FAQ
FAQ adapted with permission from Gulf Aid Now community by technicolornina and heleentje.
How does this thing work?
If you are an author, artist or creator of some other item, you will make a post to the comm with the required information (see This Post for posting requirements), listing what you are willing to create and what charities you support. You will then tag your post with your offering type, fandoms, charities you support and whether or not your offer is active or inactive.
If you are looking to buy something reply to the post with your request. Please include information regarding which charity you plan to donate to, the dollar value of your donation and what fic/art/other you are looking for. Please make sure that the offer is active before commenting.
Where does the money go? 100% of your donation goes directly to the charity of your (or the seller's) choice. The maintainers never touch it (or see it). Once you've reached an agreement with the author/artist, simply go to the charity's homepage and find the donation page. Donate, make a screencap of your donation confirmation or thank-you page, and upload it to an image-hosting site (e.g. Tinypic or Photobucket (See this link: http://help-haiti.livejournal.com/10319.html?thread=5576015#t5576015 for information on how to block out sensitive information like credit card numbers, last names, home addresses, etc. for those who don't want that information floating around). Send the link to your seller so they can confirm your donation, and receive the item or service you requested. It's that simple.
Can I offer something that's not fandom-related? Absolutely. If you make jewelry, paint original art, would like to offer a private YouTube tutorial on how to draw a comic, etc., your offerings are welcome here. The only requirement (outside of the obvious "it can't be illegal") is that it can't be a retail resell--If you can buy it at a chain store, then to cover our bases legally, please do not offer it here.
I want to offer more than one thing. Can I? Absolutely! Please make one post for each category you want to offer. In other words, one post for Fiction and another for graphics and another for podfic. Be specific in your post regarding what you are offering, and tag your post with the appropriate offering tags and active/inactive tags (see This Post-link> for posting/tagging requirements).
Just remember when negotiating with buyers not to over extend yourself. Make use of the Active/Inactive tags to let people know when you are or are not accepting new donations.
What about age-restricted items, like adult art and alcoholic beverages? You may offer these as long as they're not illegal, but you must get confirmation from your buyer that they are of age to purchase that item in their home state or province, and that the item is not illegal for them to purchase (e.g., you may not send absinthe to Canada, because importing it is against Canadian federal law). Buyers, in regard to the latter provision: you may wish to check questionable items (especially those containing food or liquor, due to fun things like Customs laws) before you bid.
How do I know my buyer has donated? See "Where does the money go?" above. In a nutshell, the buyer will send, to the contact you provide, either a screencap of the donation confirmation page, a confirmation number, or something similar.
Do I have to use a screencap to confirm my donation? No, as long as whatever you confirm with is identifiable as being from the charity you donated to. In other words, if they send e-mails with a digital letterhead, forwarding it is fine. If they send out paper thank-you letters, scanning it and showing the scan is totally cool. All that's necessary is that it's some kind of official something.
Is there a deadline by which I should submit my work to the buyer? No, there is no set deadline. However, you should communicate with the buyer either via PM or email to ensure that you both settle on an agreeable timeline. If you anticipate not being able to deliver your work for some time, please do state as such in your offer post (or in a comment within the same thread). It is your responsibility to ensure that buyers are aware of any potential delays.
Do I retain copyright of my works? Are there any legal concerns I should be aware of? Yes, the creator's right still belongs to you. (Though if you are utilizing other sources to create your work, please credit appropriately.) However, please keep in mind that you are gifting your work to the buyer. The buyer will be making the donation directly to charity, so it is not considered payment for your work. This holds true, as long as the offerer is not profiting monetarily in any way from the auction. For such offers as fanfics and artwork, please come to a consensus with the buyer as to whether or not the work can be made public.
If I am shipping edible items overseas, are there regulations I should be aware of? Yes. Please ensure that you read the customs regulations and follow the proper procedures of the country to which you are shipping food. It is your responsibility to make sure that your package will not be seized by customs due to the nature of its contents.
* US regulations
* UK regulations
* Canadian regulations
* Australian regulations
If I am making visual or tangible works, should I include previews/samples of similar or previous work that I've done? It is not required to do so, but it would be the best way to let buyersget a better idea of what they would be buying.
Can I specify which fandoms I'm willing to offer for? Can I specify what I'm not willing to do? (See This Post for posting requirements regarding fandoms) Also, you are welcome to specify what you are not willing to do (e.g. for fanfic, "I'm not willing to write breathplay or mpreg"). As a general rule, please do be as specific as possible in your offer, so that bidders are informed beforehand.
Can I specify which charities I prefer the buyer make the donation to? Yes, you can specify as such in your offer post. Please do ensure that you and the buyer(s) agree on which charity will be receiving the donation.
How do I determine who has won my offer? Because this is not an auction, but an ongoing offer, each buyer will negotiate with the person making the offer for their donation. The author/artist has the right to make their offer inactive at any time. It is up to the author/artist to not over commit and to communicate with the buyer regarding the time line to complete their work.
If you have any questions this page does not answer, please feel free to ask them and they will be answered as soon as possible.
Looking for a list of charities to help you decide who to support?
redtapestry offered this link to a pretty impressive list of organizations.
With thanks to all of the charity comms that came before us, notably help-japan, help-pakistan and gulf_aid_now
How does this thing work?
If you are an author, artist or creator of some other item, you will make a post to the comm with the required information (see This Post for posting requirements), listing what you are willing to create and what charities you support. You will then tag your post with your offering type, fandoms, charities you support and whether or not your offer is active or inactive.
If you are looking to buy something reply to the post with your request. Please include information regarding which charity you plan to donate to, the dollar value of your donation and what fic/art/other you are looking for. Please make sure that the offer is active before commenting.
Where does the money go? 100% of your donation goes directly to the charity of your (or the seller's) choice. The maintainers never touch it (or see it). Once you've reached an agreement with the author/artist, simply go to the charity's homepage and find the donation page. Donate, make a screencap of your donation confirmation or thank-you page, and upload it to an image-hosting site (e.g. Tinypic or Photobucket (See this link: http://help-haiti.livejournal.com/10319.html?thread=5576015#t5576015 for information on how to block out sensitive information like credit card numbers, last names, home addresses, etc. for those who don't want that information floating around). Send the link to your seller so they can confirm your donation, and receive the item or service you requested. It's that simple.
Can I offer something that's not fandom-related? Absolutely. If you make jewelry, paint original art, would like to offer a private YouTube tutorial on how to draw a comic, etc., your offerings are welcome here. The only requirement (outside of the obvious "it can't be illegal") is that it can't be a retail resell--If you can buy it at a chain store, then to cover our bases legally, please do not offer it here.
I want to offer more than one thing. Can I? Absolutely! Please make one post for each category you want to offer. In other words, one post for Fiction and another for graphics and another for podfic. Be specific in your post regarding what you are offering, and tag your post with the appropriate offering tags and active/inactive tags (see This Post-link> for posting/tagging requirements).
Just remember when negotiating with buyers not to over extend yourself. Make use of the Active/Inactive tags to let people know when you are or are not accepting new donations.
What about age-restricted items, like adult art and alcoholic beverages? You may offer these as long as they're not illegal, but you must get confirmation from your buyer that they are of age to purchase that item in their home state or province, and that the item is not illegal for them to purchase (e.g., you may not send absinthe to Canada, because importing it is against Canadian federal law). Buyers, in regard to the latter provision: you may wish to check questionable items (especially those containing food or liquor, due to fun things like Customs laws) before you bid.
How do I know my buyer has donated? See "Where does the money go?" above. In a nutshell, the buyer will send, to the contact you provide, either a screencap of the donation confirmation page, a confirmation number, or something similar.
Do I have to use a screencap to confirm my donation? No, as long as whatever you confirm with is identifiable as being from the charity you donated to. In other words, if they send e-mails with a digital letterhead, forwarding it is fine. If they send out paper thank-you letters, scanning it and showing the scan is totally cool. All that's necessary is that it's some kind of official something.
Is there a deadline by which I should submit my work to the buyer? No, there is no set deadline. However, you should communicate with the buyer either via PM or email to ensure that you both settle on an agreeable timeline. If you anticipate not being able to deliver your work for some time, please do state as such in your offer post (or in a comment within the same thread). It is your responsibility to ensure that buyers are aware of any potential delays.
Do I retain copyright of my works? Are there any legal concerns I should be aware of? Yes, the creator's right still belongs to you. (Though if you are utilizing other sources to create your work, please credit appropriately.) However, please keep in mind that you are gifting your work to the buyer. The buyer will be making the donation directly to charity, so it is not considered payment for your work. This holds true, as long as the offerer is not profiting monetarily in any way from the auction. For such offers as fanfics and artwork, please come to a consensus with the buyer as to whether or not the work can be made public.
If I am shipping edible items overseas, are there regulations I should be aware of? Yes. Please ensure that you read the customs regulations and follow the proper procedures of the country to which you are shipping food. It is your responsibility to make sure that your package will not be seized by customs due to the nature of its contents.
* US regulations
* UK regulations
* Canadian regulations
* Australian regulations
If I am making visual or tangible works, should I include previews/samples of similar or previous work that I've done? It is not required to do so, but it would be the best way to let buyersget a better idea of what they would be buying.
Can I specify which fandoms I'm willing to offer for? Can I specify what I'm not willing to do? (See This Post for posting requirements regarding fandoms) Also, you are welcome to specify what you are not willing to do (e.g. for fanfic, "I'm not willing to write breathplay or mpreg"). As a general rule, please do be as specific as possible in your offer, so that bidders are informed beforehand.
Can I specify which charities I prefer the buyer make the donation to? Yes, you can specify as such in your offer post. Please do ensure that you and the buyer(s) agree on which charity will be receiving the donation.
How do I determine who has won my offer? Because this is not an auction, but an ongoing offer, each buyer will negotiate with the person making the offer for their donation. The author/artist has the right to make their offer inactive at any time. It is up to the author/artist to not over commit and to communicate with the buyer regarding the time line to complete their work.
If you have any questions this page does not answer, please feel free to ask them and they will be answered as soon as possible.
Looking for a list of charities to help you decide who to support?
redtapestry offered this link to a pretty impressive list of organizations.
With thanks to all of the charity comms that came before us, notably help-japan, help-pakistan and gulf_aid_now