Setting Up Nook accounts/purchasing ebooks

[Karen Kliegman]

I just purchased 5 NookColors. HOWEVER, our district does not allow school credit cards and we are not allowed to buy gift cards. Just looking for a solution to this problem. Can anyone share how they dealt with this?

[Fred Danes]

When I add titles to our nooks, I temporarily attach my own credit card long enough to pay for the titles with a gift card, and then remove my card.  This also prevents others from adding titles.  So far it has worked well.

[Karen Kliegman]

Hi Fred,

I have been reluctant to use my own credit card; besides that, my district will not allow the use of gift cards to pay for the titles because gift cards have to be prepaid. Our auditors won't allow it. They are fine if I go ahead and purchase the gift cards with my own money and then ask for reimbursement. I think that's crazy. I'm not Donald Trump! I am at the point of cancelling my NOOK order (I haven't picked them up yet) which makes me very sad. I can't figure out how to make this work.

[Fred Danes]

We had to provide a list of titles to be purchased on a purchase order to B&N.  This satisfied our purchasing office.  B&N provided the titles in the form of a card which I then used to load the titles onto the nook.  Took little time and worked smoothly.  There were a few price variations from the time the PO was generated to the time of ordering, but nothing that wasn't easily resolved.

[Karen Kliegman]

But did you have to pre-pay for the books? Not sure I understand exactly what you did. I have corresponded with B&N regional manager; she said that I could do a PO with titles like you said; they would provide me with codes. But, still, would have to purchase through a credit or gift card. Could you clarify for me?

[Fred Danes]

We gave the PO to B&N.  They gave us a gift card in the amount of the desired titles, which I then used to load the titles.  There were no codes involved.  Not much different than creating a po to buy books at b&n, and then going to b&n and picking up the titles.  There is the same accountability that there would be with purchasing hard copies.  I tell my purchasing office ahead of time which titles I am purchasing, and they can verify for the sake of any audit.  Sorry for confusion.

[Karen Kliegman]

But did you have to pay for the gift card before you downloaded the books? That's the issue here. The prepayment. I know, it's so ridiculous.

[Fred Danes]

We ordered the specific titles before b&n gave us the gift card.  We then used the gift card to down load the books. Then we acknowledge receipt of the titles, and finally finance pays b&n against the purchase order.  The gift card is just the vehicle by which the titles get loaded onto the nook.  Our folks would not let us buy a gift card without specific titles, because there would be a loss of accountability.  When we specify the titles to be purchased, that provides the accountability.  Provides the same accountability as when I take a PO for specific titles down to b&n, pick up the titles, acknowledge receipt there of, and purchasing finally pays b&n.  Hopefully your folks can accept the process, because it works well for us.

[Marianna DeMott]

Karen, I don't know what state you're in (I'm in Indiana) but our business office people were also concerned about gift card purchases. They had always just said no gift cards in the past. In this Ipad, application world it's something everyone is going to have to deal with. Our corporation created a gift card policy after talking personally to one of the state board of accounts people who actually oversees auditors. He's fairly high up on the SBA food chain. We were fortunate to get access to this person because his brother is our athletic director. After talking to this rep, our corporation came up with a gift card policy. I'm pretty sure  I've posted a copy of it somewhere on this ning.
Take a look at it, show it to your business people. If your front office people won't bend on this then I think you're pretty much up a creek without a paddle. If they are thinking about Ipad purchase (who isn't?) they're going to have to cross this bridge sometime anyway. Someone should start talking to your SBA and find out how others are handling this. These people will bow to pressure sometime.

We haven't been audited yet but when we are I have all my used gift cards with labels for what nook account I used that card, I also have a spreadsheet with every purchase I've made and the price of the purchase. The thing that makes me the most nervous is I don't know exactly how we'll show tax refunds. Right now I email the request to B & N tax department and ask for the refund for every title.  They credit our account but I"m not sure how we'll show that credit to the auditors.

 I really hate the idea of providing a preselected list. One of the best things about the nook is that you can meet that spur of the minute need, Do you have the newest, latest, and you can smile the day of release and say yes I do, six copies as a matter of fact.

Karen Kliegman said:

But did you have to pay for the gift card before you downloaded the books? That's the issue here. The prepayment. I know, it's so ridiculous.

[Karen Kliegman]

Could you point me to where that policy is in the ning? thanks so much!

[Fred Danes]

Marianna, we take care of the on the spot purchases through a gift card from our senior class.  The b&n allows up to three gift cards on the account at any one time.

[Karen Kliegman]

Ha! We do have 7 iPads in our lab. They are just sitting right now.

[Marianna DeMott]

That's funny. An Ipad without apps is not much fun. There are some cool free apps but someone needs to bite the bullett and put on a credit card. Our tech adminstrator bought 3 or 4 of them for people to play with, me included because I asked. It's basically mine. I set up the account with my credit card, I've spent around $100 on applications and have been doing weekend loans to interested teachers. I figure even if I'm spending my own money on applications I'm getting free use of the Ipad and when I de-authorize my account for the school's Ipad I'll be able to put those apps on my own device. I've applied for a technology grant and an waiting with fingers crossed to see if I'll be able to add 10 3 GS enabled Ipads to my nooks. I've written it as a bridging the digital divide grant for students who don't have Internet access at home.

Karen Kliegman said:

Ha! We do have 7 iPads in our lab. They are just sitting right now.