Selling Fundraising Products Online With No Inventory

Your guide to selling products online.

Imagine you’re the fundraising coordinator for the parent association at your child’s school. Gift sales are very popular with parents, but with COVID, you need to find an online solution. However, creating an eCommerce site and managing the inventory gives you heartburn. There’s no need to pop the Tums yet; we have a few ideas for you.

Offer items on-demand.

Print-on-demand sites like Zazzle and CafePress are great options for selling without worrying about inventory—especially when you have a school logo or artwork from students to leverage. In a few clicks, you can log in, load the image or images and make available a wide range of items that can be printed on, such as mugs, t-shirts, pillows, stickers, and more.

Once you set up your shop, your “buyers” can purchase whatever they want and have it shipped directly to their homes. There are no inventory management or shipping responsibilities on your part. It is important to remember that the on-demand company gets a percentage of every sale. So, if you’re considering this option, check how much of a percentage the company will take, then build it into your price.

Another option sites like these provide

If your group has an existing website and you have the ability and time to integrate the on-demand site into yours or create an e-commerce page or eCommerce mini-site. You’d then take the orders, including a commission, and place the order with the on-demand company when you receive the money from the buyer. While this option could offer a decent profit in the commissions you charge, the amount of time and effort may not make it worthwhile.

Consider a fundraising company.

If you’d instead offer a wide variety of gits or would like to sell food items, you might want to consider a fundraising company like us for your online fundraiser. Yes, it’s a bit of a shameless plug, but we offer stress-free options where everything from setup to shipping is handled for you––with excellent profit margins, too.

Let’s talk taxes.

If you choose to sell products and services online, consider whether you need to account for sales tax. This counts for groups recognized as 501(c)(3) tax-exempt by the Internal Revenue Service. While you’re likely exempt from federal and state income taxes, that might not be true for sales tax. So, when planning your fundraiser, check with your state’s taxing agency to determine whether you’ll need to collect sales tax.

Not entirely sure your group should sell products to raise money? Check out this article that delves deeper into the subject.

Author Bio

Clay Boggess has been designing fundraising programs for schools and various nonprofit organizations throughout the US since 1999. He’s helped administrators, teachers, and outside support entities such as PTAs and PTOs raise millions of dollars. Clay is an owner and partner at Big Fundraising Ideas.