TOPIC: Forum Norms on Friends and Family Payments and Auctions

I definitely have no idea who makes them, but I have encountered them from various sources. For example, I received a counterfeit Horn of Plenty from Chip's collection, but I'm pretty sure he didn't know it was counterfeit (neither did I, until I tried to transmute it).

Hi Matthew,

Being a long-term TD vet and a business owner. I can share from first hand experience that sending the money via "Goods and Services" even if you send the extra to cover the Paypal fees doesn't not cover the expenses that the auction would incure.

See what happens is at the end of the year, Paypal sends you a notice that you sold "goods and services" in the following $$$ amount and now you own taxes on these items that you by their account "SOLD".

That is probably why they are only accepting "Friends and Family" which don't occur or create these situations.

Hope that helps answer your question. Remember that the Auctioneers are your TD Family and Friends and thus are not making any money or profit off of these auctions. Instead they are a Gamer Family coming together to pull funds just like you would for the Powerball to increase your buying power

Yeah, I don't run auctions, but look at it this way. I'm not "buying" the tokens from the auctioneer. They are just helping the community pool money for a purchase from True Adventures. They don't take a "cut" of the funds. The money is just channeling through them for the actual purchase. They do this because they love being part of the community and not to make money. I really don't see why they should have to pay any taxes on this.

It's the same way with ticket purchases. If I buy out a run and then go on the forum to ask others to join, I'm going to ask them to pay me via friends and family. Technically, you could say I've "sold" them a ticket. In my mind it was still True Adventures selling the ticket (and they'll pay any appropriate taxes). I just acted as an intermediary probably so I can control difficulty or type of run and not to make any money.

We use the word "auction", but that's just the mechanism for deciding who is going to help fund the purchase. If people are running auctions to make money, then I would view it differently. But I'm certain that's not the case.

Edit: This is just my opinion. I'm not a tax lawyer and maybe the IRS views it differently. If so, then there really is something wrong with our tax laws. Well, maybe there's something wrong anyway, but I hope you know what I mean.

Dave wrote: Yeah, I don't run auctions, but look at it this way. I'm not "buying" the tokens from the auctioneer. They are just helping the community pool money for a purchase from True Adventures. They don't take a "cut" of the funds. The money is just channeling through them for the actual purchase. They do this because they love being part of the community and not to make money. I really don't see why they should have to pay any taxes on this.

It's the same way with ticket purchases. If I buy out a run and then go on the forum to ask others to join, I'm going to ask them to pay me via friends and family. Technically, you could say I've "sold" them a ticket. In my mind it was still True Adventures selling the ticket (and they'll pay any appropriate taxes). I just acted as an intermediary probably so I can control difficulty or type of run and not to make any money.

We use the word "auction", but that's just the mechanism for deciding who is going to help fund the purchase. If people are running auctions to make money, then I would view it differently. But I'm certain that's not the case.

Edit: This is just my opinion. I'm not a tax lawyer and maybe the IRS views it differently. If so, then there really is something wrong with our tax laws. Well, maybe there's something wrong anyway, but I hope you know what I mean.

Well, between the random PYPs and the possibility of a Golden Ticket, I would say that on average people running auctions are making a profit. They are spending a lot of time on it of course, but I think there is a profit involved, which is why so many people are doing it.

Mike Steele wrote:

Dave wrote: Yeah, I don't run auctions, but look at it this way. I'm not "buying" the tokens from the auctioneer. They are just helping the community pool money for a purchase from True Adventures. They don't take a "cut" of the funds. The money is just channeling through them for the actual purchase. They do this because they love being part of the community and not to make money. I really don't see why they should have to pay any taxes on this.

It's the same way with ticket purchases. If I buy out a run and then go on the forum to ask others to join, I'm going to ask them to pay me via friends and family. Technically, you could say I've "sold" them a ticket. In my mind it was still True Adventures selling the ticket (and they'll pay any appropriate taxes). I just acted as an intermediary probably so I can control difficulty or type of run and not to make any money.

We use the word "auction", but that's just the mechanism for deciding who is going to help fund the purchase. If people are running auctions to make money, then I would view it differently. But I'm certain that's not the case.

Edit: This is just my opinion. I'm not a tax lawyer and maybe the IRS views it differently. If so, then there really is something wrong with our tax laws. Well, maybe there's something wrong anyway, but I hope you know what I mean.

Well, between the random PYPs and the possibility of a Golden Ticket, I would say that on average people running auctions are making a profit. They are spending a lot of time on it of course, but I think there is a profit involved, which is why so many people are doing it.

The chance of the GT is really it. The random URs probably aren't worth $500 any more, based on resale value lately.

Some of us do it to help support TD while getting a shot at a GT, speaking for myself.

Agree Wade, golden ticket aside, we do it to help offset coming up with $8 upfront and trying to trade or sell off tokens later. We have not been as lucky on those elusive Golden Tickets and had to purchase one from someone who did

Benefits TD, benefits us an a coordinator for not having to foot the $8 full bill and benefits the TD community who are hoping or needing to get a certain token.

Wade Schwendemann (Dr. Uid) wrote:

Mike Steele wrote:

Dave wrote: Yeah, I don't run auctions, but look at it this way. I'm not "buying" the tokens from the auctioneer. They are just helping the community pool money for a purchase from True Adventures. They don't take a "cut" of the funds. The money is just channeling through them for the actual purchase. They do this because they love being part of the community and not to make money. I really don't see why they should have to pay any taxes on this.

It's the same way with ticket purchases. If I buy out a run and then go on the forum to ask others to join, I'm going to ask them to pay me via friends and family. Technically, you could say I've "sold" them a ticket. In my mind it was still True Adventures selling the ticket (and they'll pay any appropriate taxes). I just acted as an intermediary probably so I can control difficulty or type of run and not to make any money.

We use the word "auction", but that's just the mechanism for deciding who is going to help fund the purchase. If people are running auctions to make money, then I would view it differently. But I'm certain that's not the case.

Edit: This is just my opinion. I'm not a tax lawyer and maybe the IRS views it differently. If so, then there really is something wrong with our tax laws. Well, maybe there's something wrong anyway, but I hope you know what I mean.

Well, between the random PYPs and the possibility of a Golden Ticket, I would say that on average people running auctions are making a profit. They are spending a lot of time on it of course, but I think there is a profit involved, which is why so many people are doing it.

The chance of the GT is really it. The random URs probably aren't worth $500 any more, based on resale value lately.

Some of us do it to help support TD while getting a shot at a GT, speaking for myself.

I recall back when Matt was letting people sponsor auctions (pay the $500, get the random URs and shot at a GT) he had a pretty long line of people wanting to do so. I did it a couple of times, and would have done it more if possible.

Mike Steele wrote: I recall back when Matt was letting people sponsor auctions (pay the $500, get the random URs and shot at a GT) he had a pretty long line of people wanting to do so. I did it a couple of times, and would have done it more if possible.

I did too, once. Then the bottom fell out of the UR value.

Wade Schwendemann (Dr. Uid) wrote:

Mike Steele wrote: I recall back when Matt was letting people sponsor auctions (pay the $500, get the random URs and shot at a GT) he had a pretty long line of people wanting to do so. I did it a couple of times, and would have done it more if possible.

I did too, once. Then the bottom fell out of the UR value.

I'll bet it would still be very popular if offered today. Even if you figure the random URs are kind of break-even at around $45-$50 each, that means you have a very reasonable shot at a very valuable Golden Ticket for almost no cost. I do appreciate everyone that runs auctions, but I don't think it's all completely altruistic, averaged out the auctioneers get more than $500 in value of tokens out of running it. Except for the one person I recall that ran it with $8K to fund and included all the random URs and the chance at a Golden Ticket in the auction - that was completely altruistic.

To be clear, I have no problem with people running auctions getting some sort of a bonus out of it, they are spending a lot of time and effort running them and it's great if they get something for their troubles.

As someone who doesn't have any of that electronic payment stuff (too long a story for the forum),,, and has no vested interest in this discussion,,, I'd like to put in my 2 cents worth. Everyone should understand that running an auction takes time to monitor, and process bids,,, then ship everything to the winners,,, so making a buck (or reserving a token for themselves) for their time and efforts is very reasonable. On a personal note, if more auctioneers accepted postal money order payment (thank you to those that do) you'd have a chance at getting money out of my wallet 😊💵😊.