My Kiva-oriented eBay listing

[Guest]

.

[Ramón]

Hey all,

I got a nice phone as a gift; a new, current, unlocked phone that I actually have no use for (since I'm getting all the phones I could ever wish for already through my work). So... I'm selling it through eBay, while also pushing Kiva: I stated my intention to use the proceeds for Kiva loans. And then the quarter dropped! What about asking the buyer to pay me with Kiva Gift Certificates?

See this eBay listing.

Basically, I am offering a huge discount if the winner pays me with Kiva Gift Certs:
- I will round down the price to the next lowest multiple of $25
- I will waive S&H fees
- I will also give the buyer a $25 Kiva Gift Certificate!

As a result, with a little bit of luck, I sell the phone (and can invest more into Kiva), the buyer gets familiarized with Kiva and gets a $25 stake in this, and an additional $18 to $42.99 discount, for a total price that is $43 to $67.99 cheaper than just paying me with Paypal. A huge incentive to go through the trouble and get yourself familiarized with Kiva...

By the way, since I had decided that the proceeds would go to Kiva loans anyways, the "actual" cost for me is auction fees (about $15-- eBay has gotten expensive!) and shipping costs (about $12 including insurance). The upside is that about 10 entrepreneurs will share in the proceeds, and maybe more if the buyer gets convinced of Kiva's value!

What do you think? Will it work??? I guess I will let you know in 7 days from now, when the auction ends...

--Ramón

[chris]

I like your plan!  Do keep us posted.

[NumboJumbo]

Well, that's a different take on things and hats off to you Ramon for thinking outside the box. It took me a while to figure out the full deal you were offering here, but once the penny dropped i can see how marvellous an idea it is which benefits everybody.

However, that being said. Will it work? I'm not sure, coz for somebody not familiar with the Kiva concept, I'm just wondering whether they would have the confidence to buy the Kiva certificates in the first place to pay you. We know Kiva is a darned good organisation. I just hope the potential buyer does as well.

Still, I'm impressed with the idea and I hope it leads to other people doing the same thing.

Mike

[Ramón]

I admit that it's a little complicated, and the Kiva gift certificate buying process doesn't really make it easier. For one, it forces someone to "sign up" with Kiva, which may be an additional entrance barrier.

Having said that, the phone was actually bought using "Buy It Now" by someone this evening. In an email to the buyer, I carefully explained how the purchase price would be $272.99 when paying me straight through Paypal ($249.99 + $18 S&H + $4.60 optional insurance), or $225 with Kiva Gift Certificates-- actually $200 because I'd give the buyer another $25 back in the form of a Kiva Gift Certificate.

Let's see what we get... either way is fine for me I will invest all the proceeds into Kiva loans...

--Ramón

[NumboJumbo]

Hurrah. That's great news that it sold. Even if the person pays you in real money, I noticed yuo still had quite a few visitors to yuor actual auction. How many were non Kivans is anybody guess, but hey one more pair of new eyes is one more potential convert.

And I'm still impressed by the idea. I thought it was quite an exciting adventure to go on - not knowing whether it would work or not. I'm so glad it did. I really do hope other people will follow your lead on this one and use the Kiva certificate in lieu of real money.

It makes me wonder, how many other transactions there are out there that could use the Kiva certificate as a monetary currency.

Let us know whether the phone was paid for in Kiva currency or real money.

Mike

[vilaura]

I love your plan to spread the word Ramon! I hope the buyer will take the time to learn about Kiva and take your most excellent deal.

[stubear1012]

I agree with everyone else.  This is definitely thinking out side the box!!!  I am looking foward to see how it works out.

[Ramón]

Hi all,

a quick update on my little eBay adventure.  Turns out, that someone with a hacked eBay account placed a "buy it now" bid. After complaining to eBay, the listing was canceled.  Since the listing was completely removed from the site, I have to re-create it.  I will do this as soon as I have a few minutes time, tomorrow.

--Ramón

[NumboJumbo]

Well, that's a shame. A real shame. Still, you got visitors to your auction listing and to me that's the positive side of it. Kiva still got some publicity and that was one of the reasons why you did the auction in the first place. Bravo for your tenacity to redo it again.

Mike

[Ramón]

OK, the auction is going to go back up, scheduled to start tonight at 7 PM PDT / 10 PM EDT. I decided to change things around a bit, to offer more shipping services and to also sell to Canada. I also added a Kiva "blip" to the subtitle of the loan that shows up in the listing table.

Here is the new auction URL for those that are interested: (NOTE THAT YOU CANNOT SEE THE ITEM UNTIL THE LISTING STARTS!!)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250138473807

Jul 1, 9 AM EDT update: I had another fraudulent Buy It Now. Jeee... my confidence in selling through eBay is sinking rapidly. Maybe I need to remove the Buy It Now...
I had to relist again, and this time the auction will start TONIGHT (July 1st) at 7 PM PDT / 10 PM EDT. The link above has been updated; note that the link won't work until tonight when the auction starts.

Jul 2, 8 AM EDT update: I'm getting good in this. Another Nigerian Buy It Now buyer hijacked my auction. I relisted the auction, and it will go *life* again at 7 PM PDT / 10 PM EDT tonight. It's a 5-days auction ending Saturday night. Let's hope that this will give me the opportunity to evaluate bidders before the auction is over... I will update the listing number tonight when it goes life!
One of the things that I had to do was to enable an option to leave the auction life until payment is received. This will stifle my attempts to get Kiva gift certificates a bit, but I guess that's the price we have to pay.

Jul 2, 11 PM EDT update: I just updated this link above to the latest auction... Let's cross fingers!

--Ramón

[vilaura]

Looks good! Man, I can't believe people would put in fake Buy It Now bids. What in the heck for? Sorry you have had to deal with that but good on you for relisting!

[Ramón]

Vilaura: all the fake buyers send me emails that they make LOOK as if they are from Paypal, indicating that they paid. They also ask me invariably to send the item to some address in Nigeria.

What they don't understand is, that a) I wasn't born yesterday, b) I won't ship outside the US & Canada, and c) do you really think that anyone wants to do business with a Nigerian buyer over the internet???

Actually, I'm wondering what the effect on international trade is for Nigeria... How would someone want to take the risk of dealing with a LEGITIMATE company from there if there are so many scammers around? Much of international trade relies on trust and enforceability, neither of which is present here. I feel sorry for the few good guys out there...

--Ramón

[Julia]

Much of international trade relies on trust and enforceability, neither of which is present here. I feel sorry for the few good guys out there...

Our merchant account bank told us we shouldn't do business at all in Africa.  We've had a few instances where people tried to buy from us with credit cards, and our bank declined the transactions. We think they were all fraud, people hoping to get merchandise to resell.  I'm not sure where they were going to re-sell custom made clothing! Its going to be hard for real businesses to get around that.

[Ramón]

So.... the item didn't sell. At least, it had about 150 views of which at least 10 or so were mine... I relisted it at eBay at another 7-days auction. See here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250140977726

The saga continues....

--Ramón

[Ed Chandler]

Ramón,

I have to tell ya that I truly appreciate all the effort and aggravation you're going through to sell that cell phone and generate money to benifit Kiva, but to have the starting bid so high just beconds all those bogus bids from Nigeria. The scamming capitol of the world! I've been selling on E-bay since 98 and have over 3,000 positive feedbacks! I'd have the starting bid at $9.99, which not only lowers the fee for listing, but also generates an atmosphere of a bidding war! Cell phones aren't the hot commodity they once were, because the technology is changing so fast! My point in question is the i-phone! Which makes everything to date outdated! Just my 2 cents Amigo.......

[Kay]

Ramon,

I second that, that I would start the bidding at $9.99, because even though I have never sold anything on eBay (i.e., never listed anything), I have bought plenty, and I know that the bidding almost always goes better if you start low.  If you are really concerned about selling the phone too cheaply, I believe you can always cancel the listing before the auction ends--but that may not be necessary.

Kay

[Ed Chandler]

Kay,

Your statement to Ramón is partially correct. If the auction has no bids, you can cancel the auction at anytime. However, if someone has bid on the phone, you can still cancel the auction, but first you have to contact the bidder and state your reason for cancelling the auction. You can't cancel because the bidding didn't go high enough! But you can cancel, if say "the phone was damaged while showing it to someone". Then you have to contact eBay and go through the same scenario, before they'll remove the auction. The bidder can go to the extremes of filing a complaint with ebay, which'll freeze the auction off line, while a decision is made. Photo's of the damage to the phone would need to be provided to ebay, etc. Whether you win or lose, you're still on the hook for the listing fees to eBay! Ramón's other option is to start the phone at a low figure, but place a reserve on the phone for what the minumum he's willing to accept. In essence it's the same thing as starting with a high opening bid.

[Kay]

Ed,

Thanks for the clarification and correction!  As I said, I have never sold (listed) anything on eBay; just participated as a buyer (bidder), and observed what has happened (rightly or wrongly) with other auctions!

Kay

[Ramón]

Hi all,

I just wanted to post my "post-mortem" on the complete eBay auction adventure.
- The item sold last weekend for $200.01, a decent price and within expected range.
- There were 32 bid by 8 different bidders. There was a small bidding war going on in the last few minutes of the auction.
- The buyer, from Canada, chose to pay through Paypal instead of using Kiva certificates
- The auction had 470 hits in total (of which several were mine)
- I will be making 8 more loans of $25 each sometime soon!

Overall, I think it served it purpose. I'd probably do it again, although I have nothing I could sell right now. Lots of thanks to Ed, whose very valuable eBay experience ensured that I combined maximum publicity for Kiva with the highest selling price I could get!

--Ramón

[Kay]

Congratulations, Ramon!

[Ramón]

OK, I just made my first 4 loans of $25 each using the auction proceeds. Two of them went to AlSol in Chiapas, Mexico, the other two to la Fundación Paraguaya.

In all of Latin America, at least in those countries where Kiva is active, these two regions currently are among the saddest. I think there is poverty everywhere, but Paraguay is really struggling to get ahead after the long, long, brutal dictatorship of Stroessner. All the word I get from here, is that the people are struggling to jump from the 1950s straight into 2007. There is a sadness in the face of the people that is hard to describe. Plus... at least now I can say that I am investing in the Latin American Lingerie Trade Here are the Paraguayan loans:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=14313
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=14312

Having done some of the translations for AlSol, Chiapas is the place where I have seen some of the most needy people. Don't get fooled by the loan amounts; these are split between 2 or sometimes 3 people that form part of the same group. Handcrafting shirts, skirts, and shoes (and selling them to the local indigenous population) appears to be a major activity. Also, AlSol is one of the MFIs that charges the lowest interest rates in Mexico, currently 36% on average. As argued in my blog, I believe that increased competition will allow the interest rates in Mexico to go down to a more consumer-friendly level. By supporting AlSol, I'm putting my money where my mouth is. Here are the businesses:
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=14061
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=14286

To be continued...

--Ramón

[NumboJumbo]

Congrats Ramon, for persevering with this idea. Wonderful to see so many hits to your listing and potentially (although you'll prolly never know) more recruits to Kiva. Ha ra!

Mike