the elderly survive - amazingly. The next 40 minutes are spent in a panic search of their eldest boy. He is spotted alive. He was washed away but held on to a beach chair's floating pillow due to his excellent swimming skills. Someone must have seen him and lifted him up from the above floor....

Won't attempt to describe what they saw afterwards...

They survived - must be a combination of their phy strength, stamina, perseverance, 'sharpness', luck and karma (they decided to give the money they would have spent on xmas gifts to charity...the 3 kids agreed, claiming that they had too many toys....wonderful no?).

just wanted to share this story with all of u.

Regards,
Atilio

[warm*fuzzies]

Atillio

What a story! it sure has hit many close to home hasn't it. Thank heavens they are okay.

I just saw this on the news.Tthat's it, from here on in I am shopping at Music World.

http://www.pulse24.com/News/Top_Story/20050110-010/page.asp

[kampuniform]

It is a pity that more world disasters don't fall on the holidays. Think of the lives that might have been saved if the Rwandan massacre had occurred around Easter!

[superkat*deals]

Hi Everyone!
I have a story to share too!
I work in a restaurant chain that consists of all Sri Lankans in the kitchen(they ALL are amazing chefs if you didn't know that)
My busser, having close family there, had a tale to tell.
The day the Tsunami hit was his little brother's birthday. The family awoke early and went to Temple.(That's what they do to celebrate) When they arrived home, there was no home. It was completely washed away! They would have all been killed! He found out days later they relocated to higher ground and are all safe.
I have a donation box on the bar going to the Red Cross.
It's a tragedy. I'm sad for everyone who has lost family and friends.
Thanks to all for helping!
Kat