Maybe Kim Kardashian isn’t so generous after all. Basically, she had an eBay clothing sale to help the victims of the recent typhoon in the Philippines, with a portion of the proceeds going to “International Medical Corps, a nonprofit organisation that provides critical health services on remote islands where families are struggling to access medical care and basic resources like food, clean drinking water and vital medications.” Sounds fantastic, right? Kim, who is worth $60 million, was doing something great in the world, and that’s to be celebrated.
Except there’s a problem. Turns out, that “portion of the proceeds” – which most stars make at least 50% if not more – is actually only 10% in Kim’s case. Uh… yes, I’m being serious. An eBay clothing auction for Kim’s shitty clothes that will pull in plenty of money – especially since most people know (think) it’s all going to charity – is only giving a measly 10% of the money raised to charity. Fuuuuuuuuuuuck off.
Of course, I’m not the only one calling this selfish crap out, and in fact Kim’s been getting a lot of flack for it, so much so that she felt the need to take to her blog to defend herself and point out just how generous she is on a daily basis. She tried to claim that eBay fees will suck up most of the money, which is pure bullshit. I sell on eBay all the time and their final value charge is roughly 3% (not more than 5 or 6%, though), which leaves at least 90%. Her talk about “agency fees” and all of that is just outright bullshit. I’m sorry, but there is WAY more than 10% of that money left over. Even if the “agency fees” and eBay fees equaled 25%, that’s still 75% of the fucking money that could go to these people, and NOT in her pockets. UGH.
Here’s her blog:
I feel compelled to speak about something that is in my head and my heart. Over the years, I’ve had to grow a thick skin. Being in the public eye, there are times I feel like I get criticized for any and everything I do. I’m used to it now. I just choose not to feed into negativity or become consumed by it.
The problem comes in when I get attacked for giving and trying to help people. My dad always taught me the importance of giving back. I don’t publicize everything I do to help charities and people all over the world. I do it because I want to. I do it because my dad taught me to. I do it because it’s the right thing to do. So for people to attack me for giving 10% of my eBay auction sales to the people of the Philippines, that hurts.
I do eBay auctions monthly and change the charity or church from time to time. I give 10% of all my earnings to charities, not just these eBay auctions. This month it’s for the people of the Philippines, last month was Life Change Community Church.
In regards to these eBay auctions, when the eBay numbers get broken down, the auction management agency that posts for me gets a percentage for all of their hard work, then eBay listing fees, end of auction fees, eBay Store fees, Paypal fees, etc., all add up to about half of the sale. Then I give 10% to a charity.
Truth is how the # is broken down, is neither here nor there. The people of the Philippines need all of our help, no matter how big or small.
Over the last 5+ years, I have listed thousands of items on eBay Giving Works for various causes. I will continue to do what is in my heart and am happy to know many others have enjoyed purchasing from me, as they too are giving with me.
Giving comes from the heart. We all need to be reminded of this as we celebrate the holiday season this year.
She must think we’re all as dumb as she is. Really, the fees add up to HALF THE SALE? What world does this woman live in and why does she assume no one else can do any actual math? Why bother? Honestly, if you really don’t give a shit, which 10% clearly says to me in this case, why do it? No one was going to conjure up any hate mail towards her for NOT thinking up a charity auction to put on eBay.
A big “fuck you” goes out to Kim Kardashian on this one.
Hey Jennifer just curious how much do you give to charity ?
I’ll answer that when I’m worth $60 million ;)
Actually, it’s less than 10% that she is giving… she claims that roughly 50% of the earnings goes to fees, and THEN 10% of what remains goes to charity. That means only 5% of the total ends up going to charity.
The issue I have is what she’s selling on eBay – I’ve had a look and most of the things are freebies given from the designers to promote their collection. So she’s getting gifts, wears them once to put them on the radar, and then sells them for a hefty profit to bag 90% and ‘donating’ 10% to ‘charities’ (I say this as she’s donated to a church that is owned by her mother). It’s ridiculous.