News Release
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Going Once, Going Twice, Going Strong
shopgoodwill.com Celebrates Five Years |
| August 25, 2004 |
Santa Ana, CA —
Attention, online shoppers, your favorite Goodwill store - and the
nation's first and only nonprofit Internet auction site - is turning
five. An authentic Civil War discharge paper, a gold, diamond and pearl
ballerina brooch, and a 1954 Bing Crosby record collection are just a
few of the prized items currently on the virtual auction block.
“The
items on our site are as diverse as our 50 million donors,” says George
W. Kessinger, President and CEO of Goodwill Industries International.
“From an original, signed Picasso to a turn-of-the century L.C. Tiffany
Favrile vase, you never know what you'll find when you shopgoodwill.com.”
Since its launch in 1999, shopgoodwill.com
has grown at an average annual rate of 154 percent, earning more than
$15 (m) million dollars for Goodwill programs. Some 6,000 items are for
sale at any given time, culled from the 1 (b) billion pounds of donated
goods the organization collects each year. Revenues from shopgoodwill.com
and Goodwill's retail stores fund job training and career services for
people with disabilities, welfare recipients, dislocated workers and
other job seekers. Goodwill channels 84 percent of its revenues into
its career programs.
“With an average of 13,000 unique
visitors per day, we've created an Internet auction site that
successfully co-exists with the heavy-hitting online auctioneers,” says
Kessinger. “The site has brought a whole new world of shoppers and
donors in contact with Goodwill.”
Shoppers initiate
transactions online through a secure server connection. Features such
as a watch list and personal shopper monitor available items for
prospective bidders. And, most important, says Kessinger, “Buyers feel
protected because all the items come from Goodwill Industries. It's
like buying something from someone you know.”
The brainchild of Goodwill Industries of Orange County (Santa Ana, CA), shopgoodwill.com
boasts more than 100,000 registered buyers and 105 local Goodwill
agencies as sellers. The site is owned and operated by the Santa Ana
Goodwill, which also owns an Internet service provider, Kruzin Internet
Services. “Since Goodwill had the technology and the steady flow of
goods to produce an online auction, it made sense for us to do it
ourselves rather than pay a for-profit middleman for the auction
service,” says Kessinger. “By seizing the business opportunity provided
by technology, we've proven that Goodwill Industries can respond with
creative solutions to support our mission of helping people find jobs
and support their families.”
Statistics for shopgoodwill.com. |
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Phone: (240) 333-5264
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