dgsmith Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 We have so much unused hardware in our storeroom that we could make a nice amount of money selling it for spares (someone must want bits and pieces of printers that you can't buy anymore). We also find it invaluable to buy things from too. Has anyone here got an ebay account for their school? What is the process about setting up/using it? We have bought a few things on personal accounts before for the school, however we do want to look at a proper account if possible. We haven't submitted the proposal yet, as I wanted to see if there was anything we need to be aware of beforehand.
jsnetman Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 We do, but it only became possible last year when school depts were given a credit card to use for online purchasing. I must say it has made purchasing a lot easier here and the added bonus of opening a paypal account linked to the card.
plexer Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 For added security if your school has a paypal/ebay account you can get a verisign secure token from paypal. https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?PPREDIRECT=ikNUOvYI8PGYbpAGf_HwCzCiZddlqBvjsW51moIZ_iEBL0OEtjo4T35Ob13HBH3TdwJ3DQJsg_D__buii8F1J9vynKdsxkEw9GVuXC_VUPGV4n4DgWnika9cVtfHaUkKWm5nWIY253NYcvnx Ben 1
DAckroyd Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 if you start selling you could keep money in the paypal account until you want to buy from ebay and use the funds you have got there rather than keeping it in a school put where it might get knicked?
contink Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 if you start selling you could keep money in the paypal account until you want to buy from ebay and use the funds you have got there rather than keeping it in a school put where it might get knicked? I'd recommend avoiding that approach on the basis that Paypal had a history and the ability to close accounts with little or no recourse. I've always withdrawn anything over a £100 balance from Paypal on a regular basis to reduce any exposure in that regard. It may be out of date thinking but it was certainly a worry a year or so back.
AngryTechnician Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 I would have thought that in doing this you would need to run everything by your Bursar. For starters, you almost certainly bought the equipment ex-VAT so if you are selling it on you need to pay VAT on it.
Little-Miss Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 I'm just using my account. Ran it past the bursar/office manager and she was fine with it as long as i obviously kept the proof. No one wanted my toners though. I should really try and shift them on here but am too lazy to sort the postage myself!
contink Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 For added security if your school has a paypal/ebay account you can get a verisign secure token from paypal. https://www.paypal.com/uk/cgi-bin/webscr?PPREDIRECT=ikNUOvYI8PGYbpAGf_HwCzCiZddlqBvjsW51moIZ_iEBL0OEtjo4T35Ob13HBH3TdwJ3DQJsg_D__buii8F1J9vynKdsxkEw9GVuXC_VUPGV4n4DgWnika9cVtfHaUkKWm5nWIY253NYcvnx Ben Didn't know about that but useful info... Thanks.
rad Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 We have an account and most people are fine and pay cash therefore saving fees. You get the odd nimwit who pays Paypal and then says he never got the item and starts a dispute. It works both ways, but is a pain if the LEA block ebay.
sidewinder Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 I think the VAT thing might cause you problems - I suggested the same thing a while ago and it sounded like a lot of hassle to keep it above board so didnt bother in the end. Although someone at my place saif you wernt allowed to sell it at all - I'm not sure that's right - the school has paid for the equipment so has every right to sell it on surely as long as the VAT is sorted out? Suppose you could always 'donate' old equipment to yourself, sell it personally on fleabay, and then make a completely unconnected 'donation' back to the school
plexer Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 It's quite simple for your finance office to generate an invoice for an item which includes vat. You just work out what you'd like to make for the item add on vat at the current rate and that's what the person needs to pay it's not complicated. Ben
plexer Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 The other good thing about those tokens is that as they are verisign ones they can be used with openid and other systems as well as paypal and ebay. Ben
john Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 And via Missionfish, if your school fund is a registered charity / you are a registered charity you can get your ebay fees back as well so its free to sell on ebay
Sylv3r Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 On a similar note which may be obvious etc - but I wonder if you will need permission from your chair of governors after all the governors should, in an ideal world be informed if any item is to be wrote off / skipped / removed from the school stock book before doing so. I am not sure what auditors would think of the school selling things on ebay also, the LA auditors are pretty strict when they come here.
GrumbleDook Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 You should *not* leave the money in the PayPal pot to purchase more items as there needs to be a clear line of financial audit from order to payment. This would count as having an additional account or credit line outside of the school banking or finance system. Sell or buy but make sure that money is moved in and out of the school ASAP.
Andrew_C Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 sensible postJust what the h3ll are you doing posting sensible stuff on your birthday? Go on, down the pub with you! Seriously though; I looked a little while back, and the newish FleaBay T&Cs require anyone selling as an entity rather than an individual to register a business type account. I sort of gave up when they needed an account that would make automatic payments to PayPal for transaction fees. Not been bitten myself, but I don't see our bean-counters going for that one. May look into it again if the general feeling here is that it is do-able.
grumpy_git Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 On a similar note which may be obvious etc - but I wonder if you will need permission from your chair of governors after all the governors should, in an ideal world be informed if any item is to be wrote off / skipped / removed from the school stock book before doing so. I'm sure this can't be the case. If so we'd be on the phone constantly - "Hi, Chair of Governors, we've got an old keyboard which we'd like to chuck in the skip, is that alright?". Or the caretaker, "We've got an old table which needs thrown out, is that OK?". I mean, sure, we keep records - so if our Beancounting department want to know where something is, we can tell them. Our kit database includes a "disposal method" field so we can detail if it was thrown in the skip, donated to someone, sold for a nominal fee, broken to parts, or sent to the recyclers. But I can't see how getting permission from the Governors would be needed (or logistically possible!).
GrumbleDook Posted March 25, 2009 Posted March 25, 2009 As part of your asset policy you should specified disposal methods (IT kit disposed under WEEE, recycling, etc) and it is also handy if say things like 'value of £0-50 gets binned, value of £51-100 requires bursar sign off, value of £101+ requires Head's sign off, etc. Get it down on paper and governors to agree and it makes life easier. The values above are plucked out of the air but I think it would be handy to get opinions of what values members think should be assigned and whether you include age, damage or other depreciation factors on it too.
dgsmith Posted March 27, 2009 Author Posted March 27, 2009 I appreciate all the responses to this. We plan to put it forward in our annual proposals so of course the governing body and SMT would be made aware of it anyway. We know about VAT so that isn't a problem. I assume having a paypal account with the school is "doable" - maybe having to get it set up with the bursar or are we able to just do that ourself? Bit of a grey area there for us..
contink Posted March 27, 2009 Posted March 27, 2009 I assume having a paypal account with the school is "doable" - maybe having to get it set up with the bursar or are we able to just do that ourself? Bit of a grey area there for us.. I think were I in your shoes I would ensure that the school had a separate bank account that was used and linked purely for any paypal receipts or payments (ie: if you're buying items or covering paypal/ebay fees) would be drawn. I've no idea if it's urban legend but there are instances reported where Paypal has drawn money from accounts over a dispute or chargeback so ringfencing the money in this way would be a prudent move. I certainly wouldn't link it to the main schools account or similar. Probably common sense and standard procedure but just a suggestion.
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