Selling on Learning Sunshine
Qualifying charity organizations and individual teachers can sell on Learning Sunshine with no site fees (Terms and Conditions Apply). For other vendors a percentage of their product sales benefit The Institute for Advancement of Montessori and Special Education to pay for website maintenance and development, and fund research and publishing.
Selling on Learning Sunshine makes sense because:
- Purchasing from Learning Sunshine supports excellence and achievement in the field, creating a community driven resource pool, while concentrating knowledge and wisdom in one easy to find location for community access.
- When you purchase from charity organizations, you pay the charity, not the website owners or company stockholders.
- When you purchase from teachers, you pay teachers, not the website owners or company stockholders.
How Does Selling on Learning Sunshine Work?
All vendors and all products must be approved by our staff and meet our stringent criteria. Once you sign up for an account at Learning Sunshine, navigate to the Pro Sellers Application and fill in the required information. Your application will be reviewed by our staff and may either be approved or if we have additional questions we will reach out to you.
An Example of a Transaction with “No Site Fee”
When a qualified charity or individual receives an order on the Learning Sunshine website, the proceeds of the sale will be automatically deposited in their Stripe account, however the transaction fee (between 2-4%) will be deducted.
For example, if a product is sold for $10, the qualified charity or individual receives about $9.70 in their account. Only the Stripe transaction processing fee is deducted from the total. Learning Sunshine charges no additional fees.
For all other vendors Learning Sunshine will charge an additional fee which is variable, but most likely 10%. For example, if a product is sold for $10, the non-qualified vendor receives about $8.70 in their account ($.30 covering the transaction fee and $1 for the site fee).
Connecting Your Stripe Account
Stripe is an American multinational card payment processing service headquartered in San Francisco, California. It is one of the largest credit card processing services.
We have partnered with Stripe to bring secure, easy checkout to our customers and fast easy payouts to our vendors. By connecting your Learning Sunshine Vendor account to Stripe, you will receive automatic payments every time a purchase is made (processing times may vary).
To connect your Stripe account simply navigate to your Vendor Dashboard, Settings, Payments, and click the big blue “Connect Stripe” button. You will be taken to a secure Stripe webpage where you can connect your existing Stripe account or sign up and connect.
Paypal and Venmo
Currently Paypal and Venmo payouts are only approved in special circumstances
Default Payment
If you have not connected your Stripe account or made special arrangements, by default Learning Sunshine will issue a once annual, manual payment to your organization.
Need a Custom Payout Solution?
We are here to develop a custom payout solution based on your organization needs and sales volume. Please don’t hesitate to ask!
Adding Products
All products must be approved by our staff. Simply navigate to your Pro Seller Dashboard and begin the process of adding products either manually entering in the provided fields or by batch upload CSV.
Once you submit, your products will be reviewed by our staff. If we approve them, the products will go live on our site and customers may begin ordering them. If we have any questions we will let you know.
Orders
You will receive an email every time a customer places an order. You can also check your Pro Sellers Dashboard. Orders can be batch downloaded in CSV format.
Shipping
By default the per item shipping charge is set to $4.95. There are a variety of ways to customize shipping in your Pro Dashboard. Currently Learning Sunshine does not integrate with any shipping solutions, so you will have to use your own shipping software to manage orders.*
Note if you are selling a download only product, check the virtual checkbox to create a product with no shipping.
*Under special circumstances we may provide a shipping labels as a courtesy to vendors.
Tracking
Once the order ships you must send tracking to the customer, either through your own system or by entering the tracking number for the order on your Learning Sunshine vendor dashboard.
Sales Tax
Learning Sunshine seeks to encourage innovation and community by making selling easy! That is why we take care of sales tax compliance.* When necessary Learning Sunshine charges the appropriate sales tax, which is automatically remitted to the appropriate agencies.
*If you have special sales tax requirements, please contact us for a custom solution.
Income Tax Reporting
Stripe will automatically issue a 1099 for all connected accounts, and at the end of the year, Learning Sunshine will offer a purchase receipt equaling the same amount along with our retail vendors license number.
Refunds, Other Requests and Customer Support
Customers may make refund and other requests to Learning Sunshine or directly to vendors. It is the vendors responsibility to ensure customer satisfaction and Learning Sunshine is here to support vendors through all processes.
All vendors must be able to provide customer support within a minimum of 24 hours. If you are unable to provide customer support it is your responsibility to contact us, or to set your store to “Vacation” mode. Under certain circumstances as a courtesy, Learning Sunshine may provide additional customer support if a vendor is unable.
What to Know Before You Ship
Learning Sunshine is all about community. All purchases must be made from a registered account. By checking your Stripe dashboard, you can see information about the card that was used in the transaction including the risk level. No online selling is 100% secure, so if you have any questions or concerns about an order, please reach out directly to the customer or contact us to discuss your concerns.
Learning Sunshine monitors and reviews all orders, but it is ultimately the vendors responsibility to assure the order is legitimate and refunds are the vendor’s responsibility.
DO NOT SHIP unless you are 100% certain the order is legitimate. If you have any concerns, stop, wait and talk to the customer and Learning Sunshine staff before you ship. Part of our terms and conditions at checkout is that we must be able to contact the customer before we ship. If you have any concerns about an order, wait for customer contact before shipping.
Need Help?
Please contact us. We are here to help and can walk you through the process!