Secrets of the eBay

CHAPTER 6: Reach the Widest Possible Audience 125
“From October 6 of 2002 until February 1 of 2005 (with my kitty, no
less!) I went to nine Mariah Carey concerts from coast to coast,” Tony
explains. “I attended the Grammys in L.A., visited the Rock-N-Roll Hall
of Fame in Cleveland, the Motown Museum in Detroit, and more. As you
might expect, the connections I made during those travels proved invaluable
for my business.”
“I Thought Using My Business
to Raise Money Was a Good Idea”
Even before Tony Cicalese experienced the death of a close friend named
Joey Scima due to AIDS, he decided to create a business on eBay that built
in a charitable donation as part of each sale. That turned out to be a large
number of sales: He has become a PowerSeller and, at this writing, had
a feedback rating that was approaching the 10,000 mark. Over the past
several years, he has raised about $7,500 for organizations that fight AIDS.
Today, in memory of that friend, he continues to donate 10 percent of the
profits he realizes on each sale toward several AIDS-related projects. His
commitment to charity attracts more attention for his sales and helps boost
his business, too.
“I’ve always been one to place importance on charity,” says Tony.
“I remember ‘sponsoring a child’ when I was still a child. But on a personal
level, my giving was haphazard and fluctuated based on my own paychecks
at a given time. I felt a duty, partly based on my spirituality, to be more
consistent. When conceptualizing my eBay business, I thought it was a great
opportunity to just ‘build in’ the donation factor. I was at the time a recently
‘out’ gay man. I had come to know too many people with HIV and AIDS,
and didn’t feel that my volunteer work in that area was enough. So I thought
using my business to raise money was a good idea.”
Tony does his charitable donations on his own, after sales are made.
He posts a letter from an AIDS-related charity, Tuesday’s Angels, which
is one of the groups that benefit from his sales. As an eBay seller, you can
also donate a percentage of any sale through the Sell Your Item form (see
Figure 6-7). You can also choose a charity through eBay’s charitable arm,
MissionFish, which offers a system called Giving Works for donating to
nonprofit causes.
Donating to charity not only corresponds to Tony’s personal concerns,
but it’s helped enhance customer relations, he says. “As a side benefit, many
of my clientele appreciate and relate to the specific charity I have chosen. It
has sparked conversations, friendships, and customer loyalty.”