As part of our continued commitment to helping nonprofit organizations raise additional funding for their programs, we have recently enhanced our software to provide full support for the new eBay Giving Works initiatives. Giving Works is eBay's dedicated program for charity listings where eBay users can support non profit organizations with their purchases. Giving Works, has recently announced some significant program changes that we believe will help eBay emerge as the standard platform for charitable in kind donations and help to advance this emerging category. These changes include the donation of eBay fees to the nonprofit organizations and the ability of sellers to donate any portion of a sale over 10 percentage to a non profit organization.

Additional changes made during the last year were the availability of the Giving Works program through the eBay API, making it easier for large volume sellers to use the program. At Auction Inn, we have integrated the giving works program into our software application, one of the first dedicated sellers to do so, and as far as we know the only local marketing service with the ability to directly list through Giving Works. In the coming year we will be participating in an eBay study to determine the increased selling price of Giving Works charity auctions over regular auctions which initial studies have estimated at between 10 and 40 percent. We are very excited about these changes and look forward to working on additional ways to help nonprofits take advantage of the eBay platform.

Auction Inn Corp. CEO, Bob Musser

Edgar Santiago, or “Gizz” as he likes to be called, has been a great asset to the Work-able Training Program since he started in mid December. Through Work-able Edgar has acquired skills in packing, shipping and photography. Edgar's skills have been most apparent in photography where he has been a shining star. Edgar has worked diligently to photograph jewelry using Auction Inn's state of the art eBox. As the program continues, he will acquire even more knowledge on the inner workings of Auction Inn’s operations. Edgar has lived in Lancaster with his family his whole life. He learned about the Workable Training Program through Connections Café. When he is not working at Auction Inn, Edgar enjoys listening to music and hanging out with his friends. Edgar hopes to obtain his GED before the Workable Training Program concludes. His other goal is to obtain employment in a high paying job with the help of Auction Inn. We are extremely fortunate to have Edgar on our team and we are looking forward to his future success.

We were very excited to have Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, come to Lancaster on Wednesday, January 17th to headline a program entitled “An afternoon of social responsibility, an exciting new business philosophy, and free desert for All”. We were fortunate to meet Jerry at last years eBay live conference, and found his presentation to be one of the best, most thought provoking programs we have seen. Since that conference we have spoken several times about Auction Inn and our mission of helping nonprofits to become more sustainable, and Jerry is very excited about our model. He agreed to come to Lancaster for the program to help improve the visibility of this new business philosophy.

As we have build the foundation for our business, we have noticed a new trend in business, in that for-profit companies are now recognizing the value in contributing to the communities in which they operate, and that non-profit companies are realizing that they are a business with the opportunity to generate revenue that helps to fund their programs and make them more sustainable. At Auction Inn, we’ve been fortunate enough to have had the chance to experience this first hand as an outgrowth of a job training initiative at the Boys & Girls Club of Lancaster, PA.

In many ways this change in the way businesses are starting to see themselves was started and can be attributed to Ben & Jerry’s and Jerry Greenfield. They were pioneers in the world of values led businesses, and their efforts in incorporating their values and the needs of society into the fabric of their business has become a model for so many companies that have emulated them. This has helped to create the groundswell for the exciting new business philosophy we talked about. This blending of the values of the for-profit and non-profit worlds is gaining momentum, and is being led by some of the most influential minds in the for-profit world, the non-profit world, the foundations, and also the academic world.

The program was a phenomenal success, as our sold out audience got the chance to hear the story of how Ben & Jerry’s was formed, their challenges, successes and failures, and how the values that they integrated into their company helped to make them the company they are today. Our question and answer session was very focused on the sale of the company to Unilever and how that has affected the social mission of the company. At the very end, of course, we all had a serving of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to cap off a great day.

What was once a side business turned into a rather large bonus check for a retired Lancaster County Jeweler. Auction Inn successfully liquidated $5,000 in estate jewelry in the month of December on his behalf. To view our complete inventory of jewelry please visit http://stores.ebay.com/AuctionInn.

10K Cushion Citrine Ring Selling for $200.00

Central Pennsylvania residents wanting to sell personal items on eBay but without the hassle of setting up an account and running an auction can make use of Auction Inn’s unique services. The eBay name is very well known but a lot of people don’t know the specifics or have the time to sell their items, and we’re here to do it for you.

Teaching the Basics of eBay Auction Inn’s very own eBay Education Specialist, Brandon Weese. Brandon, has in extensive background in eBay sales and is certified by eBay as an Education Specialist.

At Auction Inn we are conducting eBay classes for those who are interested in purchasing or selling on eBay. We cover the history of eBay, buyer protection, navigating or searching for a particular item, bidding, and payment options. At the end of the class you will have an opportunity to open an eBay and Paypal account.

Click here to dowload the eBay class tutorial

Up Coming Classes: Boys & Girls Club Connection Café 241 W. Lemon Street, Lancaster PA Saturday, February 3rd – 10am – Noon Thursday February 8th at 5 – 7pm To Register for a class please call 888-TO-THE-INN

The Safeguarding Member IDs project is a new initiative by eBay for auction-style listings that offers more privacy and increase fraud protection for eBay members through changing how bidding information is displayed. eBay believe’s that this change will help to balance the need for openness and transparency in the marketplace, with the need to protect the Community of members from the threats that have appeared as the Internet has flourished. eBay also believes the Safeguarding Member IDs project provides the Community with enough information about the bidders involved in an auction-style listing for them to feel confident in placing a bid -- without revealing actual User IDs. This new system is implemental on listings where the high bid is $200 or greater, which is where eBay believes it can have the greatest positive impact. The bid information for listings where the bid is lower than $200 will not change.

Click here for more information on eBay’s SMI Project.

All text and images in this newsletter are © Auction Inn. All rights reserved.