Thanks so much for the info, Julie. I'm still a little confused, though. If someone buys an auction item valued at, let's say, $ 1,000 and they only paid $ 200, then they technically can't claim any deduction because the value of their item is worth more than they paid. If that's true, then I guess the idea is that people are buying these auction items not for the tax deduction but for their intrinsic value to the buyer. Is that the way it works?
