Truer Words - A Journal

2009 PMC Fundraising is Complete

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:21:48 GMT

I posted about this on the project's news page, but I should mention it here, too: my goal was $10,000, but we (not I) raised closer to $22,000. Follow that link for details, including some cool stats about the bundles and the project.

PMC Fundraising: Winding Down

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:15:20 GMT

My PMC fundraising efforts are winding down for the year. We've raised almost $18,000!

$12,851.76 on my account
$4,200 (approximately) on Dave Schlageter's account
$650 on Chris Rawson's account

That all adds up to 17,751.76.

We've delivered 228 bundles so far, and still have another 28 somewhere in the pipeline (either waiting for payment or we're waiting for registration codes).

(I keep saying "we" because Corinne and Cindy are still helping me.)

We're going to keep accepting offers for a few more days.

On the technology side, I'll mention that this morning I totally rewrote the code which decides if a bundle will be accepted. In the process I made it fairer, and lowered the price points at which an offer will be accepted.

It's all based on percentages. First it divides your offer by the total retail value of your bundle to get the bundle's "offer percentage." So if you offer $50 for a bundle that's worth $100, the bundle's offer percentage is 50%. Then it figures out the minimum percentage we'll accept for that bundle, based on the following rules:

There's a minimum offer percentage, let's call it min_pct. Any offer below that is rejected.
There's a maximum offer percentage (max_pct). Anything at or above it is accepted.
Small bundles (where the retail is at or below a certain threshold, min_ttl) must be at or above max_pct.
Large offers (retail above a certain threshold, max_ttl) must be at or above min_pct.
For bundles whose retail value is between min_ttl and max_ttl, it figures out what percentage to accept. It's a sliding scale based on where the bundle's retail value falls in the range between min_ttl and max_ttl.
There's one last complication: if the bundle included any "rare" apps, then the required percentage is raised by a certain amount. An app is rare if there is only one left.

Follow all that? Hey, even if nobody else cares, at lest this will serve as a good refresher on the math in that code, the next time I need to update it.

Now go build yourself a bundle before we shut it down for the year! Most of the titles have not sold out.

Mac and iPhone Application Bundles for the PMC

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:39:17 GMT

I'm raising money for the PMC again this year (duh), and doing it the same way as last year (and the year before, and two years before that). What method is that? I ask lots of developers (companies and individuals) to donate copies of their Mac apps (and iPhone, this year), and then I sell them in bundles.

Some developers donate five copies, some one hundred. Some tell me I can have as many as I want.

I don't really sell them, either. I give them away as thank you gifts in exchange for making donations to the PMC via my fundraising account. The “buyer” builds their own bundle out of the big list of available software, then sends me an email to tell me about it, including how much they'd like to pay.

The project is a huge amount of work. Everybody gets a response, even those offers that are turned down for being too low. An accepted offer involves LOTS of email:

in: initial offer
out: your offer is accepted, please make donation
in: donation receipt as proof of payment
in: “What’s taking so long?”
out: acknowledgement of receipt, “please be patient”
out: one registration request for every app in the bundle, sent to the donors
in: one app registration per app in the bundle
out: “Thank you for your donation, you can download your software here…”

(That's just the simple ones. Some bundles have twice as many messages, due to questions or problems.)

Between sending out all those messages, there's a database that needs to be maintained to keep track of everything. Apps are reserved for a “buyer” so that we don't agree to a bundle and then run out before we can fulfill it. Registration codes have to be copied into the database when they come back from the developers/donors. The buyer’s contact info needs to be entered before we ask the app donors for registrations.

It's a lot of work. I used to do it all myself. I put the project off this year because I absolutely dreaded doing it all again.

To my rescue came Corinne Dillingham (my wife) and Cindy Compton: both have volunteered many hours on this project to help me deal with all this email, via a shared gMail account.

Corinne's helping me because she loves me and knows this is important to me. Cindy's helping because she's been bitten by cancer herself, and is still fighting it... she bought a bundle last year, and this year she's in the trenches with us.

Unfortunately the project has one major flaw: it's far too much work! I keep streamlining the process, but no matter how smooth I make it, it's all still being done manually. Three people can't possibly keep up with dozens or hundreds of people making offers all at once. We fall behind. We run out of apps but the bundle builder still lists them as available because we don't even know we're out yet, as they are "taken" by email which is still in the queue. So, we keep getting more offers for apps that have sold out.

Clearly, I'm doing it wrong.

The donors have been very generous in covering our oversells. (Thanks guys and gals!) Still...

This is the last year I'm doing it like this. Let me say that again: this is the last year I'm doing it all this way.

This is clearly a great way to raise money for the PMC. Last year I raised over $14,000, and most of the work was done in just a couple of weeks. This year looks pretty good too. It's just too much work!

That doesn't mean I'm quitting. It just means that I need to finish my "PMC app" (the database app we use behind the scenes) and make it a full web-app, like a storefront, and fully automate the process.

If I don't have it working (at least crudely) by the time PMC signup opens in January, then I'm not signing up.

There, I said it. It's scary, but true. I've just given myself a deadline.

I'll have more to say about this. I know how I want the app to behave, how it should work. I just need to make it happen, and still get paying work done in the process.

Wish me luck! I don't want to give up the PMC, but there's just no way I'm doing it like this again next year. I'm quite pleased with how this has grown and improved over the years, but it's time for it to move up to another level or be allowed to die.

In the meantime, though, go buy a Mac or iPhone software bundle! We'll continue accepting bundles for at least another week or two.

PMC Fundraising : Interview on Your Mac Life

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:19:32 GMT

Yesterday, Shawn King of Your Mac Life (a popular internet radio show) interviewed me for almost 30 minutes about the PMC Software project. It was taped earlier in the day, but he played the whole thing during the show.

Give it a listen, here or download the MP3 file:

The archive of the full show is here.

I managed to talk a little about my work, Bare Bones, various donors, why I'm raising money even though I'm not actually riding in the PMC this year, and lots of other things.

Other than how often I say “um,” I'm pretty happy with it.

PMC Software Bundles Coming Soon

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:17:11 GMT

I really need to start the PMC Software Bundles project this year. The PMC itself is in just two weeks!

This year the project has its own site (can't link to it yet, sorry). I'm going to open it up for the donors first (developers/companies who donate software), then when enough software has been donated the "build your bundle" page will go live for the buyers.

There's some real news to report, too: I won't be processing all the offers myself, this year! One of last year's buyers, Cindy Compton (herself a cancer survivor), has agreed to help me process the offers. Sharing the workload will certainly speed things up. I may be able to talk Corinne into helping a little, too. Anybody who had to wait days — or weeks — for me to dig out from under last year's crushing avalanche of offers will appreciate what a big deal this is.

PMC Fundraising: Home Run!

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:36:03 GMT

I"ve raised over $10,000 so far this year. That was my goal.

Up until a couple hours ago I was planning to shut the site down tonight. However, I just found out that a friend, Chris Rawson, is having a hard time meeting his fund raising goals this year in the PMC.

So, I'm going to keep it running for a few more days. When I agree to a bundle, I'll just give the buyer the URL for donating through his PMC account instead of mine.

Progress in the PMC Bundle Builder

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 03:04:26 GMT

Since the post went up about building your own software bundle, on Monday, I've had at least 600 offers come in.

Probably more than that. But I've lost count.

I do know that, right now, I have 341 unprocessed offers. Offers I haven't even read yet.

The thought has crossed my mind more than once that I may have made it a little too easy to build a bundle this year. :-) I can't possibly keep up. Eventually everyone will hear back from me. But it'll take awhile. Next year I need to more fully automate the system. (Duh.)

Since we went live I've added at least ten new titles to the list of what's available. Also, I ran out of the most popular apps in the first couple days, but many of them are back in the bundle builder again because the donors stepped up with larger donations! Yay!

I'm two thirds of the way to my $10,000 goal, and all but the first $1,000 of that is from selling these bundles. (That total doesn't include the $700 or so that I got for the two Adobe apps that were auctioned on eBay. Those haven't been credited to my PMC account yet.)

Make Me An Offer!

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:25:12 GMT

For the third year, I'm selling thousands of copies of mac applications, to support my fund raising efforts in the PMC.

I'm running a bit late this year, but I think I've found a great way to present the software that's available, and to make it really easy for the buyer/donor to choose what he/she wants in a bundle.

I have three targets to meet before we're done:

$4400 by the end of September (I'm "legally committed": they'll take any balance from me, personally)
$6700 by the end of October, to meet my "Heavy Hitter" commitment
$10,000 by the end of December, to meet my personal goal for 2008

Please go build a bundle and make me an offer, and tell people about this however you see fit: twitter (where I am sethdill), digg, your own blog, StumbleUpon, smoke signals... whatever.

PMC Software Donations (2008)

seth@macrobyte.net — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:50:20 GMT

The first weekend in August, for the sixth year in a row, I'll be riding in the Pan-Mass Challenge. This year they've told us there will be 5500 riders, and we ride about 200 miles from Sturbridge, MA to Provincetown (on the tip of Cape Code). The real point, though, is the money we raise: millions and millions of dollars, all for the research and treatment of cancer at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center in Boston.

The total project goal this year is $34,000,000! (And we'll raise more than that, we surpass our goal every year.)

Last year I raised about $5,000 for the PMC by collecting donations of Mac software from the authors/publishers and then selling it in bundles on eBay or giving it to people in return for making donations to the PMC.

I'm running late this year, but the project is and running again and this time I want to raise a total of $10,000.

Right now, I need donations. If you produce mac software, please donate some! I need at least another 90 titles, with a minimum of five licenses each. Sixty-two apps titles have been donated so far.

(If you're not a software producer, I could also use some regular donations! I have had two big donors every year since I started doing this, but this year one doesn't have the money to donate anything, and the other only had $500 to donate instead of $1,000.)

Last year, an employee at Adobe sent me a copy of Flash CS3 which he purchased on his discount. This year, he came through again and got a coworker to go in on it with him so I'm also getting a copy of Illustrator CS3! However, 99.9% of the software that's donated is just a set of licenses, no physical goods or costs at all.

Those big-ticket items are nice, but that will only account for about $1,000 of the $10,000 I need to raise.

Please help out if you can.

PMC Fundraising Goal Exceeded (Yay!)

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:08:27 GMT

My goal this year was $6,600. At the monent, the PMC's fundraising status page says I've raised $6,666.39. I know of another $300 that will hit the account before the month is out, so in the end I believe we'll end up very close to $7,000.

This means three things for the immediate future:

First, I get my life back. It's fun to run this project for two months, but it's very intense and time consuming. If I try to do it all in the last two months of fundraising next year, Corinne and Rich have both offered to shoot me.

Second, I can stop talking about this project here on [tw] and finally return to our normal fare (Lauren, Corinne, Mike & Shannon, programming and of course cycling).

Third, I'm going to stop accepting offers for software bundles at the end of the day today. The only reason I'm not stopping immeidately is so that anybody who was planning to make an offer can do it. You have 11 hours, people.

What a relief.

Don't Wait for the Next Auction; Build Your Own Bundle

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 13:34:40 GMT

Based on the traffic some of the pages get on this site, it's clear that a lot of people are watching for the next auction, still.

We've almost reached our goal for this year ($6,600, about another $1,000 to go), and we're also just a couple weeks away from the fundraising deadline (October 1).

(Yay! We're almost done! Freedom...)

There will be at least one more auction on eBay, but don't wait for it! I've put up a list of all of the software that's still available. Pick out what you want, and make me a reasonable offer! (Instructions are on that page.)

What's reasonable? Since you're picking out only the software you want, I'm encouraging people to offer at least 1/3 of the retail value. So you could pick out $600 of software, and make me an offer for $200 to $300. Seems like a good deal, no?

Once we agree on the bundle, paying for it is even easier. Just make a donation to the PMC (via the link I provide on that page), and then send me the receipt.

Cool, huh? So go make me an offer. :-)

Auction 11 (Business Bundle) Closing Soon

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:25:47 GMT

The "Business Bundle" auctionM closes in just a few hours, but hasn't yet even met its reserve price.

The reserve isn't high on that bundle. I guess if it doesn't meet the reserve, I'll just hope that all of the apps sell through the "Make me an Offer" page. Still, I'd hate to have wasted the money on eBay's fees. :-(

Make Me An Offer!

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:44:51 GMT

Hey, all, I guess I've made it clear by now that setting up all these auctions takes a HUGE amount of time. The worst of it is trying to figure out what apps "go well together" under a given theme.

So here's an idea: make me an offer! Look over the CRAZY LONG list of software that's been donated, and pick out what you think you'd like, and make me an offer. if it's reasonable and I can do it, we'll have two options:

You can make a donation directly to my fundraising account at the PMC for the agreed amount. This requires trusting me a little since it's not being overseen by somebody like eBay, but at least this way all of the money goes to the charity. (What about shipping? You can either paypal a little money to me for shipping, or I'll put a .dmg file on my server for you to download, and you can burn your own disc.)
I can put the auction up on eBay with a buy-it-now price that's exactly the price we agree to. Actually, I can't do that until I get two more feedback points, but that should happen any day now (since I've started shipping the discs out this week).

(Click here to see the full list of apps, including a count of how many are left at the time I'm writing this. The list is too long, IMO, to put on the weblog.)

Update 6: the list of available applications is current as of 4:39 PM on Friday, September 14. The goal has been reached, and I will stop accepting offers at the end of the day today.

Auction 11: Work and Play

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 04:26:57 GMT

I've improved (in my opinion) on the original "Deluxe Mac Software Bundle for Business". There are a couple more apps (a total of 27), with a little more varietty, one less "anti-productivity app" (game), and is slightly more focused on busines software and data security.

The winning bidder will have a choice for the 27th app: ConceptDraw Project or ConceptDraw MindMap.

Get it while it's hot...

Good News Regarding the Auctions

seth@macrobyte.net — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 01:38:22 GMT

There was a flurry of "sniper" activity on the Web Developer's Paradise auction today, all in the last four seconds before bidding ended. Clearly, a few people wanted that software.

One of the losing bidders wrote to ask if I'd sell another copy just like it for approximately the same price, or even for a little more with a a license to Yojimbo.

In the end, this worked out great for both of us. She bought almost $1,100 worth of software for just $240, and I didn't have to run another auction! Plus, she paid for it by making a doantion directly to the PMC. That means they get *all* the money: eBay, PayPal, and MissionFish don't get to siphon off their percentages.

This isn't a violation of eBay's rules because the bundle she bought was never up for auction in the first place (so we weren't completing our transaction "out of bounds," so to speak). The bundle that was auctioned on eBay was paid for through PayPal, just like all the others.

Good deal all around.

Oh, and I'm sorry that there haven't been any new auctions in a few days. That'll be remedied shortly.

Two Hours Left on Auction 6, the Magical Mystery Bundle

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:18:40 GMT

The riskiest bundle among all the software auctions (so far) is the Magical Mystery Bundle of Magnificent Mac Software. The name alone is probably enough to scare away the sane.

Anyway, that auction is closing at 4:30 PM (Eastern Time). That's just over two hours from the time I'm writing this.

So far, it's only up to $100. This auction is going to be a learning experience for me: if it goes well, I'll do more like it. If not, then I'm back to assembling the auctions manually. Choosing the apps for a bundle is a lot of work, but if I don't get enough for each bundle (perhaps because people are afraid of "random") then I have no choice. There's a limited amount of software to auction, and a limited amount of time (it all has to be done by the last week of September).

Number 9: Adobe Flash CS3 Pro

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:25:02 GMT

One boxed copy of Flash CS3 Professional (full retail version) was donated to my charity auctions, by an employee at Adobe. It's up now, in an auction entitled, “Adobe Flash CS3 Professional (Mac) Retail FactorySealed”.

There is no reserve on this seven day auction.

None of my "no reserve" auctions have closed yet, and the current bids are all pretty low so I'm growing nervous. Greg (and others) tell me that's how no-reserve auctions work, that all of their activity happens near the end and they usually have a higher final sale price. Sigh. They're also a bit of a gamble.

The full list of auctions is over here.

PMC Fundraising Update (Multiply and Subtract)

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:18:33 GMT

So far this year I've raised $3,058.10 for the Pan-Mass Challenge. That includes the five auctions which have closed already, and the very generous donations which were made before the auctions started.

There are still at least twenty auctions left to run, so I'm pretty sure I'll meet my goal of $6,600.

It's a little frustrating to watch the money shrink on its journey from an auction buyer to the PMC (the charity). Since misery loves company, I thought I'd explain the process to anyone who cares to read about it. ;-)

One of the auctions closed at exactly $200, so let's use that for our example.

The auction contained 49 applications, having a total retail value of $1,086.12. (This was a bad move on my part, I shouldn't have included so much software, but I'll say more about that in a separate post.)

Auction sold for:	+ $200.00
eBay: Bold Listing:	- $1.00
eBay: Item Subtitle:	- $0.50
eBay: Insertion Fee:	- $2.40
eBay: Final Value Fee:	- $7.00
PayPal Funds Transfer:	- $8.96
Subtotal:	180.14

So there $180.14 is left to donate to the PMC. But we're not done.

In order to be listed as a "Charity Auction" on eBay, I have to commit to make the donation through their Giving Works program, which uses Mission Fish. They take the payments and pass them on to the charity. For a fee, of course.

What fee? $3 plus 2.9%. In this case, that's $8.22, leaving $171.92 to finally end up at the PMC.

Thankfully, the PMC raises most of their operating capital separately from their rider-raised funds (mostly through major corporate sponsorships), so over 99% of the money we (the riders) donate goes directly to Dana-Farber.

Back to my original point: of the $3,058.10 that's been raise so far this year, just under $1100 of it is from the five auctions which have already closed. We're on track.

PMC Software Auction 8: Web Developer's Paradise

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 18:40:46 GMT

The eighth auction is running, and is called “Mac Software Bundle: Web Developer's Paradise.”

This is the most ‘focused’ auction to date. These are tools for web (site or app) developers, and include high-end apps like BBEdit for source editing, Coda and Sandvox for designing, SQLGrinder for databases, Interarchy for FTP, and Screen Mimic for screencasts. (I do this work for a living, and seriously wish I had all of these apps!) Also included Daylite and Billings, to help on the business side of being a web developer.

Yeah, ok, that last sentence sounded like a lame attempt at marketing, but it wasn't. I'm serious. I don't have Coda, Sandvox, SQLGrinder, or Screen Mimic, and could certainly use them. (So maybe it's not a good idea for me to sell a sweet bundle like this to my competition!)

Two last details: there's no reserve this time, and it's a seven day auction instead of five.

Auction 7: A Better Kitchen Sink Bundle

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 03:07:39 GMT

New auction is up, called Mac Software Bundle: Everything but the Kitchen Sink. This one is a lot like the previous "kitchen sink" auction (which a number of people said they liked), but I think it's a little better.

Just like last time, though, it includes a "twist": in addition to the thirty-nine apps (!) in the bundle, the winner gets to choose one app (or app combo) from a list of the most valuable ($$) that were donated: BBEdit, ConceptDraw, ConceptDraw Mindmap, ConceptDraw Project, Daylite and Daylite AB Menu, DEVON Agent and DEVON Think Pro, ANY TWO apps from the Omni Group (that's so cool, I wish I could bid...), or Page Sender and PDF Pen Pro.

That's quite a list!

Fifth Auction Closes Tuesday Morning

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 03:24:27 GMT

The fifth auction is going to close on Tuesday morning. The price is still quite low, considering what's in there.

The title is, Deluxe Mac Software Bundle for Work (and Play). Award winning business apps, utilities useful for business... and games, to keep things balanced. :-)

Auction 6: Magical Mystery Bundle

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 20:40:48 GMT

Auction six is up. It's title is Magical Mystery Bundle of Magnificent Mac Software.

Yes, as you can probably tell, I'm getting a little punchy. Go read the full description, I tried to make it a little funny.

This auction is totally different than the five that came before it. It starts out with nine apps (the apps for which I was given 20 or more licenses). When the auction closes, 16 additional apps will be chosen randomly by the computer. The only guarantee is that there won't be any duplicates.

Oh, and this one has no reserve price. :-)

If you've considered linking to the auctions but haven't yet done it (or linked once, weeks ago), now would be a good time. (Or, you know... you could actually bid on it!)

Adobe Donates to the PMC Software Auctions

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 19:17:39 GMT

A reader of Daring Fireball wrote to find out if he could talk me into accepting one more donation for the auctions.

He works at Adobe, and is sending (I have the FedEx tracking information already) a brand-new box of Flash CS3 Professional. He bought it himself, at employee discount. (He required only two things: don't use his name, and don't tell anybody what it cost him.)

MSRP (a.k.a. "List Price") on Flash CS3 Pro is $699. It sells on eBay for $400 -$500. (If you check that, make sure you watch for the educational versions. They can't be upgraded, and sell for a lot less.)

I stopped accepting software for the auctions back in late June, but this was too good to pass up. Since I was already making exceptions, I also accepted ten licenses each of Trampoline, Lazy Mouse, and Painter's Picker from their author.

Fifth PMC Software Auction: Business-Like, But All Work is Dull

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 14:58:59 GMT

The fifth PMC Software Auction is up and running, with 25 apps and a retail value of $1041.84. I've listed it as another bundle of business software, but it has a little more variety than the first auction did (which was also business-related).

The auction is here.

Not that it matters what I'm hoping for, but I'll be happy if this sells for at least $250 (but as always, the reserve is set at the minimum I'll live with, not what I'm hoping for).

Go bid! :-)

Where's the Next Auction?

seth@macrobyte.net — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 04:27:06 GMT

The fifth auction has been delayed a little, but will go up sometime on Thursday. It's almost ready.

The first two auctions have already closed. They sold for $297 and $200.

I was a little disappointed with the second one, but not badly. I would have been satisfied with $250.

I'm learning by trail and error, but it looks like I'm better off going with slightly smaller bundles. Also, I'm surprised by the comments I've had from a few people. Many seem to prefer lots of little apps, games and utilities over a few big ones. (Where by "big" and "little" I mean relatively cheap and expensive.)

The Best and the Worst Part of this Job...

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:48:40 GMT

The best part of managing this project is all the cool software I get to play with. The Mac really does have a lot of excellent stuff written for it.

The worst part of managing the project is that I can only play (I mean work) with all this cool software for a few minutes.

The first auction is about to close, and a friend is finally looking it over and saying, "Ooh! I didn't know that was in there! Ooh, I want that. And that!"

Yeah. Me too. Down, Seth, down.

(Years ago, my brand new eBay account was suspended because I bid on something Corinne was auctioning. I wanted it for the business, and if I could get it for a good price the business would have bought it from her. I didn't know that you couldn't do that. As soon as I clicked the "bid" button, both of our accounts were disabled. Oops.)

Fourth PMC Software Auction: The Kitchen Sink

seth@macrobyte.net — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 01:55:03 GMT

The fourth PMC Software auction is up and running, with 37 +1 apps. I called it “the kitchen sink” for two reasons:

a few of the apps are kitchen related (and I snuck one in there as sort of a joke... I'm such a funny guy)
there's a bit of everything, "and the kitchen sink"

Perhaps "smorgasbord" would have been a better title. Too late now. :-)

This was the hardest collection to assemble, by far. Too much thinking, trying to figure out how to put things together.

Note: this is also the first auction with a twist. When the auction is completed, the winning bidder can choose one additional app (or a complementary pair of apps, as described) from a short list of the most valuable donations. That makes for a total of 38 (or 39) apps, and a retail value of at least $1200.

So, uh... go bid. :-)

GarageSale and the PMC Software Auctions

seth@macrobyte.net — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 02:25:30 GMT

I'm taking a minute to post a big "Thank You" to the folks at iwascoding, the makers of GarageSale.

They didn't "just" donate five licenses of GarageSale to the auction. They also gave me a license of my own to use for the auctions, AND... no, wait, this deserves it's own paragraph.

AND... they added a feature to GarageSale specifically because I needed it!

Here's the deal: if you're doing charity auctions on eBay, you need to have an account with MissionFish, who guarantees that the charity receives the money. When you create the auction, you need to provide your Mission Fish info, choose your charity (out of a list of thousands), and specify what percentage of the final sale will go to the charity.

It's a serious pain in the neck, just like everything else related to setting up an auction on eBay (IMO).

With GarageSale, though, it's easy. They remember my MissionFish account in the prefs. They remember my choice of charities. I can create new auctions almost instantly, based on previous auction templates. Plus, the software has this practically endless list of aucton styles!

This project will always be a huge amount of work, but I'm whittling away at the process and it's growing easier all the time. GarageSale and it's charity-friendliness is my number-one biggest time saver, though. (Next year, my Rails app for managing all the data for this project will be the number one time-saver. I'm already using it this year, and it's saving me time, but I also wrote it this year so the real savings won't start until next year.)

Um... "P.S." Last time I did this, I got free copies of Knox, VoodooPad, FlySketch and FlyGesture, but I forgot to thank Marko and Gus. Thanks guys!

Outta Here

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 13:35:31 GMT

With three auctions up and running, and a total of 99 different applications (some utilities are duplicated in all three auctions, and I haven't done a firm count, but it's close to 99), I still have at least 25 apps which haven't appeared in any auctions. This is crazy. And fun.

Anyway, the weather is totally amazing this morning, so I'm not wasting any more time inside. Cleaning the bike, picking up some new cleats, and then hitting the road for a few hours.

Third PMC Software Auction: 33 Apps for those Creative Types

seth@macrobyte.net — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 12:53:52 GMT

The third auction is up! This one is called The Ultimate Mac Software Bundle for Those Creative Types.

This one's full of software for editing music, printing pictures, creating web sites, organizing photo libraries, and doing all that stuff the Mac is so well known for. :-)

Thirty-three apps in this one. I wanted to put in a few more, but the retail value of this bundle was already higher than the other two (almost $1,400).

This auction will close Thursday, August 23 at 8:41am EDT.

PMC Software Auction: 49 Apps (Games, Audio/Video, and Utilities)

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 20:57:39 GMT

The second auction is up and running!

This one is called, Huge Mac Apps Bundle: Games, Audio/Video, Utilities.

It includes the following warning, right near the top:

Warning: this bundle may be too much fun for some people. If you have any serious medical conditions, or have a strong affinity for the PC guy in Apple's "Mac vs. PC" commercials, then this bundle is probably not for you. Otherwise, read on!

Yeah, maybe I'm tired.

See here for more info on these charity auctions.

New "Main Page" for the Auctions

seth@macrobyte.net — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:56:51 GMT

I was told — nay, warned — that my post about the first auction was too obviously written for the regulars here at [tw]. New people coming here from links on other sites wouldn't "get it."

OK, I can see that.

So now, if you're linking to the software auctions, please consider changing it. Link Here Instead.

That page tells you what it's all about, how you can help, where to get more info, and finally lists the auction(s). I hope you'll find it succinct, and it even has John Gruber's, Rich Siegel's, Kerri Hicks's and Jim Correia's blessings. ;-)