Crossville Christian School

Here are some frequently asked questions about Crossville Christian School's online shopping programs. If you have an additional question not answered by this FAQ, please let us know.

How does online shopping work?

Our website contains a list of participating merchants who have agreed to donate a percentage of their sales back to us. If you click to their websites from ours, they can determine that CCS was the origin of the sale and will credit us accordingly. Basically, it works like this:

• Margaret wants to send flowers to her mother for her birthday. She goes to the CCS Online Shopping page to look for a florist.
  
• Margaret sees there are several online florists listed there. She clicks through to their sites and browses.
  
• After comparing selection, prices, etc., Margaret decides an arrangement of peonies at FlowersForMom.com will work nicely. Margaret clicks through the link on our Affiliate Stores page and completes her purchase.
  
• FlowersForMom.com has set a rebate of 7% for all its sales. After getting Margaret's flowers off to her mom, the online florist credits CCS for 7% of Margaret's purchase amount.
  
• Every quarter, or when rebates pass a certain threshold, FlowersforMom.com will send a rebate check directly to CCS.
  

How much does CCS get when I buy something?

It depends on the online merchant. Established stores with a niche market may offer a small percentage while other stores with heavy competition will offer higher rebates to entice customers. Also, the rebate may depend on exactly what is purchased. For example, an online merchant might offer a 3% rebate on books, but a 5% rebate on music and DVDs.

Our current list of affiliate stores lists the rebate percentages we get.

Is this a pyramid type scheme?

No. CCS does not participate in any fundraisers which are legally or morally questionable. Sales commissions are a long-standing part of the retail business. In many cases, it is cheaper and more profitable for companies to fill orders over the Internet rather than maintaining a costly storefront. Thus there are financial incentives for online retailers to conduct business this way.

There are other affiliate programs out there that will donate a percent of the sales to a nonprofit organization. Why does CCS have its own?

Because, by doing it ourselves, we get a higher percentage. Other online merchant portals like ebates.com, schoolpop.com, etc. offer rebates from a wide variety of merchants -- but they also take a cut of the rebates. If you compare their listed rebates to ours, you will notice that our rebates are often double or triple what is listed elsewhere.

Do I have to click through these links to the stores?

For the school to get paid, yes. So if you click through a store's link, then need to come back later to complete your purchase, please return to the store through our link so CCS can get credited.

Can anyone use these links?

Yes. If you know anyone who does a lot of online shopping at these merchants -- or even
buys things occasionally for birthdays or holidays -- let them know about our affiliate
merchants.