eBay Shuts Down Ultima Online Charity Auctions

An Anonymous Reader writes "Numerous players in Ultima Online are donating vitual gold to "Crazy" Joe Harden. Harden started some eBay auctions with the best of intentions, giving all the proceeds to the Red Cross for the tsunami disaster relief. Unfortunately, Ebay has decided to shut him down. Here's a quote from the article over on FileFront: "The auctions were for in-game gold in Ultima Online. What Harden did was set up places within Ultima Online where players could come and either buy 'junk,' as he called it, or simply donate gold to be auctioned off on eBay. After setting up 43 auctions, things were running smoothly until eBay pulled every single one of them off of their site." We reported on this effort yesterday.

Comments

Looks like Fizzog called it

[Riddlefox]

Fizzog called it in a post yesterday.

I wonder what Crazy Joe is going to do with all the gold. I kind of doubt that he gave receipts for refunds.

Re:Looks like Fizzog called it

[nocomment]

actually he relisted everything.

Here our aim discussion.

AIM IM with carnivorousjoe
8:51 AM
me: just read the news about the ebay takedown, bummer, I was behind ya. maybe try to sell "peices of paper that describe how much money is going to the red cross"? if people can sell things telling you where to go click links surely you can do that...
Joe: Im back up though!
me: you are?
8:55 AM
Joe: oh yes, lots of auctions online
Joe: it was a nervous drive last night to redo them all
Joe: im mentally beat but stable now
me: is ebay going to leave them alone?
Joe: I totally relisted
Joe: let me find one
Joe: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dllViewItem&item= 8159452741
me: cool
Joe: no charity and no links
me: i can't beleive they pulled them
Joe: but enough to get the recognition
Joe: yup!
Joe: I believe in them - im glad they got me set up people do this to rip others off
Joe: so i want to be legit anyway it needs to be
me: mind if I post our discussion or parts of in in a /. comment?
Joe: im in communiq with red cross
Joe: go ahead
Joe: but red cross is thankfully figuring out what to do about this Virutal Stuff, and I hope they call back today with what I need to fill out

Spirit of the 'law' vs. Letter of the 'law'

[numbski]

Seems straightforward enough:

Ebay doesn't want to set a precedent.

You let him do it, why can't I?

The honorable thing here would be to back this guy up and applaud his efforts. UO obviously is cool with it, but E-bay doesn't want people making a habit of it, so they pull the plug.

I'm sure no one over there is reading this, but listen up...the spirit of your rules were to protect copyright owners against misuse. The letter of your rule states that you can't sell virtual goods.

I don't think the spirit of your rule is being harmed by a charitable giving of those online. Don't shy away simply because the letter of the law forbids it.

It sucks SO BADLY that everyone is afraid of being sued. That's precisely why this is being shut down. :(

I could go on a huge rant on how I would like to trust people around me and not constantly feel like I must protect myself from litigation. *sigh*

Re:Spirit of the 'law' vs. Letter of the 'law'

[GoofyBoy]

Did you even read the article?

>The honorable thing here would be to back this guy up and applaud his efforts.

1. Its a policy not to have regular individuals have an action in the name of a charity (Red Cross). A good one at that, as it prevent fraud, when a buyer expects the money to go somewhere but it might not. Even Joe Harden admits thats its a good policy.
2. The auctions are/going to be up again ""I purposely left a few tidbits in the very vague "new" auctions that hopefully will perk some eyebrows and buyers can investigate why this Auction mentions my name, the Tsunami, and Stratics," he said."

>The letter of your rule states that you can't sell virtual goods.

This has nothing to do with why it was pulled.

Some important points missing from summary

[LeninZhiv]

Some important points the Slashdot summary didn't mention:

1) This is because E-bay forbids auctions in the name of a charity as
there have been people in the past who have used this as a con.

2) According to the article, Crazy Joe is in agreement with this
policy and is not upset that the auctions were pulled.

3) He's putting the auctions back up without mention of the Red Cross
or his website so everything should still go smoothly for those who
have donated.

Of course if everybody reads TFA there's no problem, but the way the
write-up puts it makes things seem as though things are a lot more
outrageous than they are. Besides, on slashdot "if everybody reads
TFA" is a pretty laughable suggestion...

Re:Some important points missing from summary

[GoofyBoy]

> but the way the write-up puts it makes things seem as though things are a lot more outrageous than they are

How much responsibility do the slashdot editors have when it comes to this?

If you read the write up, it implies something ("eBay unfair and against charitable works!") yet if you read the link (or do a search on google) its a totally different story ("Charitable works not done properly.") Even once sentence at the end "Ebay has a policy to prevent fraud in a charity name, autions are planned to be reposted at a later date." would have made the story more balanced.

Considering how many people will not read comments, don't the editors have a responsiblity to be more reflective of the truth and not being so ... tabloid-like?

Why wasn't he following the rules?

[NexusTw1n]

"Donlay said there are a few ways that sellers can hold auctions on eBay for charity donations. The first is through a tool called Givingworks, where the money never even reaches the sellers hands; it goes directly to the charity."

Anyone know why he was collecting the money himself rather than following ebay's procedure which would guarantee to all bidders that the money really would go to charity?

Should've read the article first

[numbski]

Knee-jerk reaction.

eBay doesn't suck in this case I guess. He can still do the auctions, but has to carefully word how he puts it up.

I'd just put up

CrazyJoe UO Ultimae Online Tsunami Gold

That should say plenty there (I think?).

He can't mention the Red Cross. :\

He's already donated the money

[Anonymous Coward]

If you read his site, he's already donated $3000 from his credit card for the fund. What these auctions will be doing is simply refunding him the money already spent, if he goes over $3000 on the auctions he'll make another donation. If he gets less then $3000 he'll just consider the extra a personal donation on his part.

I've known this guy for a few years now, he's good on his word and won't be keeping the gold to himself, it will all be sold on ebay (auctions are re-listed with different wording) and the donation to the red cross has already been made. He's one of the few people left on the internet you can actually trust their word on.

--J. R. Cook