Text Book and Sports Gear exchanges have benefits for both the sellers and the buyers. They can be onerous to manage, especially with the distribution of the proceeds of sales. This can be streamlined. It will require your organisation and each seller to have a PayPal account for optimum efficiency.
This could also be used for small uniform and clothing pools.
Bulk transactions can still be handled through banks although it becomes more complicated with the sellers having to provide their bank account details. For example Bendigo Bank and Community 21 have a joint venture known as Community Sector Banking that can provide multiple electronic fund transfers for not-for-profit organisations. See Community Sector Banking.
To apply for a PayPal Account for your organisation you will need an ABN. This will require committee members / directors to provide their contact details, dates of birth and tax file numbers to the Australian Business Register. The same except for the the tax file numbers will also have to be provided to PayPal. The documentation Paypal requires is set out HERE
It is relatively easy to sign up for a personal PayPal Account. See How do I open a PayPal account? The sign up page is HERE. It will need to be linked to a debit or credit card and a bank account.
The time saving comes with being able to make mass payments to sellers just needing the respective amounts and their respective email addresses. Have the information in an Excel file, convert to a CSV file and upload the file to PayPal. Further details are available HERE. You are transferring the funds from your organisation’s PayPal account to the sellers’ PayPal accounts. The fees for each payment sent to each seller is (as at September 2016) 2.0% of the payment up to $1.25 AUD. For example a $30 payment would be 60 cents.
How Streamlined Text Book & Sports Gear Exchange Works?
- Sellers submit details of the items, (text books, sporting gear etc), using an online form (Google Forms recommended). This will include a suggested price.
- The details are available in a spreadsheet format (The information from the online forms populates a Google Spreadsheet which can be saved to Excel). Stock IDs or SKU numbers (Stock Keeping Units) are allocated.
- The sellers deliver the items to a central location. They are inspected and the stock ID is added to the item. In the case of the textbook a slip of paper with the ID on it. You could also use a label that can be peeled off. The price may be adjusted after inspection.
- The spreadsheet is converted to a CSV file and imported into the online store. Images need not be included because buyers are inspecting the items.
- Buyers inspect the items. They take a copy of the Stock ID slip. Preferably they purchase the items online there and then using an available smartphone, tablet or laptop. They can take the item when the payment is confirmed. This will be immediately in the case of a credit card payment. There will be a few days delay if the payment is by EFT.
- Buyers can use their PayPal accounts to pay for the items online but it is preferable they use the Stripe – credit card option because credit card surcharges cannot apply to purchases using PayPal.
- The online purchase details are exported to a spreadsheet. The commission that your organisation may choose to charge, (say 15%), is applied and deducted from the sale price. The balance for each Stock ID is merged with the seller’s email address. This is the file which is converted to a CSV file and uploaded to Paypal for transfer of the balance to the sellers PayPal account.
- The spreadsheet can also be imported into Mailchimp to advise the sellers of the results of the sale. They will also be notified by Paypal. A brief message with a reference to which Stock ID the payment was in respect of can be included in the CSV file uploaded to Paypal. It will appear as a reference in their PayPal account.
Check out the Demo Text Book online sales at our Demo Online Shop