How can I make this auction legit?

cno2u · 04-22-2006, 06:04 PM

Okay ya'll have always been here when I had crazy questions, but I really need to make a sort of charity auction without it getting pulled any and all ideas are helpfull.

Here's the auction deal. My parents are getting royally screwed by their home mortgage company and this company is trying to foreclose on them. They have until May 20,2006 or they will lose their home. My dad is in construction and can build things or he is also an artist ( he gave up the art, to support the family in construction) he is awesome he can paint, draw, or woodburn anything people, places, objects you name it. My idea was that we could put it up that he will build or paint woodburn whatever the winning bidder wants for winning ... the larger the bid the larger or more of the artistic prize if you will .... my question is how can I list this auciton showing it's legitness as well as share the whole story of what has happened. I am terrible with HTML codes and adding cool things such as music and stuff so any and all help would be awesome. I'm not even sure where to put this. This has all happened super fast and all help would be appreciated. This all happened when my dad fell off a 12 ft. roof and shattered his arm. I thought about providing copies of the medical bills and mortgage bills as proof, I just would hate for it to get pulled we don't have the time.

Sincerely,
Cno2u

Hybrix · 04-22-2006, 08:02 PM

Hi Cno2u,

This is tricky. I think if you listed it "AS" your parents (first person instead of third) that would help. I don't think it can be considered charity if it's for yourself.

If you were doing it for somebody else, then that's a gray area. I think you can definitely do this auction and it should be interesting how it turns out.

One thing you want to keep in mind is how much work your dad is willing to do. If somebody bids $50k for example, and you are guaranteeing their bid price in artistic time spent and value, well, unless he is Van Gough a $50k art piece or collection of art pieces would take a LONG time to make. It would certainly be a full time job, but you need to also say something about how long it will take to finish the project.

Hope that helps.

cno2u · 04-22-2006, 08:13 PM

Well from the stad point of his daughter I would say he is awesome and I've begged him for years to sell his art work. He is willing to paint for the rest of his life if it will save his home. Question can I post this auction as trying to save my house deal without it being kicked from ebay? If I worded it as the proceeds from this auction that would be a violation correct?? So how do you add your story without it being a violation be it in first or third person? That is the main question, this is something that needs to be up very quickly.

Hybrix · 04-22-2006, 09:45 PM

I would stay away from using the word "proceeds" entirely. Keep the auction personal, and make it sound like you are writing it in your perspective, but use words like "us", "our", "my family" etc, to keep it obvious that this is not really a charity as much as a good cause for your own family.

cno2u · 04-23-2006, 02:13 PM

Okay my dad told me to do an auction with his antique corvette and his norris crafter (boat) these are nice I mean nice ... the vette is custom everything and is sweet the boat is awesome too killer motor on it can absolutly fly down the lake is the second fastest boat on Norris lake! I was thinking about doing a mystery keys auction? Is that allowed ... holding the keys infront of the objects themselves and giving clues? Or do you think that would get pulled?

Hybrix · 04-24-2006, 07:37 PM

I think you could get more if you just said what it was.

Actually, you really should do some quick research and see if you can take the car to a live collector car auction. I think you'd have a better chance at getting higher dollar bids if you went that route.

leopard22 · 04-25-2006, 11:52 AM

I'm with Andrew on this one (man, I hate when he's right and I didn't get there first

). If your dad has a 'vette, he should look into selling it via a custom car collector and if the boat is that good, sell that too. I think an auction as you are proposing is a risk, but selling the car and boat is not risky at all (as long as you can find a buyer of course).

That should get enough money to stop the foreclosure I would think, even if the proceeds didn't cover the entire amount. I know it would be hard for him to give up those treasured items, but if it's a choice between the roof over my head and my classic car, it's goodbye to the car. Has he considered doing this? He could get a deal done pretty quickly ... likely quicker than an auction would need to run to get enough "bids" to help out.

To me, the online auction idea is too risky in terms of whether or not it would be acceptable to the website, plus you never know if the ultimate bidder(s) are legit themselves, so it might wind up being a huge waste of time and effort and get you no further to your goal.

You'd probably have more luck going to the local media with the story and see if some nice people come out of the woodwork (no pun intended) to help out. Just my two cents worth.