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Primary and Secondary Schools
Philosophy
The Sustainable School Shop encourages reuse and recycling through innovation and technology, enabling schools and families to look for a second-hand item first before buying new.Making better use of current resources builds a more sustainable school community and lowers the cost of education.
We can all make a difference, changing individual behavior even slightly brings significant change overall.
The Sustainable School Shop undertakes to treat clients at all levels with respect, courtesy and in good faith, while promoting and encouraging long term relationships that deliver improved value and reward.
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The Project
Research and current trends clearly show existing in-school recycling arrangements for educational consumables such as textbooks, uniforms, musical & sporting equipment calculators etc, are in decline.
Government and community expectations dictate improved sustainability, arguably it has become the most important global issue for centuries to come. Cultural and generational change begins within educational institutions teachings and actions. The rate of change is contingent upon the communities' perceptions, expectations and acceptance.
Simple solutions are always the best. Changing technology and the low cost nature of the internet offers the best opportunity to develop a service that meets or exceeds the needs and expectations of parents and schools. In addition it is important that families receive what they consider to be real value and reward for their recycling efforts as the stark reality is - Individuals will not recycle unless it is easy.
Essential attributes:
(i) Provides a hand-up rather than a hand-out
(ii) Inclusive and accessible by all
(iii) Contributes to and assists in building the sense of school community
(iv) Single platform serving the different layers of the education community (Kinder to Uni)
(v) Genuine in-school service
(vi) Must be easy to use - and it must work
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Services
Separate systems form the basis of the service:
- Second-hand textbook trading system
- Second-hand uniform trading system
- Online ordering facility for new uniforms including commemorative garments
- An uniform fitting appointment booking service
- The website is Australia's largest resource of second-hand secondary textbooks and for second-hand school items in general
Cost
Families are provided 4 levels of access:
1. Searching for Free
Registering and manually searching all the for sale ads on the main search page, gaining the sellers contact details, is free.
2. Advertising Single Items
Single items can be advertised for $1.95 (Wanted or For Sale)
3. Annual Subscription (Includes Premium Searching)
Annual Subscriptions cost $23.95. An unlimited number of items can be advertised and provides access to Premium Searching and the Advanced Seach Summary.
Annual Subscriptions last 365 days from your payment date or if you already have a subscription, your subscription expiry date will be extended by 365 days.
4. Premium Searching Cost $4.95
Premium Searching has been created for those families wishing to only search from the main search page. Benefits include immediate access to:
See and search all newly listed For Sale ads
ISBN textbook numbers
Show members other ads
Improved search filtering tools
Newly listed For Sale ads are delayed 48 hours before they will appear to people searching for free.
When manually searching for textbooks, always search by ISBN. This guarantees only the correct texts are found. Book titles in For Sale ads are not standardised and our search engine is keystroke sensitive. Searching by title will often miss books or return incorrect books.
Improved filtering tools include; latest listed; condition; cheapest and distance.
The Sell/Buy Transaction
The sell/buy transaction is direct between buyer and seller. The Sustainable School Shop is not involved in the transaction and does not take any commissions on the sale or the selling price.
Alternatively:
Some schools pay a bulk discounted fee on behalf of their respective families, who then automatically receive a school's subscription (that applies to their school) when they register on the Sustainable School Shop. Call us today for a quote for your school.
Recommendations:
3-5 items to sell - purchase 3-5 single ads at $1.95 each.
Need 3-5 items and have 3-5 items to sell - purchase an annual subscription at $23.95.
Experience has shown that families always find more items to advertise and most upgrade to an annual subscription.
Schools/Heads of Curriculum strongly advise families to use ISBN's when manually searching for books or to list Wanted ads and use the Advanced Search Summary.
Postal Insurance
Sustainable School Shop will compensate sellers, the value of items (including postage) where the sale proceeds are not received.
Sustainable School Shop will compensate buyers, the amount of money spent where the goods have not arrived.
Postal insurance only covers second-hand items that are advertised on the Sustainable School Shop website and are transacted using a postal/delivery service. Postal insurance lasts 365 days from date of purchase and is limited to a maximum benefit of $400.00AUD.
Postal insurance does not cover: ebooks, digital media, or electronic media licencing.
Claims must provide: Seller, buyer, item details, any receipts and a brief summary of the incident. Use Contact Us above to submit claims.
Postal Insurance - $5.95
Sustainable School Shop Guarantee:
We undertake to treat all clients with respect, courtesy and in good faith, while promoting and encouraging community and long term relationships that deliver improved value and reward.
Pricing Guide:
New and Unused: 70% (Purchased new and is Unused)
Excellent: 60% (Has been used but is unmarked, may have student's name on it)
Very good: 50% (Minor marks and slight wear showing)
Good: 40% (Marks and wear showing but not significant)
Fair: 25%: (Well worn but intact, and usable)
Only uniforms of good or better condition, to be advertised and traded. Must have one years wear left in it.
Pricing may vary depending on the type of item.
Please remember, your items for sale are competing with the other (same) items listed for sale. Would you purchase the dearest or cheapest item?
Factors that influence purchase decisions include: price, condition, location, school, other items the seller has, competition for the item and the numbers of the same item for sale.
Online Payments
Online payments are managed by the ANZ Bank. Families can pay by credit/debit card, EFT, cheque, direct depost and postal order.
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Implementation
Implementation is easy, Sustainble School Shop (SSS) does most of the work.
Second-hand Textbook Trading System
For school and families this is the best solution for the trading of second-hand textbooks. Come and join the other 100's of schools already using it. It can take as little as 1 day to get your school up and running.
Provide current years and next years (when final) textbook data (booklists). The SSS uploads the textbook data.
Provide a high resolution image of the school's logo which is used on the cover of customised User Guides.
Circulate to families information about the service, available to assist are draft letters and User Guides.
Place a hyperlink from the school's website to the SSS website for families to use.
Regularly place information about the service across the year as students will access second-hand textbooks all year.
Second-hand Uniform Trading System
Provide a copy of the school's uniform listing including all sizing's and prices. The SSS uploads the uniform data.
Provide a high resolution image of the school's logo which is used on the cover of customised User Guides.
Circulate to families information about the service, available to assist are draft letters and User Guides.
Place a hyperlink from the school's website to the SSS website for families to use.
Place a hyperlink to the Stocktake Report on the school's website
Regularly place information about the service in the school's newsletter.
Blocking the Trading of specific types of items
The SSS does not compete with in-school services. If a school wishes to maintain an existing in-school service then the SSS can advise families accordingly upon the website and totally block any of those items from being advertised. This is very effective.
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An online ordering facility for new uniforms
The SSS can provide the school or uniform supplier an online platform for families to order new uniforms.
These online pages are customised to the needs of the school and a typical model is:
- The online facility is built and fully maintained by the SSS
- The webpages are customised and branded to the school
- The webpages sit outside of the SSS website and can be attached to the school's own website
- The is no initial fee or ongoing fee for the school
- New uniform orders placed online are fully paid at the time of ordering by the parent (Credit card and other payment methods are available for families)
- The paper trail is precise and customised to the school needs. Examples can be provided.
- SSS remits monies from uniform orders on a regular weekly basis
- The in-school uniform shop picks the order
- Parent/student pick up/delivery instructions are customised to each school
The four greatest points of difference between this service and other providers are:
1. The simplicity of navigation of the online shop/ordering pages
2. The online shop/ordering pages are branded to your school
3. SSS does all the uniform data entry - includes the initial set-up and all future adjustments
4. The ongoing support we provide to your uniform shop manager
Different implementation models used by schools
The service is customised to the needs of the school, below are examples of the different implementation models thus far:
-
Second-hand Textbook trading only
-
Second-hand Textbooks and Uniform trading
- Second-hand Textbook trading with Second-hand Uniforms trading Blocked
-
Online New Uniform Ordering facility with second-hand uniform trading Blocked
- Online New Uniform Ordering with Second-hand Uniform trading
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Online New Uniform Ordering with Second-hand Textbook and Uniform trading
- Schools using the service to buy and sell textbooks for class sets
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Schools using the service to recycle other school resources and surplus
- Schools using the service to assist the transition off a 'parent book hire/class set' system
If your school's needs are different again then talk to us for a customised solution.
Return To TopItems Commonly Advertised and Traded
Textbooks
Uniforms
Calculators
Sporting items
Musical Equipment
DVD's
School Surplus
Stationery
Clothing and Costumes
Computer Equipment
Electronics
Furniture
Dance Wear
Services commonly Advertised
Accomodation
Tutoring Services
Facilities Hire
Schools using this service include
Please use Contact Us above to request and receive, an up to date listing of more than 400 schools that use the Sustainable School Shop service.
Sustainable School Shop
You can learn more about the Sustainable School Shop at our About Us page.
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