Fluff Factory thread for 2/23/05 - Page 3

[ChristinaB]

Originally Posted by lindsayloo2020

Everything is beautiful, Id love to bid on everything.

Can someone explain something to me though. Arent people making pretty pennies off of these auctions by using charity in the name? MOST of these auctions are 10%. So say something goes for $300, the person selling it is getting $270 (way over retail right?) and the charity is getting $30? Isnt that a TAD sad to anyone? Im sure Ill get WAAAAY flamed for this, but I was just wondering if I was right or if Im smokin crack and things are going differentely than I have imagined. LOL

Thanks.

Lindsay

You shouldn't get flamed for saying what's on your mind! BUT I have seen A LOT of auctions that state something along the lines of this... "If the final sale price exceeds the true retail value, then the amount donated will increase to..... (whatever the increase is). I know lots of FF mamas have taken that concept into consideration hence bumping up the percentage donated if the auction goes higher or above retail. I also know some wahmamas plan to donate more than the auction says. I know personally, I will contact the buyer an let them know exactly what was donated. OH and some are doing 100% (some of them are doing numerous 100%) so having five 100% and a few 10 or 25% is ok in my eyes! HTH!

[LuvMy2Kidz]

there are many auctions that are more than 10%....But you have to remember many of the 10% auctions aren't going much, if any over retail, and these WAHMs work at home for a reason, they need the income...and sometimes that little 10% is really all they can afford to give, esp. when their stuff doesn't go over retail. Many also will end up giving most if not all of the higher priced items to charity. I remember last year a "hyena" wahm donated 100% of ALL of her auctions, even though many weren't listed as 100%. and many of us also donate from our profits from the auction on our own, we add whatever extra we can afford when we send out % into AFO...and we also bid on other auctions...and I think every WAHM has donated at least one, most of them have donated more than one, item to a 100% auction.

[ChristinaB]

Another thought... 10% of something is better than nothing and ITA LuvMy2Kidz! Very well said!

[LuvMy2Kidz]

Oh and I think I have about every penny of my profit from these spent on a 100% auction...unless I get outbid :LOL so all my money is going to AFO anyway :LOL

[allformyboys]

Originally Posted by lindsayloo2020

Everything is beautiful, Id love to bid on everything.

Can someone explain something to me though. Arent people making pretty pennies off of these auctions by using charity in the name? MOST of these auctions are 10%. So say something goes for $300, the person selling it is getting $270 (way over retail right?) and the charity is getting $30? Isnt that a TAD sad to anyone? Im sure Ill get WAAAAY flamed for this, but I was just wondering if I was right or if Im smokin crack and things are going differentely than I have imagined. LOL

Thanks.

Lindsay

I can't speak for ALL the WAHM's involved, but I can say that as much as I would LOVE to donate more to Charity I just simply can't afford it and 10% is better than nothing, however in the past (as with this year) it will be 10% or whatever over retail the auction goes whichever is MORE. And I know most of the WAHM's (especially those with $300 bids on things) do the same thing, however if things don't even reach retail, someone gets a great deal on an item and charity gets their cut too, and I still get to cover my costs so I am not out cash, only time.

Anyway the way I see it 10% is better than no % and I know these WAHM's are in it for the spirit of giving and not to get rich, so bid in confidence that no one is getting rich off this.

[mehndi mama]

Personally, the things I listed in the 100% section were the ones I was hoping would get more and higher bids. My 30% one, I wanted to make sure I made back the cost of my supplies. And my 10% ones, I wasn't expecting many bids to begin with. I usually tack a bit extra on (however much I can afford) when I send in my percentages, anyway. Most of the WAHMs participating do so as well.

[Just*Lindsay]

Ok...Well I guess you have answered my question than. That MOST WAHM's will give what is basically whats over retail, and if its not, they will give the percentage. This sounds totally fair to me.

I guess what just bothers me is if the WAHM or auction lister is gaining money (meaning FAR over retail) by putting the word "charity" in the auction. I guess it WOULD bother me if the auction went for say $400, and the item was worth say $80 retail, and the WAHM pocketed $360 and gave $40 to the charity. Yes $40 is WAY better than nothing, but its still kind of sad to me that the wahm would be gaining pretty pennies from using the word charity in the title. KWIM? I may be the only one who feels this way but I have a feeling Im not.

If this isnt actually happenning, than please disregard my feelings as they are invalid. And thanks for answering my question everyone. I have bid on a few auctions as well, as I love for my money to go to charity regardless, but Im tending NOT to bid on the items that are going for WAY over retail but only 10% is given to the charity as I wasnt sure how that worked.

[DreamingMama]

Originally Posted by lindsayloo2020

Everything is beautiful, Id love to bid on everything.

Can someone explain something to me though. Arent people making pretty pennies off of these auctions by using charity in the name? MOST of these auctions are 10%. So say something goes for $300, the person selling it is getting $270 (way over retail right?) and the charity is getting $30? Isnt that a TAD sad to anyone? Im sure Ill get WAAAAY flamed for this, but I was just wondering if I was right or if Im smokin crack and things are going differentely than I have imagined. LOL

Thanks.

Lindsay

Last week the charity had nothing, next week they will have 10% of all sales. I think your not thinking the "whole picture". Did you check out the 100% auctions, these same wahms have donated tons and tons of goods that are brand new and beautiful. It is not about making tons of money it is about making money for an orphanage that had nothing yesterday and will have something from the wahms tomorrow.

[LuvMy2Kidz]

If you go take a quick look at the high $$ auctions...almost every single one of them is 100% with the exception of a very few, and the fussybutt set is a 50% auction, at it's current price it's barely over retail for the set(after she sends the 50% to AFO, and I"d bet she sends more than just 50% b/c I know she's been freaking out about how high it's been nid up ) I don't think there are many that are 10% that are much over retail...most of the higher bidding people are bidding higher b/c the auction is 100%


ETA: with just a quick tally of the 100% auctions that have ended this week, and what's still up, Fluff Factory has already raised over 3000.00 for AFO, this doesn't even include the other auctions. Last fall I think we only had around 150 auctions for the entire week, and still raised over 2000.00 and a lot of that was just 10% donations. There are many many more 100% auctions this time around than last year.

[Rising Sun]

About the 10%..

The 10% is also part of a template. MOst wahms give much higher than that. As an example, one wahm had a total sales of $150 last year. So, the 10% meant that she should give $15. When she donated her money, she gave $100.

Many of us purchased things for these auctions on our credit cards, that we have to pay for when the auctions are over. If we can just pay the amount that we paid for them, and pay that charge off of our card, we donate the rest.

Also, there are many wahms who really can't afford to give more than 10% or so. They are doing all they can as it is. They donated free items to the 100% baskets, and that was what they could do above the 10%.

You have to remember that 10% doesn't sound like much, but when it is coming out of your pocket, it can get rough. There are wahms who barely afford to buy food for the family every week. The extra that they make on these auctions goes a long way..... it goes to feed their children, and the children in AFO. It's 2 causes wrapped in one.

I only hope that people don't decide not to bid on items just because the wahm isn't stating that she is giving more than 10%. Maybe she will give 10%, plus whatever profit she makes. Maybe she will give whatever it goes over retail, so it is 50%, but you don't know that.

I think the overall picture is that people are giving an awful lot, putting a huge amount of effort into this, giving what they can, and really working for a cause.

Teri

[Ok]

I think its amazing and beautiful that WAHMs, most of whom don't probably earn a true living wage, still give so generously.

I love just browsing through the pages and hoping I'll get a "you won X" email some day this week

And if someone is concerned about the percentage a WAHM is getting, my suggestion would be either bid in the 100% donated section (great things there!!) or in the donate directly.

Since WAHMs are my heroes, I feel strange bidding against them for things. Like a TDD set I started bidding on and then Teri showed up. Um... how am I supposed to bid again? :LOL

ps: I really want the felted easter eggs...so if theres going to be a last minute flurry on them, I'm in trouble b/c I'll be at work when the auction ends. Sigh... So can I have fair warning so I can line up my proxy stalking friends? :

[Momsteader]

Good question actually Lindsay! I think most of the higher priced items are 50 to 100% donated and I do think that does drive the price up, because they are for charity. Also as I think a few others noted, some WAHMs may have 8 or 10 auctions listed as well as participation in the daily 100% baskets. They may do some 100%, some 50% and some 10%, because they simply cannot do them all at 100% and have that many up. I know of several WAHMs who didn't stock their own stores this month and/or pulled stock for the event so that there were plenty of options up. Wanting to ensure that there were plenty of smaller items also for people who don't have $500 for one auction has led to quite a few 10%-20% auctions this time, but those items will probably not go for much over retail so the WAHM isn't making a killing by any means.

It is a charity event and we are trying our best to raise as much money as possible for AFO while still balancing being able to not break the bank for our WAHM businesses! Every one of the auctions listed in the charity section by approved members is a reputable WAHM who is trying to give as much as she possibly can.

Quick review of the top 20 auctions by price (basically everything close to and over $100 bid) shows that 13 of them are 100% donated, 2 are 50%, 2 are 25%, 1 is 20% and 2 are 10%. So, most of the higher priced items look to be 100% donated. And, daily, there are two *HOT* items are 100% donated and most have gone over $100 each.

[dscokween]

I certainly wouldn't say your feelings are invalid at all! I think lots of people think about this sort of thing when they see auctions going for high dollars.

I don't think any of the wahm's participating in this are expecting to be making any money off of it. Doing 10 or 50% auctions allow wahms to make more items to put up, since the cost overhead can be pretty prohibitive or it can take a lot of time.

Actually, for a lot of these bits of butt art, they are finally getting the prices they warrant for the time going into them (sad but true). I'd rather see 10 auctions doing 10 percent from some people than one 100% auction. In the long run, it's more money for AFO and gorgeous fluff for baby bottoms. Isn't it fun?

(ps, I dare you to ask any wahm if she's ever made a 'pretty penny'! LOL)

[mom2fourdarlings]

I can understand "some" of the comment in regards to the 10% however I know that many, if not most, of these hard working wahms are also donating to the 100% area as well. And if you notice many items are up for far below what it cost the wahm themselves to make

I say "kudos" to all the hard working wahms tring to make a difference in a childs life and MAJOR kudo's to those that purchase from this wonderful event A whole bunch of fun!! with benifits to everyone, the wahm the buyer and the child who's life is made better by all involved

Every penny counts from 10% to 100%

Edit cause i am having a brain fart day on spelling so ignore any other errors

[allformyboys]

If this isnt actually happenning, than please disregard my feelings as they are invalid. And thanks for answering my question everyone. I have bid on a few auctions as well, as I love for my money to go to charity regardless, but Im tending NOT to bid on the items that are going for WAY over retail but only 10% is given to the charity as I wasnt sure how that worked.

Your feelings are NEVER invalid, just remember that but I agree with you, if something that was retail for $50 and went for $500 and the charity only got the $50 it would stink, I don't worry about these auctions because I know these mama's and I trust them and know they are freaking about how high some things have gone and are for sure not 'pocketing' the extra. It is actually good you posted your NOT INVALID feelings so it can be brought out into the open, your right I am sure your not the only one that feels this way, but brave enough to speak up, that is a good thing. We want to hit our goal, so I know that we all throw in whatever we can to make sure we hit that, and it is a BIG goal this year!

[ChristinaB]

Originally Posted by dscokween

(ps, I dare you to ask any wahm if she's ever made a 'pretty penny'! LOL)

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whoever asks that will either get a not so serious laugh or a whap in the face :LOL ok not really but ykwim. I'm glad that things such as the fussybutt set, are going as high as they are! Christy will finally get the money it took her to make (materials, time, etc) her items! Bravo, bravo!

[KayleeZoo]

I had to remind myself, too, that some of these mamas are wahms because they help to support their families with their biz- and they're taking time away from doing orders, etc. to do the charity auction. So they are, in fact, losing profit for many of these items. For some, this is probably just not possible when they need to buy groceries, etc. I'm especially impressed by Morwenna and how many things she knitted to auction for charity. I have no idea how many hours of work went into all those things, but I'm sure it was a lot. That's really admirable, IMO.

[Oceanone]

Originally Posted by Rising Sun

I think the overall picture is that people are giving an awful lot, putting a huge amount of effort into this, giving what they can, and really working for a cause.

Teri

That makes a lot of sense to me. I totally agree. Lindsay, thanks for your question. I am so glad we talked about it and cleared it up because I was wondering too. I too adore the wahm's and their talent and generosity.

[jessicaSAR]

Thanks everyone for bringing a little clarity to this issue. I think it is important because alot of people can justify spending much more than they normally would because they know they are actually donating money. I, too, was going on the assumption that most everyone involved in this event was participating because they wanted to do something for the greater good, and that sentiment would dictate how much they chose to donate in the end. I am happy to hear that this is and has been the attitude. Generosity and amazing beauty together - what more could an old hippie socialist want.

[Oceanone]

Originally Posted by jessicaSAR

Thanks everyone for bringing a little clarity to this issue. I think it is important because alot of people can justify spending much more than they normally would because they know they are actually donating money. I, too, was going on the assumption that most everyone involved in this event was participating because they wanted to do something for the greater good, and that sentiment would dictate how much they chose to donate in the end. I am happy to hear that this is and has been the attitude. Generosity and amazing beauty together - what more could an old hippie socialist want.

Oh, Jessica, you said it a lot better than I did. That's what I wanted to say. (except for the hippie socialist part :LOL)