PING! Oleg and Mods; Good cause Auction Idea!

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bigjim

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I have a idea to help out a Young low ranking Marine on his second tour in Iraq.

Family is having a real tough time making ends meet.

I have a match conditioned M1 Garand that I would like to auction on this site.

100 percent of the proceeds going to the Family of the Marine.

What I need to know is would it be ok to do so?

Also is there any interest in this?

I was thinking of taking bids for two weeks.... High bidder gets the gun shipped to his/her FFL. Money goes to the Family.

I would not mind a small percentage going to THR. However THR is a nice to
have, where as rent and grocery money for this family is a must. Want to keep over head to a minimum.

What do you guys and Gals think?
 
I think thats a great idea, and I dont see why there would be a problem with something like that, this young marine doesnt need to be worrying about whether his family is eating well or not, hes got more important things at hand.
 
Bigjim, we're kicking the idea around among the staff. So far, no major objections noted. We don't think that THR should take a cut, though - all proceeds should go to the family.

Hold off for a day or so, to give more staff members a chance to respond, and we'll let you know for sure: but so far, so good.
 
You might think of an raffle format instead of an auction, I'd love to help but don't have the dough for a match M1.
 
BigJim....great plan.... and a first class honorable thought !!! my hats off to you.
 
I like your Ideas..... hmmm raffle sounds good. I am sure we could raise a lot more money that way. I bought this rifle from Zac Smith on this board a few months ago for 1250 or so. Can't remember exactly.

Anyway.... I bet we could sell 150 10 dollar raffle tickets in a heart beat on this forum.

Guys just imagine how the cool it will be when the wife of this Marine opens
the envelope and gets big check she had NO IDEA was comeing.

Just a simple note....

Thanks for your sacrifice and service.

From:
The membership of The High Road Forum.

I bet we can make her cry! ( in a good way)

Anyway just waiting for the go ahead from Oleg and crew. We need to understand if they say no. There may be good reasons not to do this.

To me however it just feels right.
 
Raffle or auction, doesnt matter. Lets do what we can for that Marines family.
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It may matter somewhat. By doing it as a raffle instead of an auction, it allows many more to have had a part in helping. That way each person's donation goes to the family and each an every person who bought a ticket helped out. On the other hand an auction allows for funds from one person to help out, and allows only the better off to have any chance at getting that firearm. The amount of money raised by an auction will also tend to be limited due to market considerations. For example, if such a rifle usually sold for $1,500 (just a price out of thin air mind you) then it may only sell for more if someone with a ot to spend feels sorry for the marine's family and decideds to pay more out of the good of his/her heart. On the other hand a raffle can be held so that everyone has to pay a set price per ticket and, each ticket having the same odds of being picked compared to the next ticket (note I did not say each ticket holder having the same chance of winning because you can buy more than one). The raffle can also be set up to have a requirement to sell a minimum number of tickets thereby assuring a fair price paid and a good amount to go to the family. Sure an auction can have a reserve but the bidding usally stops at a certain point; here is where a raffle may again be better, you can sell enough tickets to double or triple the value of the rifle and thereby increase the money to the family. If you use the example of the $1,500 value for the rifle, you would need to sell 150 tickets at $10 each. Why not sell 200 at $10 each, or 250 at $10 each (price and ticket number depends on the value of the rifle and what ticket price you think will sell). In addition, with an auction, you usually get people really interested in the item being sold to bid a high bid on it. With a raffle at $10 or $20 bucks per ticket, anyone with an interest in guns may go for it.

Of course maybe someone has a better argument in favor of an auction. I think a raffle is a better idead when you are trying to sell it to a bunch of folks with fairly modest incomes and lots of bills.

best regards,
Glenn B
 
Was it this one?

Zak Smith is the one in the center.

Heck yes, I would buy some tickets.

attachment.php
 
Raffles can be better because more people can contribute..be very careful, though, as in many places you need a permit to do them..maybe one of the resident attorney's can tell you the requirements?

Good idea, though!
 
FWIW-

Honestly-

Sure, I'd LOVE another gun, but unless the final auctioned price is under about $30, I won't play (infant to feed, you know!!!).

A raffle ticket? Hell yeah! How about $10 ea, 3 for $20?

Or even $20 ea, 3 for $50?

I'd be in! I'm willing to bet you'd get a MUCH better turnout!

M
 
Barb,

That permit thing could be a killer..... We may just need to do the auction.

Once again this is all still pending a go ahead from Oleg. If he says no I will
find another way with no hard feelings. Make sure you guys don't give him a hard time if he says no.

One down side of the raffle is I have no idea how to keep track of that and do the actual drawing.
 
I too think the raffle idea would be a better plan, as Glenn Bartley pointed out and made some good points, however in most raffles you can buy as many tickets as you want, if this is how your going to do it, that would work out great, as folks with just a few dollars to spare could buy one or two, and folks that are in a better posistion financially could buy say 10-20, perhaps set a maximum of tickets so you dont get some high roller buying them all heh.. just some thoughts on the matter.

Again great idea.
 
One down side of the raffle is I have no idea how to keep track of that and do the actual drawing.
Click to expand...

You can buy numbered tickets in a roll, then just count out however many youll be selling pick the winning number, sell them all and thats that, do it through email, tell folks their ticket number(s) as they buy them, or you could even mail it to them through regular mail I suppose, dont announce the number til all are sold and thatll be that =) not too tuff.
 
Go for the raffle.....if the gun was worth $1250 when you bought and that's the presumed fair market value at this time, then you should shoot for trying to raise around $2000 on the raffle (ie 200 /$10.00 tickets).
 
I'm with the majority here. Raffles let everyone in on a cost prohibitive item and raises a lot more moolah. Count me in!
 
I agree that this is a worthy cause.



+1 for the raffle, it will be a lot easier to accumulate money. I know I can't afford a $1200 rifle right now, but I think I can justify $10 or even $50 for a ticket(s).
 
I'm a loser

I never win raffles. But I sure am a sucker for them. I usually even fantasize about what I'm going to do with the product once I win. When the big day comes, and I lose yet again, I usually have to take weeks and weeks of therapy to shake off the depression that inevitably follows. The ironic part is that the therapy usually cost more than the item would have cost me if I would have just bought it outright in the first place. :what:

Count me in!!! :D
 
If you want really big participation and a way to eliminate any chance of questions regarding propriety, how about this.

Sell 1000 tickets. $5 each/5 for $20 (at a minimum this would raise $4000...200 sets of 5@$20=$4000) Ticket numbers are assigned as people sign up, so if I buy the first $20 worth, I get tickets 1-5....

Winner is determined by a public lottery drawing (pick 3) on an assigned day. The draw is controlled by a disinterested entity, the results are public and easily verifiable and the price is so cheap that most people would consider it foolish not to at least take a little shot at such a great prize.

Of course, you can play with the cost/discount scheme ($4ea/3 for $10 generates over $3300), but in almost any event, the money raised would FAR exceed the amount that could be generated in an auction barring having EXTREMELY motivated bidders who are willing to spend WAY more than the value of even such a nice rifle.

Just a thought.
 
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