help_haiti

In other words, this is a good news/bad news post.

First, the biggest good news. We have confirmed at least 85% of the donations! Unfortunately, that means that about $10,000 in donations are still outstanding. But we have broken the $100,000 line! Yay, all of you! \o/

Today is Default Day. That means that if you have not confirmed your donation yet, you are technically in default of the auction and:

a. You will not be permitted to offer items or bid in the next auction unless you get in contact with the mods via helphaiti.lj[at]gmail.com or by replying publicly to this post to explain why you fell into default. As someone who ended up in the hospital for emergency surgery almost exactly a year ago, I definitely understand that randomly unexpected and problematic things happen, and if there is a reason for why you weren't able to make your donation, or confirm it, on a timely basis, we will be understanding. If you do email us or reply here, please put EXPLANATION in the subject so it's easy for us to find.

We are aware that some people have emailed the help_haiti.lj email address but we have not confirmed their donation. Email is not perfect so if this has happened to you, we may need to work directly with you to come up with a different way for you to get your confirmation to us. Please comment to this post with EMAIL ISSUE in the subject so we can handle the situation. We don't want anyone to be deemed in default accidentally or inadvertently. Remember, we did not email everyone who confirmed a donation back - if we were cc-ed along with a list of the Offerors, we expected the Offerors to handle the confirmations. We did make a notation in our Database, though, so you are marked as Confirmed. If you're still concerned, though, please reply to this post and explain the situation.

b. On Sunday or Monday - once we get finished processing the confirmations that came in yesterday and overnight and while I am typing this post, and dealing with those with email issues - we will start to notify those who came in second place that they have the option to be the auction winner. We know many people bid on other items when they were outbid on something, so the second-place people are not obligated to take on the mantle of Winning Bidder, but they do have the option. The reply-to-your-bid will inform you of the next steps to take so you can become the winner if you want, and let you know how you can say no, thanks! instead.

Since it's going to take us a few days to finalize the confirmation-notifications, if you are currently in default but manage to donate today and send in your confirmation, it will be considered accepted and timely. You have at least twelve hours to manage that - but it might be as many as 36.

Offerors whose winning bidders have defaulted: I am among you! The winning bidder on one of my items hasn't been heard from - or posted in her LJ, or confirmed the other eight things she won. And it's frustrating and a little saddening. But we still love you and appreciate you and thank you!

If for some reason the person in second place isn't able to take on the Winning Bidder mantle, we would greatly appreciate it if you would re-offer the item in the next auction, which will begin later this month.

Offerors whose winning bidders have confirmed but haven't contacted you yet: Next week, we will put up a post so you can let us know. But it's possible that they are offline, busy, or just haven't had a chance to get back to you yet (I personally apologize to my lovely Offerors, and promise to get back to you next week!). It is possible that they won't, even after we remind them, and if that's the case, there's really nothing we can do to, except shower you with love and appreciation.

Winning Bidders whose Offerors haven't contacted you yet: Technically, they have until February 14 to create or ship whatever you won, so they are not in default yet. After February 14, we'll ask you to let us know if the Winning Bidder hasn't contacted you, and we'll get a Pinch Hitter to make good on whatever you won sometime this spring. And we'll shower you with love and appreciation.

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Now, after the potentially-stressful bits, the good news. As news reported yesterday, LiveJournal has expanded its charity v-gift offerings to include two new Help_Haiti v-gifts, priced at 9.99 each. The designs are by comm member foxestacado, and 100% of all proceeds from the purchase of those v-gifts goes to Partners in Health. Also, the recipient of the v-gift gets an extra gift of two months paid time (unless they have a permanent account)!

Thank you, Team LJ!

And lastly, there has been some confusion about when and where Offerors can post their Creations. Technically, it's up to the Winning Bidder if their won item will be made public, but generally, Winning Bidders do allow the Offeror to post/share what he or she created. Prior auctions on LiveJournal usually result in the Offeror posting the item(s) on his or her LiveJournal - and in this case, linking to it from the helped_haiti community. If the item is done, you don't have to wait for February 14 - you can post it any time. If the Offeror and Winning Bidder agree that the deadline can be pushed to a mutually agreed-upon date - we're inspired by Douglas Adams, who once said, "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

Questions? Explanations?