sidewinder Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 While we normally donate any old desktops, we have an old server which we dont need and cant donate it because it would just end up coming back to us for support I was just going to sell it on Ebay as Im sure it would fetch £100 or so, and donate the money back to IT/The School But ive been told I cant do this, as we cannot profit from equipment Aside from the fact this sounds like total lunacy - ie we can buy equipment for £1000's but the school cant even get any money back - is this law or some stupid politics at my school?
djm968 Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 Sounds like politics to me. Donate it to yourself and then sell it on ebay!
projector1 Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 it's tax payers money there is no need to account for it! what a joke surely there is no harm in generating some funds from old equiptment to pay for goods such as toners/paper (stuff the kids will use for their coursework, studies etc)
maniac Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 I'd say some stupid politics at your school, there's now law governing this as far as I'm aware, although local athorities may have their own guidelines covering this. We regularly sell old equipment on e-bay, as long as it's properly accounted for there's no problems. i.e if you sell it on your e-bay account, you must be completely transparent with the transactions, provide all the listing details etc. just incase your accounts audit questions it. At the end of the day 'the equipment is the schools, and it's up to the school how they decide to dispose of it' (to quote our accounts manager) cheers, Mike.
bossman Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 It has to do with HM customs and excise as schools don't pay VAT so someone along the way has to, otherwise it is deemed an illegal purchase on the grounds of VAT evasion. The only way round this is for the people involved in purchasing it get it for free but make a donation to the school of the amount which they would have paid for the said item. You may have to set up some kind of school charity but this could be done and as charities don't pay VAT or tax then it could be done. Everybody wins even the government believe it or not.
sidewinder Posted March 16, 2007 Author Posted March 16, 2007 Maybe its the VAT thing then Although I reckon at this school probably more likely politics Im not going to kick up a big fuss about it, its only an old server, I was just interested cheers guys can you "loan it us" please (long term) Course...if you come and collect it
plexer Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 When we sell stuff we have to add vat to it presumably paying the vat to the tax man. I sold a load of old imacs last year and also an Xserve. Ben
john Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 Why not consider trading it in against one of your new servers?
localzuk Posted March 16, 2007 Posted March 16, 2007 We donate such stuff to the PTA, which is a separate entity, and they sell it on ebay.
linuxgirlie Posted March 17, 2007 Posted March 17, 2007 I give our old stuff to the students, means alot of them can then have a computer at home. Saying that I just can't seem to get rid of CRT monitors, I have loads of them, and will have many more when I upgrade some of the computers to TFT's!!
pete Posted March 17, 2007 Posted March 17, 2007 I give our old stuff to the students, means alot of them can then have a computer at home. Saying that I just can't seem to get rid of CRT monitors, I have loads of them, and will have many more when I upgrade some of the computers to TFT's!! Know the feeling, they skip happily away with a P2 base unit but run away screaming when we ask "And would you like a 17" CRT to go with that?" I have a garage with 30 in, soon to be 60 after Easter hols.
projector1 Posted March 17, 2007 Posted March 17, 2007 can you "loan it us" please (long term) Course...if you come and collect it where are you based? and what spec is it? cheers!
kylewilliamson Posted May 28, 2007 Posted May 28, 2007 We've got an issue like this :- The school cannot hold an ebay account of it's own - due to the la's finance system, we dont have a direct bank account nor any sort of plastic. One of the strict regulations in our Finance Manual states that "employees must not hold funds on behalf of the school" and therefore we can't trade on ebay with the schools equipment; either personally or through the school itself. The idea of the school "chucking the equipment" and then one of us "making a donation" back to the school has been explored - but then the potential backlash that could come makes it not worth the hassle involved. Haven't explored using the PTA - may do that. Kyle
alonebfg Posted May 28, 2007 Posted May 28, 2007 there is a way around that ie you sell it yourself and then donate the money back to the school and you can do that all the school has to do is agree and write the equipment off and away you go. and if the money is donated it goes into pta fund and its never lost at the end of the year as pta has there own account and they use it as they wish ie school askes for new server and pta can fork out the funds. (depends on how good your pta-frends or the school are)
garthsmojo Posted May 29, 2007 Posted May 29, 2007 The main problem with selling old kit to pupils and staff is that you and the school become liable for any electrical fault that develop (ie setting on fire or electrocuting a student). As your public liablity insurance does not cover you for this you are opening yourself and the school up to a potentially large lawsuit. It is far better to pay for disposal as per your lea guidelines or donate the equipment to a charity group. If you do want to sell the equipment this should be done on a trade basis where they take on the liabilty issues.
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