May 6, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
Five Internet-auction companies are working together to support efforts to aid Kosovar refugees.
Amazon.com Auctions (http://www.amazon.com), eBay (http://www.ebay.com), LiveBid.com (http://www.livebid.com), Up4Sale (http://www.up4sale.com), and Yahoo Auctions (http://auctions.yahoo.com) are auctioning donated items to raise money for the American Red Cross’s efforts to help refugees in the Balkans. The companies are also encouraging their customers to auction items to benefit the Red Cross or to make outright contributions to the charity.
The companies differ in how they are handling the items that their customers are selling. On Amazon.com Auctions and Yahoo Auctions, the person who buys an item writes a check made out to the seller, and then it is up to the seller to write a check to the Red Cross and send it in. Through eBay, the person who buys an item writes a check made out to the Red Cross and sends it to the seller, who in turn sends it to the Red Cross. That way both the buyer and the seller know that proceeds have been donated to the relief effort.
The Internet has played an important role in the American Red Cross’s fund-raising efforts during the Kosovo crisis. Last month it received $1.1-million through its Web site.
