awkward online auction situation

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broadway

Full time employment: Posting here.
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Last month I bought a pendant and necklace heavily discounted from a major box. It wasn't expensive, but it was 78% off.

I decided to donate it to an auction being held by a person LD who rescues cats. I kept the jewelry in my possession and was going to mail it to the winning bidder.

The auction goes live and when it ended LD's daughter ended up being the highest bidder. The daughter didn't even bid with her own Facebook username. LD bid on behalf of LD's daughter.

Supposedly the daughter should have paid LD the winning bid, but I have no way of knowing that.

I was Paypal'd the money for the shipping $3.

I do realize that since I had donated the jewelry technically it wasn't mine any longer, but I do not like what happened.

How do I prevent this from happening in the future?
I did not say anything this time, but the whole point of my donating the jewelry was to get money for the rescue effort not for someone to end up with something they liked essentially for free.
 
broadway said:
How do I prevent this from happening in the future?
I did not say anything this time, but the whole point of my donating the jewelry was to get money for the rescue effort not for someone to end up with something they liked essentially for free.
Click to expand...
Essentially, you're in exactly the same situation as anyone who donates to LD's group--you have no way of knowing if LD is using the money to help cats, or if the money is being used by LD for his own purposes (incl to directly purchase gifts for his daughter, etc). You just have a little bit more insight because of the "irregularities" with the Facebook IDs, a normal donor wouldn't have seen this.
The best way to avoid a problem in the future is to give to a different group that helps animals, maybe one with some external independent auditing.
 
Seems to me they were up front with the bidding by using their own true ID to bid. Just because they run the charity doesn't mean they don't have their own money to spend.
 
REWahoo said:
If you suspect LD is doing something unethical, maybe you should support a different animal rescue group.
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+1

Also, "charitable" organizations run by scumbags seem rampant these days. I think that unfortunately, anyone planning to give to a charitable organization has a lot of investigating to do first. It's sad.

F and I were talking about a similar issue just yesterday, concerning scumbags that set up churches and fleece their church members. Around here this is becoming more common than not. We are not religious, but if we were we'd sure be cautious before joining and giving money to any sort of unknown church.

Makes me miss the simpler, less complicated times of the past.
 
broadway said:
...
...
I did not say anything this time, but the whole point of my donating the jewelry was to get money for the rescue effort not for someone to end up with something they liked essentially for free.
Click to expand...

Do the proceeds from the auction go directly to the person who rescues the cats? If so, I don't think you'll ever know if the bid for your item was actually paid by that person, to himself. Even less lkely imo is that the daughter paid the parent for it. Can you donate food or litter instead of participating in the auction, next time?
 
Even more, how do you know LD actually rescues cats in the first place? Facebook user names? That right there would have stopped me cold.
 
If you have a charity, you can't donate to yourself. So if the charity is a 501c3, what they did is illegal.
 
If it is just a person who rescues cats informally and not a legal organization with board of directors then just take it for what it is. Be sure NOT to take a tax deduction for this because a charitable donation in this case would not be allowable.

If you wish to continue to support LD consider donating cat food. Less potential for misunderstandings this way
 
Wow,lots of accusations flying here. For all we know, LD really liked the jewelry, and paid the bid amount to the account used for cat rescues. As was pointed out, the bid was above board and not hidden with an alias of some sort.


broadway, I think it is within your right to ask LD, in a non-confrontational way, how this was handled, and asking for proof is not out of line. If LD just has an informal setup, you have learned perhaps not to donate to that type of person/organization. If it's legit, you'll feel better about your donation and LD.


If someone else had bought the jewelry, how would you know that the money actual went to cat rescuing rather than in LD's pocket? You're putting a certain amount of faith in LD either way. There's nothing about LD buying it that screams Scam to me.
 
I am also one who is not going to get on LDs case....


Maybe the bids were really low... and LDs daughter thought that it was a good deal for her...


The question I would have is where was it auctioned:confused: If it were with only friends of the cat rescue place, then there might have not been enough eyes on the product.... I would want them to auction on EBay or some other large site with many eyes....
 
COcheesehead said:
If you have a charity, you can't donate to yourself. So if the charity is a 501c3, what they did is illegal.
Click to expand...


If you set up a charity as a 501c3, then you are not donating to yourself, you are donating to the 501c3...

I would like to see why you say what they are doing is illegal....
 
Texas Proud said:
If you set up a charity as a 501c3, then you are not donating to yourself, you are donating to the 501c3...

I would like to see why you say what they are doing is illegal....
Click to expand...

Because my wife started a 501C3 and we know the rules.
You could potentially donate to the charity, get the tax break and yet still have access to funds.
 
COcheesehead said:
Because my wife started a 501C3 and we know the rules.
You could potentially donate to the charity, get the tax break and yet still have access to funds.
Click to expand...

I also asked for where you see that.... just saying it is because you know the rules is not authoritative...


I agree that it can be a conflict, but that in and of itself does not make it illegal....

I have looked and cannot find any reference to what you say... there is a lot about disclosing conflicts, but I do not see where they say you cannot donate to one you created...
 
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Texas Proud said:
I also asked for where you see that.... just saying it is because you know the rules is not authoritative...


I agree that it can be a conflict, but that in and of itself does not make it illegal....

I have looked and cannot find any reference to what you say... there is a lot about disclosing conflicts, but I do not see where they say you cannot donate to one you created...
Click to expand...

IRS guidelines for "incidental benefits".
 
COcheesehead said:
IRS guidelines for "incidental benefits".
Click to expand...

I have been trying to get an authoritative source... but you seem to not want to answer... just vague comments...

Looking up what you gave me gives me zip... zero results from a search.... I get a lot about private benefits, but nothing on what you claim.... can you give me the IRS code number or reg that talks about where someone who set us a 501 cannot donate to it:confused:...
 
Texas Proud said:
I have been trying to get an authoritative source... but you seem to not want to answer... just vague comments...

Looking up what you gave me gives me zip... zero results from a search.... I get a lot about private benefits, but nothing on what you claim.... can you give me the IRS code number or reg that talks about where someone who set us a 501 cannot donate to it:confused:...
Click to expand...

I answered the question. The details exist online. You seem to want to argue, I don't. :)
 
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