Sold! to the entity no one can tell is a dog, since this is the internet.

[mrissa]

There is an auction at care_faith_hope for which I am offering some baked goods, as I currently feel up to offering baked goods in a limited number. I mention this first because if you're interested, you should go see, and second because I was thinking about what I have recently decided to do for auctions to help people/causes.

Here is my personal rule of thumb:

1) I determine what I would find reasonable to pay for the item offered if I was buying it for non-charitable/helpful purposes.
2) I determine what I would find reasonable to kick in if it was not an auction but merely a cry for help for a situation I would find worth helping. I add this to the price of the item or items for my bids, sometimes starting low if it seems there might be multiple items of interest. If there are not multiple items of interest and no one else is bidding on something, I don't mind outbidding myself.
3) If there is some way to give to the cause outside the auction, I will do so in the amount of #2 if I lose all the auctions in which I have bid.

A lot of people are going through tough times right now, lots of them in ways I can't help, some in ways I can. Nobody has an unlimited amount of "hand" to lend. One thing I have right now, though, is the ability to make Guinness gingerbread and/or sour cherry bread. Which is, it turns out, probably better than nothing.

Comments

[aedifica]

If it weren't for Pamela's item there, I'd be bidding on your gingerbread. So if bidding there goes higher than I can afford and yours is still open, I'll come bid on yours.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, thanks. I'm never sure how these things work best. Maybe I should have offered for the top N bidders, N to be determined. I am new at this.

[aedifica]

That's a thought. I'm new at it too--which is to say, I've bid on things before but have yet to offer anything--but that sounds like it could work well.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Several people offering items in the livelongnmarry auction offered duplicate items to the next N bidders for their bid price after the auction closed, and that didn't seem to be a problem. (And one mod from livelongnmarry is a mod at care_faith_hope, so I don't see why that shouldn't be allowed.)

I can see in a regular auction that the top bidder might be annoyed that the others were offered the same item for lower bids, but as it's for charity the more people who win, the more money gets raised, and everyone wins.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's definitely OK if the seller feels moved to do so and the bidders are OK with it.

I and several others are also offering the same item or service to the top two or three bidders.

[aedifica]

Now yours and hers are *both* over my price range! (I think one says congratulations.) But I found another thing to bid on, which I'm sure I'll also be outbid at shortly. :-)

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Both of those sound really delicious. I've bid on something easier to mail to Canada, though.

[columbina.livejournal.com]

The ability to make Guinness gingerbread is considerably better than nothing. Don't undersell yourself!

Sour cherry bread, now, I could not say, because I have not had the opportunity to try that. I should look into the matter.