Gamers Charity

This entry includes an update regarding some Gamers Charity legal business.

RED CROSS: January 6, 2005 : Mike at San Antonio's Local Red Cross was contacted concerning legality of this entire Virtual Charity Drive. Mary Moore at the National Office said 1.) I can not use Red Cross Logo on my website but 2.) I can state on website I am giving my auction winnings to Red Cross personally 3.) I can state on Auctions I am giving to Red Cross through Mission Fish.

January 3, 2005 : To instil public faith in my promise, $3,000 was donated by "Crazy" Joe Harden personally. Here is a scanned computer printed receipt.

PAY PAL: GamersCharity has a seperate paypal account via CrazyJoe@gamerscharity.com in response of legal advice given by Doug Wallingford, "Crazy" Joe's Tax Agent. A Seperate Checking Account was also opened at Frost National Bank directly tied to this Paypal Account. Due to the volume of cash and requirement from Mission Fish to allow credit cards I had to upgrade the account to a Premier account.

EBAY: All auctions under account J-harden are to be considered reimbursements for the $3,000 donation made by Crazy Joe personally.

All auctions under GamersCharity are regulated and controlled by Mission Fish, the only avenue available for Ebay Auctions donating to any charity. Most auctions will only donate 90-95% of the final price to Red Cross. The other 5-10% is used to offset all expenses related to Ebay and Paypal.

MISSION FISH: All money received from auctions goes into GamersCharity paypal account, then personal checking account. Ten (10) days later all money is automatically charged to personal Credit Card - and paid off with money from personal checking account. Leftover cash from 5-10% not donated used to pay Ebay and compensate for Paypal's fees. *Note that this changed mid-February, see below!

FEES: GamersCharity.com is NOT for profit. 5-10% of proceeds are kept to pay for Ebay and Paypal Fees. Money Orders and Cashiers Checks are the best way to cut down on fees!

Ebay Fees:

"When you list an item on eBay, you're charged an Insertion Fee according to the table below. If the item sells, you are also charged a Final Value Fee. The total cost of selling an item is the Insertion Fee plus the Final Value Fee."

Insertion Fees:

Starting or Reserve Price	Insertion Fee
$.01 - $.99	$.30
$1.00 - $9.99	$.35
$10.00 - $24.99	$.60
$25.00 - $49.99	$1.20
$50.00 - $199.99	$2.40
$200.00 - $499.99	$3.60
$500 or More	$4.80

Final Value Fees:

Closing Price	Final Value Fee
Item Not Sold	NO FEE
$.01 - $25.00	5.25% of closing value
$25.01 - $1,000.00	5.25% of initial $25 ($1.31), PLUS 2.75% of the remaining balance ($25.01 to $1,000)

Listing Update Fees:

10-Day Duration $0.20 (Used RARELY)

Paypal Fees:

I have a Premier Account due to the MissionFish requiremet and volume of money transfered.

Receive Funds

1.9% + $0.30 USD to 2.9% + $0.30 USD

EXAMPLE:

5 Million Oceania Auction Auction #8163845404

Action	FEE
Auction Listing at $34.00	$1.20
Auction Closes at $35.00
5.25% of $25	$1.31
2.75% of $10	$0.275
Paypal Transfer	$1.67
TOTAL FEES	$4.46
Percentage Rate	12.74%

Unexplained Mystery : Another $35 paypal transfer cost -$1.32 . I plan to contact Paypal and get a clear idea why that happened.

2 Million Drachenfels Auction #8160681172

Action	Fee
Auction Listing at $14.00	$.60
Auction Closes at $14.00
5.25% of $14	$0.735
Paypal Transfer	-$.85
TOTAL FEES	$2.19
Percentage Rate	15.6%

As of January 26th, 2005 I have downgraded the Paypal Account to a "Personal Account", on advice from Lynn of UO Tradespot. The good news is this means no more fees from Paypal - however it comes with a price. Auction Winners can NOT pay with Paypal through eBay auctions, they must log into Paypal.com and make their payment to CrazyJoe@Gamerscharity.com and selects "Goods-Other" instead of Auction and reference the auction number. The other downside is gamerscharity.com Paypal account can not accept credit cards - anyone that wishes to use one may send payment to CrazyJoe@CrazyJoe.us and then I will transfer the money to the proper bank account. Keep in mind - MissionFish has the authorization to take the donation away from me, so your donation to Red Cross is made no matter how you pay me - if at all.

Sorry for the confusion and changes - however keep in mind this can eliminate a large amount of fees - and that means more money for Red Cross.

* Update March 2005
By the end of February, eBay announced all auctions with 100% donation to charity would have their fees donated to the charity. Well, better late than never! I have changed my fees collection rate to 80% - and do a mixture of auctions at 100 and 80% to try and maximize donations while covering fees.