Ordering from a fundraiser

This page covers everything before you check out: finding the fundraiser, choosing what you want, and reading the cart. The fundraiser is run by an organization such as a booster club, a PTA or a scout troop, and the organization writes the product names, descriptions and dates you see.

Start at the organization’s page, or at the link someone sent you. A link to a fundraiser takes you straight to its page, and a link to a seller takes you to the organization’s page, or to the fundraiser’s page when it is the only one listed and it is taking orders. See Order through a seller’s link.

The organization’s page opens with Welcome to and the organization’s name. Under it, Active Fundraisers lists the fundraisers taking orders now. Each card shows when the fundraiser closes and a Shop Now button. Upcoming Fundraisers lists the ones that have not opened yet, with the date they open and a Preview button, so you can look around before you order. If there are none, the page says “We’re between fundraisers right now. Check back soon!”

A fundraiser that has closed stays open at its own link, but it no longer takes orders. It is not listed on the organization’s page.

The top of a fundraiser’s page shows its headline and description. If the organization set a deadline, you see Order by and a date. When there is more than one deadline, you see Next deadline and the options are listed under How you’ll get it, each with its own date. Dates and times are shown in the organization’s time zone.

Two short lines tell you how you can pay and how you get your order. For example, “Pay by card now, or pay later” or “No card needed. You pay later.” If the fundraiser accepts payment later, a note under the products says “Orders you pay later carry no UnitTally fee.” See Payment methods and Fees and caps for what each way of paying costs.

Each product card shows a photo, the name, the price and a short description. A few labels you may see:

• From $10.00 means the price depends on the choice you make. The price shown is the lowest.
• Popular is a badge the organization puts on a product.
• $60.00 tax-deductible or Partly tax-deductible appears when the organization is tax-exempt and has set the value of what you receive. Only the part of the price above that value counts, and donations stay fully tax-deductible.
• Only 3 left appears on some fundraisers when a product is nearly gone.
• Sold out replaces the buttons when nothing is left.

Select a product’s name or photo to open its page. There you see more photos, the full description, any details the organization added, and, when the fundraiser has a pickup or delivery time, an Arrives line.

Some products are simple: one size and no choices. Others have a Choose an option list, such as sizes, or extras with names the organization picked. On the product page, make your choices first. The price updates as you choose, and the button reads, for example, “Add 2 to cart · $60.00”. A product with choices on a fundraiser’s page shows Choose options on its card, and the choices open in a window over the page.

Pick a quantity from the list. If you need 10 or more, choose 10+ and type the number. Some products have a limit per order, and the quantity list stops at it. The page tells you if you go over it, and that limit counts what is already in your cart. After you add it, a message says Added to cart, with View cart and Undo next to it. A product with choices that is already in your cart shows a badge such as “2 in cart”, and its button changes to Add another.

A simple product has Add to cart and its price right on the card. Select it to add one. Then use the minus and plus buttons, or type a number, to change how many. Nothing is saved until you press Check out or open your cart, so you can fill in several products and save them all at once.

The bag at the top of the page shows how many items you have and what they cost. A bar at the bottom of the page shows the same, such as “3 items · $105.00”, with View cart and Check out. Once you add something, View cart opens your cart beside the page. You can also go to the full cart page, Your cart.

In the cart you can:

• Change a quantity with the minus and plus buttons. If you type a number instead, press Update.
• Select Remove to take a line out.
• Select Keep shopping to go back to the fundraiser, or to the organization’s page when your cart holds more than one fundraiser.

Under the items, Cart summary adds up the items, any gift on its own line, and the Total. The cart does not show fees. If you choose to cover card fees, you see them at checkout. The cart also tells you how you can pay and, for a cart from one fundraiser, when orders close. When you are ready, select Check out. Checking out walks through each step.

If your cart is empty, it says “Your cart is empty.” and offers Browse fundraisers. If you put items from two fundraisers in the same cart, each has its own heading, which links to that fundraiser’s page.

If the organization takes gifts, the fundraiser’s page has Prefer to just give? below the products. A gift counts toward the fundraiser’s goal and there is nothing to deliver. Choose None, $25, $50 or $100, or type another amount under Other amount. Any amount from $1.00 to $100,000.00 works. If the product is tax-deductible, the gift says so. See Tax receipts.

The cart and the cart window also offer the three set amounts under Add a gift for and the organization’s name. Select an amount to set the gift. Select No gift to take it off. There is one gift per fundraiser, and it appears as Gift in the order summary.

A gift can still be made when the products are not available. The page says “You can still give.” for a fundraiser that has stopped taking item orders.

A seller is the student, scout or member who shares a link with you. The organization may call its sellers something else, such as “scouts”, but the banner does not use that word. When you open a seller’s link, you land on the organization’s page, or on the fundraiser’s page when it is the only one listed and it is taking orders, and see a banner that reads “You’re ordering through Ellie’s link. Every order is credited to Ellie.” The banner shows the seller’s first name only. It appears on the organization’s page, the fundraiser and product pages, the cart and checkout.

The credit stays with you for 30 days, even if you leave and come back. To stop crediting that seller, select Don’t credit and the seller’s name. You stay on the page you were on. At checkout, what you typed is kept and a field for a seller’s name takes the banner’s place; see Who are you supporting?. If you open a different seller’s link, it replaces the first. If the link no longer works, the organization’s page says “That link isn’t valid any more, so this order won’t be credited to anyone.” You can still order, and the message suggests asking whoever shared the link for a new one. For how the credit works behind the scenes, see Attribution.

A fundraiser can change while your cart sits there. When you view your cart or check out, it is checked again, and anything that can no longer be ordered is taken out. A box at the top of the cart lists what changed.

A line that was taken out reads “Removed:” and the item, then the reason. The item name includes the option you chose, after a dash, as in “Wreath – Large”, when there was a choice between options. The reasons are:

• “Fundraiser isn’t available.” The fundraiser is not open to buyers.
• “Orders for fundraiser have closed.”
• “Pickup or delivery option isn’t available.”
• “Orders for pickup or delivery option haven’t opened yet.”
• “The ordering window for pickup or delivery option has ended.”
• “This item is no longer available.”
• “An option you chose is no longer available.”
• “Its options changed. Add it again.”
• “It now comes in more than one option. Choose one and add it again.”

When a price changed, the item stays in your cart and the box reads “Price changed:”, then the item, “is now” and the new price, “was” and the old price. The cart and your total use the new price.

When an item sold out, or now has a lower limit per order, after you added it, the item stays in your cart so you can lower the quantity or remove it, and the box says so on every visit until you do: “Sold out:” and the item, then “Remove it to check out.”; “Only 3 left:” and the item, then “Lower the quantity to check out.”; or “Limit 2 per order:” and the item, then “Lower the quantity to check out.” The numbers are the stock left and the organization’s limit. The same box shows on checkout.

When your order is being placed in another tab or window, the cart says “Your order is being placed, so this cart can’t change right now. Wait a minute, then try again.”

When you try to add something, or change a quantity, and the store cannot do it, the product or the cart tells you why and leaves your cart as it was:

• “Sold out.” or “That option is sold out. Choose another.”
• “Not enough left for that quantity, including any already in your cart.” A cart change starts with “Quantity not updated.”
• “Limit 4 per order, including any already in your cart.” The number is the organization’s limit. With no limit, you see “Choose a quantity from 1 to 999, including any already in your cart.”
• “That option is no longer available. Choose another.”
• “One of those choices is no longer available. Check your choices and try again.”
• “This item now has choices. Choose them on its page.”
• “Choose a pickup time.”
• “Pickup and delivery for this fundraiser aren’t taking orders right now.”
• “This fundraiser isn’t taking orders right now.”
• “Enter an amount from $1.00 to $100,000.00.” This is for a gift or donation.

If you put items in your cart from two fundraisers that have no way of paying in common, the cart does not show Check out. Instead it says “These items can’t be checked out together — pay for one fundraiser at a time.” To go ahead, remove one fundraiser’s items, check out the rest, then add the others back; see When items can’t be paid for together.

A fundraiser that has not opened says “Orders open” and the date, or “This fundraiser isn’t taking orders yet.” when no date is set. One that has closed says “Orders for this fundraiser have closed.” You can still read the page, but there are no add buttons.

Pickup and delivery can open and close on their own dates, so a fundraiser can be open while its items are not. The page then says one of these:

• “Orders for pickup and delivery open” and a date, or “Orders for pickup and delivery aren’t open yet.”
• “Orders for pickup and delivery have closed.”
• “Pickup and delivery for this fundraiser are full.”

In the list under How you’ll get it, an option that is full says Full, one that has not opened says “Orders open” and a day, and the others show an Order by date.

An organization can list wishlists at other stores, such as Amazon, Target or Dick’s Sporting Goods. They appear under Wishlists on the organization’s page and on a fundraiser’s page. Each link uses the name the organization gave it, with “Opens at” and the store beside it, and opens in a new tab. Buying from a wishlist happens at that store. It is not part of an order here, and it does not appear in your cart.

When a list is on Amazon, Wishlists carries this note: “As an Amazon Associate, UnitTally earns from qualifying purchases. Confirmed earnings come back to this organization as free transactions, one for every $5 earned.”

• Checking out: the steps, the fee lines, and covering the fees.
• Paying for your order: paying by card or later, and what happens if a payment does not go through.
• After you order: the confirmation page, the emails, and finding an order later.
• Payment methods: card, cash, check and what each costs.
• Fees and caps: which fees exist and the optional cover-the-fees box at checkout.
• Fulfillment: how pickup and delivery options and deadlines work.
• Attribution: how a seller’s link credits an order.