You can participate by selling, buying, and donating monies directly to the charities.

• Selling - If you have an item that you can afford to give away, consider selling it in Auction for America. eBay will waive Listing, Final Value, and transaction processing fees. Sellers will still be charged optional insertion fees (such as Bold, Highlight, and Reserve fees). These optional fees will be donated by eBay to an Auction for America charity.
• Buying - If you were planning to buy something, consider buying that item in Auction for America. Your purchase price will go directly to the charities.
• Donate Cash - You can also donate monies directly to the charities.

• Registering on eBay allows you to bid or sell an item in Auction for America. Register now for eBay.
• Registering with eBay Payments ensures that 100% of your contribution goes to the Auction for America effort. eBay Payments, VISA, Mastercard, Wells Fargo, Discover, and First Data Merchant Services have come together to offer fee-free transaction processing online. This ensures that millions of extra dollars may go to relief charities rather than to pay processing fees. Register for eBay Payments.

• Waiving fees
  1. eBay has waived the Insertion and Final Value Fees for all Auction for America listings. Sellers will still be charged optional Insertion Fees (such as Bold, Highlight and Reserve Fees). These optional fees will be donated by eBay to an Auction for America charity.
  2. In order to ensure that 100% of your contribution goes to Auction for America efforts, eBay Payments, VISA, MasterCard, Wells Fargo, Discover and First Data Merchant Services have come together to offer something truly unprecedented for this effort: fee-free transaction processing online. This extraordinary contribution will ensure that millions of extra dollars go to relief charities rather than to pay processing fees.
• Donating Monies - the eBay Foundation is donating the first $1 million to the effort.
• Giving Time - hundreds of eBay employees have worked thousands of hours in a special effort to make it possible for the eBay community to contribute to the relief effort through Auction for America.

You can also search for items with proceeds for a specific charity by checking "Search titles and descriptions" and "Show only Auction for America Items" and then typing in the name of the fund into the search box (i.e.,"September 11th Fund"). If you want to search for specific items within that fund, add words to your search term (i.e., "September 11th Fund American Flag").

Shipping insurance may not be automatically offered. You should work with your seller to arrange insurance, if needed

Payments - You can pay for Auction for America items via credit card or electronic check using eBay Payments by Billpoint for amounts up to and over $100,000. Your financial institution may contact you to confirm other fund transfer methods based upon the final amount. This will ensure that your entire payment is routed directly to the charities in a timely fashion.

Shipping - Sellers may request to be reimbursed for shipping charges. Sellers may list items and select which regions and countries that they are willing to ship to. Buyers may also coordinate with the seller to arrange a mutually agreeable delivery arrangement.

• Register on eBay.com and for eBay Payments by Billpoint.
• On the Sell Your Item form, choose to list your item in the Auction for America program. You can designate the proceeds from your donations to go to a specific fund that supports the relief efforts, such as the September 11th Fund, American Red Cross, Twin Towers Fund and New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund.
• As part of the Auction for America program, sellers are required to offer and accept only eBay Payments by Billpoint. This is to ensure that 100% of your contribution goes to the Auction for America effort.

We strongly encourage sellers to specify a fixed shipping amount up front in order to be reimbursed. If you do not know the shipping cost up front, please contact your buyer immediately after the auction closes to determine the correct shipping amount. Buyers will have the opportunity to enter the correct shipping amount when paying through eBay Payments by Billpoint.

Sellers may choose to offer shipping insurance and should work with the buyer to determine how shipping insurance will be paid.

In general, if you donate an item of tangible personal property, the amount of your deduction is limited to how much you paid for the item or its fair market value - whichever is less. You should describe the item being sold and include (for tax purposes) a good faith estimate of its fair market value as part of the description. Items of tangible personal property include personal effects (like a watch or furniture), collectibles (like an antique or sports memorabilia), or something you have created (like a quilt or a painting).

What this means under the tax law is that if you paid $10 for an item that you contribute when it has a fair market value of $25, your contribution deduction is limited to $10. You will be entitled to a deduction only if the item is sold, and the $10 limit applies no matter what the item is sold for. There may be special rules for items obtained by gift or inheritance.

eBay Payments will send a receipt on behalf of the specified charity for tax purposes to the seller as soon as the sale is concluded.

There are other rules to keep in mind. For example, if you donate any item and you are claiming a deduction of more than $5,000, you need to get an independent appraiser to confirm that value. The appraisal must satisfy a number of specific requirements under the tax law. Also, there are limits on the total amount of charitable contribution deductions that can be claimed in any one year.

Any shipping and packing costs associated with sending an Auction for America item are fully deductible by whoever pays those costs. If the buyer or seller pays the shipping costs, the shipping receipts can be kept separately for tax purposes.

The tax laws for charitable contributions can be complicated. If you have any questions, we urge you to contact your tax advisors. For more information concerning the tax rules that may apply, you can also visit the IRS web site for further information on IRS Publication 526 (charitable contributions) at www.irs.gov/forms_pubs/pubs.html

• Payments - Sellers are required to offer and accept only eBay Payments by Billpoint. The Auction for America Vehicle Sell Your Item form supports eBay Payments by Billpoint for amounts up to and over $100,000.
• Shipping - Sellers can choose which regions and countries they are willing to ship the vehicle and whether or not they are willing to pay for shipping. Sellers may also coordinate with the buyer to arrange a mutually agreeable delivery arrangement.
• Tax Deductions - Sellers may receive a tax deduction for their donation.

• Mister Lister - Select the charity you would like to donate to in the Payment Methods box in the Mister Lister Composer. Remember to change your payment options to meet the requirements for Auction for America.
• Seller Assistant Basic and Pro - Seller Assistant Basic and Pro support Auction for America. However, the current version requires sellers to donate shipping. We will inform you when we update the tool next.
• All Other Tools - Several auction listing management tools support Auction for America; check with your provider for more details.

If you would like to help members one-on-one, volunteer for our "Members helping Members" area. To volunteer, you will need a feedback rating of at least 50 and a 97% positive feedback ratio (few negative comments). You will also need to be in good standing with eBay. Volunteer now to help new members get started.