Frequently Asked Questions

SchoolBuy is a website that helps schools raise money in a simple, unique way. It's free to use, it's easy to use and can make a big difference!

We have partnerships with hundreds of popular brands that sell products and services online. Every purchase you make with one of our partner businesses can generate a financial contribution to the school of your choice. You don't have to pay anything extra - you'll get their best online deals and specials. You're also not limited to just a few products - there are literally millions of products you can buy which will support your school!

Next time you want to buy flights, gifts, gadgets, flowers, mobile phones, fashion or almost anything at all, don't just buy it - SchoolBuy it!

The beauty of SchoolBuy is that it all works in the background of your online shopping activity. There are just a few easy steps to follow.

Step 1: Visit SchoolBuy.com.au

Step 2: Nominate the school you want to support

Step 3: Look through our partner brands and click to visit the websites of the brands you may want to buy from

Step 4: Go shopping and buy what you want!

When you click a link from the SchoolBuy site to shop with our merchant partner brands, SchoolBuy is identified as the referring website. When you complete an online purchase with one of our partner brands, they provide us with a report of the sales that SchoolBuy has referred as well as the schools that have been nominated to receive contributions.

For example you need to click either the logo, name or "Shop Online" button to visit our partner's website and for the referral to be recorded:

Yes! If you want your purchase to support your nominated school, then you need to complete an online purchase. We don't have any arrangements with our partner brands for a school contribution to be made in any other way. This means that any purchases that are made over the phone or in person at a local shop will not be eligible for a school contribution.

That would be ideal, but we need to wait a bit longer than that. Our partners typically approve sales in the month following the purchase. This way they can ensure that orders have been properly fulfilled, haven't been returned and are not fraudulent. SchoolBuy will typically receive payment about 6 to 8 weeks after your purchase and we'll pay your nominated school shortly after that.

Yes - any school that is located in Australia can register for SchoolBuy.

It's absolutely free for school to register with SchoolBuy. You can start raising money for your school with no risk and no fuss.

No, not at all. Once your school is registered on SchoolBuy we can't think of any reason you'd want to leave. But just in case you think of one, you're not locked into anything.

All parents want to support their children's school. The more funding schools receive, the better education and life experience children can receive. SchoolBuy provides the opportunity for a constant flow of considerable amounts of funds raised for your school. Fortunately this can happen without parents having to spend their time making cakes, manning stalls or sausage sizzles or having to dip into their own pockets. Parents can buy what they would buy anyway, but help their school at the same time!

The amount raised will be determined by the excitement and awareness generated in the school community. As more and more people become familiar with SchoolBuy, the funds raised could be exponential.

There's no limit! Spread the word and raise as much money as you can month after month, year after year.

SchoolBuy will publish regular email newsletters with information about new partner stores and products. Our email newsletter will also provide information on special deals and offers that are available to the SchoolBuy community.

Joining our email newsletter is the best way to keep in touch with everything that is happening at SchoolBuy! Share it around and ask others to join too in order to generate more awareness and more funds for your school.

Once your school joins SchoolBuy, you'll need to let people know. Your promotion of your involvement with SchoolBuy will increase the opportunties that people have to generate contributions for your school. Fortunately this sort of promotion is very time effective and won't require significant resources. But being consistent is important.

We suggest that continual reminders in newsletters, phone directories and emails will keep the concept alive in people's minds. You may want to encourage everyone in the community to sign up for regular email newsletters, so that they will be reminded of SchoolBuy and our partner stores on a regular basis.

Use your own initiative and creativity to start spreading the word!

Yes, we believe the schools know where the money can best be used. We started SchoolBuy to help kids have a better educational experience, so please use it for something that really benefits the students at your school.

If you put the contributions towards a worthwhile project that excites the school community, it's a great incentive for parents and friends to continue to support your school through SchoolBuy. Let the parents, carers and school community know how SchoolBuy is helping. By advertising the benefits of SchoolBuy, you will gain more support into the future.

If you use the funds to buy gourmet cakes for the staff room, you might find the reaction much less enthusiastic. 

We have several full time employees who do great work in making SchoolBuy possible and of course they need to be paid. In our agreements with our partner brands there is an amount over and above the amount that is contributed to schools which is used to fund the SchoolBuy operations. The majority of SchoolBuy revenue will always be passed on to schools.

Any contribution amount that is mentioned on the site is what we pass on to schools - we don't take our cut from that. We developed SchoolBuy to be a great help in raising money for schools - not to line our own pockets.

Yes, $100 is the standard threshold for payment. Once you have accrued $100 for your school in contributions then you will receive it in the next payment cycle.

If you can't find your school, then please nominate a new school. We'll look to see if your school is anywhere to be found on our site. If we can't find it then we'll use the contact details you provide to contact the school and invite them to join SchoolBuy.

You're also welcome to leave your your own contact details so we can let you know how we went with your information.

Don't let it hold you up from shopping through SchoolBuy though - we'll asign your purchases to a pending school. When your school joins we'll assign any previously generated contributions to them!

Certainly. As the dollar amount increases, so will the community gain confidence with the system and want to use it more and more. We suggest that you advise members of your community of how SchoolBuy is helping with your work and fundraising goals. Or if the contributions are used for smaller projects, advise everyone what has been bought with the funds, for example new computers, new play equipment or new smartboards.