Reminders & Lightning Round Details
1) Lightning round reminder
2) Donation confirmation deadline reminder
3) Reminder to offerers & winners: how to proceed, if you have received no response
4) Procedure for upcoming pinch-hitter post:
Winning bidders who have already confirmed their donations here will have the option of forfeiting their won items, if their offerers remain unresponsive to communication efforts past Monday, May 9, 12 AM (GMT+0). We will put up a pinch-hitter post that same day, where winners who choose to forfeit their won items are able to find potential replacement offerers. Winners will need to post a comment that displays: 1) the details of their donation confirmation (with personal information redacted); 2) the details of the item(s) originally won; and 3) their preferred terms for a suitable replacement item(s). More detailed instructions will be given when the pinch-hitter post goes up.
5) Concerns about privacy:
We have had several participants raise their concerns about transaction ID numbers (e.g. tracking codes, authorization codes, order numbers, etc.) possibly being used maliciously/illegally to obtain access to personal information. Privacy is of the utmost importance to us, and we thank them for alerting us to the issue.
As mods, we are committed to keeping this community safe and reducing as many security risks as possible. We will never share transaction ID numbers with third/outside parties. And under no circumstances will we ever share with anyone any full names, addresses, or any other personal information that have been sent to us and/or posted here. Please do help us by blacking out personal information, if you are planning on linking a screenshot/photo of receipt. And please notify us immediately via PM if we have failed to screen out any sensitive information.
The reason that we request a transaction ID number (if no screenshot/photo of receipt has been provided) is to ensure that most (if not all) winners have made their promised donations. (If the receipt did not come with a transaction ID number, that's fine. It only needs to be stated as such.) This is a way for us to try and prevent any false donations others may attempt to make. Given that this is the internet, our ability to verify (while protecting privacy) is limited to this method.
If you provide a transaction ID number here and prefer that we screen it, we can certainly do so to prevent others from seeing it. If you feel uncomfortable providing it, then you are free to contact your respective charity organization for further information on how they secure personal data. And we can wait for their response.
If deemed necessary, we will go back and screen every comment that includes transaction ID numbers to protect all members of this community, and prevent potential threat of invasion to privacy. We welcome any further questions/concerns regarding privacy, as well as our process and its transparency.
- [ Offering/bidding procedure ]: Will follow the same structure as that of the first auction round here, with the exception of the donation confirmation procedure (explained below).
- [ Donation confirmation procedure for the lightning round only ]: As we anticipate fewer offers/bids for the lightning round (compared to the first auction round), we will be changing the donation confirmation procedure for the upcoming lightning round, as follows:
>> Winners must post donation confirmation within the respective offer threads, with the subject line of "Donation Confirmation." Buy-it-now winners are encouraged to post them ASAP. Acceptable donation confirmations include: a) link to screenshot(s) showing the donation amount, date of donation, and charity organization name, with all personal information blacked out; or b) link to clear photo of physical receipt showing the donation amount, date of donation, and charity organization name, with all personal information blacked out; or c) statement saying that proof of donation has been sent to the offerer, and a transaction ID number (e.g. tracking codes, authorization codes, order numbers, etc.), if available. (If not available, please state as such.) If the amount on the screenshot/photo exceeds that of your winning bid, please also state whether the amount in the screenshot/photo is wholly dedicated to the particular offer at hand, or whether it covers multiple offers.
>> Offerers must reply to the winners’ "Donation Confirmation" comment, acknowledging that they have received proof of donation.
>> An offer thread will be officially closed, when: a) all winners have posted their donation confirmations; b) the offerer has acknowledged receiving all donation confirmations; and c) the mods have commented within the thread to state that all donation confirmations have been logged.
>> Please do not post lightning-round donation confirmations here, or PM the mods with donation confirmations. - More details will be provided in the category posts when the lightning round opens. Please feel free to leave your questions/concerns regarding the lightning round in this post!
2) Donation confirmation deadline reminder
- Greenwich Mean Time: GMT+0
Sunday, May 1, 12 AM - [ Change in late donation policy ]: We will freeze not freeze the donation confirmation master post at the designated time listed above. Late donation confirmation posts will still be accepted afterwards at the master post, but will be marked as "late" in our spreadsheets and not count towards the grand total. Late donations will not be accepted past Sunday, May 22, 12 AM (GMT+0). After that, all first-round-auction acitivity within this community will be shut down completely.
- [ Why we require donation confirmation posts ]: For those who are wondering why we request donation confirmation posts: This provides us a means of logging confirmed donations as quickly and efficiently as we are able. This way, the mods do not have to go back through each and every offer thread repeatedly to check whether or not donations have been made yet. We understand that making a donation confirmation post may be an added inconvenience, but please do spend the extra five minutes helping us in our effort to keep up with the vast amount of community work. It would be greatly appreciated! Please also understand that all mods involved either have full-time jobs or are in school preparing for finals, and are dedicating as much free time as we can manage towards this community. Therefore, if we are unable to respond right away to your questions/concerns, please be patient. We will strive to get back to you ASAP.
3) Reminder to offerers & winners: how to proceed, if you have received no response
- [ Addendum to ]: To winning bidders who have already donated: If you have not yet forwarded proof of donation to your offerer, please do so ASAP. Ensure that your offerer confirms your proof of donation and makes a donation confirmation post here. If your offerer has not responded within one week from the date you sent proof of donation, please PM the mods (including a link to the offer thread) and we will do our best to resolve the issue. If neither you nor the mods receive a response from your offerer within three days from the date of the mods’ first notification, then you have the option of forfeiting your won item(s) and we will mark the offer as "offerer unresponsive." You will also have the option of placing your name in our upcoming pinch-hitter post, where potential replacement offers can respond. Addendum: If your offerer remains unresponsive and you wish for your donation to still count towards the community’s grand total, please make your own donation confirmation post here, stating that your offerer has been unresponsive thus far, and we will log it accordingly.
4) Procedure for upcoming pinch-hitter post:
Winning bidders who have already confirmed their donations here will have the option of forfeiting their won items, if their offerers remain unresponsive to communication efforts past Monday, May 9, 12 AM (GMT+0). We will put up a pinch-hitter post that same day, where winners who choose to forfeit their won items are able to find potential replacement offerers. Winners will need to post a comment that displays: 1) the details of their donation confirmation (with personal information redacted); 2) the details of the item(s) originally won; and 3) their preferred terms for a suitable replacement item(s). More detailed instructions will be given when the pinch-hitter post goes up.
5) Concerns about privacy:
We have had several participants raise their concerns about transaction ID numbers (e.g. tracking codes, authorization codes, order numbers, etc.) possibly being used maliciously/illegally to obtain access to personal information. Privacy is of the utmost importance to us, and we thank them for alerting us to the issue.
As mods, we are committed to keeping this community safe and reducing as many security risks as possible. We will never share transaction ID numbers with third/outside parties. And under no circumstances will we ever share with anyone any full names, addresses, or any other personal information that have been sent to us and/or posted here. Please do help us by blacking out personal information, if you are planning on linking a screenshot/photo of receipt. And please notify us immediately via PM if we have failed to screen out any sensitive information.
The reason that we request a transaction ID number (if no screenshot/photo of receipt has been provided) is to ensure that most (if not all) winners have made their promised donations. (If the receipt did not come with a transaction ID number, that's fine. It only needs to be stated as such.) This is a way for us to try and prevent any false donations others may attempt to make. Given that this is the internet, our ability to verify (while protecting privacy) is limited to this method.
If you provide a transaction ID number here and prefer that we screen it, we can certainly do so to prevent others from seeing it. If you feel uncomfortable providing it, then you are free to contact your respective charity organization for further information on how they secure personal data. And we can wait for their response.
If deemed necessary, we will go back and screen every comment that includes transaction ID numbers to protect all members of this community, and prevent potential threat of invasion to privacy. We welcome any further questions/concerns regarding privacy, as well as our process and its transparency.