How to Make Your Purchases Count

In order to make sure that South Topsail Elementary School PTA gets full credit for your online purchases, you need to follow a few simple procedures.

• Click through our mall pages to access the online merchant pages. If you go directly to the merchant pages without first entering through our pages, or if you click on a merchant's banner appearing on someone else's pages, we won't get credit for any purchases you make while you are there.

• We get credit for any purchases you make in a "session" or visit to our associates sites. If you leave their site and go to another site, the "session" has ended. If you then hit your "back" button to return to the associate site, you are in a new session that we don't get credit for. This also applies even if you have accumulated some potential purchases in your shopping cart. (We aren't sure what happens if you open a second browser window while in a session at an associate site. If you want to have your purchase credited to us, just be sure to follow a simple route from our site to theirs.)

• Of course, you can browse through the merchant sites freely without buying anything. If you leave the site, and later decide to buy something, please go first to our pages and click on our associate links to return to the merchant site and make your purchase.

• Look for our title bar or the words "presented by South Topsail" at the top of your browser page . You will know that you have linked to the merchant pages from our pages if our bar still appears at the top. This isn't foolproof though. If you venture into another site from the merchant pages and return, you may still see our top bar but will not be in the same "session". If in doubt, please return to our site and link through again. (Also if you have an older browser version that doesn't support frames, you have been automatically redirected to the "no frames" version of our site and won't see the top bar at all. )

Featured Selections We receive a higher rate of commission on books that we select to feature on our pages. We will update the selections regularly. Please take a look at these selections as you begin browsing for books. If you click on these at our site and then purchase them from the merchant, we receive the higher rate. Please remember that we are not endorsing, recommending or promoting any of these selections. We have merely selected some titles that are likely to be of interest to our school community and relate to our program objectives. If the book happens to be a special sale item or deep discounted, we don't get the higher rate. Generally, however, pricing is not considered in selecting books to feature.

Policies and Disclaimers

South Topsail Elementary School PTA has entered into associate agreements with various online retailers for purposes of raising funds to support our program objectives for the year. As a participant, you are choosing to buy online through our web site and help us receive a percentage of the purchase price of each item you buy. Our arrangements with the merchant associates are similar to the programs that local area merchants offer to aid our fundraising efforts by giving us a percentage of the sale price of selected products or on all products during selected periods. The arrangements are also similar to sponsors or advertisers for printed publications. The nature of those relationships are fairly obvious to all concerned and usually don't require detailed explanations.

But, the mechanics of participating in these programs through the web are a little different. We need to make sure there are no misunderstandings about our role and the role of our associate merchants.

1. The online merchant is the seller. You, as the buyer, are purchasing products directly from them. The merchants are responsible for collecting payments, stocking, ordering, shipping, returns, customer service and communications with you concerning your order or any problems encountered in the purchase or delivery process. We have no responsibility for sales, payments, order fulfillment or delivery. We also have no mechanism or responsibility for intervening in any disputes between the buyer and the merchant. As the buyer, it is your responsibility to determine if the merchant's products, pricing, shipping terms and customer service policies meet with your needs.
2. We do not endorse, recommend, review, rate, test, guarantee or warrant any of the products offered for sale by the associate merchants. While we may feature certain items that we think might be of interest to members of our school community, and may present references to sections of the associates sites in order to help viewers locate products more easily, it is the responsibility of each buyer to determine the suitability and appropriateness of the products for their needs.
3. None of our merchant associates offer for sale any pornographic materials or any products normally considered obscene or objectionable in mainstream markets. However, this does not mean that all of their products can be considered suitable for all ages. Parents are advised to review content descriptions and applicable ratings and to exercise the same cautions considered appropriate when selecting books, movies, tapes, CDs and software at familiar local retail outlets.
4. We have chosen to participate in affiliate programs offered by companies that appear to be among the online market leaders in their respective product categories. We also selected based on the suitability of their affiliate programs for our purposes. It is reasonable to assume that their prominence and success implies that we can expect reasonably satisfactory service. However, nothing that we present should be construed as an endorsement or recommendation of the companies, or as a guarantee of the superiority of their pricing, products or selection among all possible sources.

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