Know the risk in every way to pay.

Why the money goes sideways

Money is where a sale goes wrong. Most neighbors don’t carry cash anymore, and many couldn’t find their checkbook if they tried. So most groups take a mix, and each way to pay has its own risk. Go in knowing them.

Each way to pay, and its risk

1. 1.Cash. Kids carry it around the neighborhood in envelopes. It gets lost or miscounted, and there’s no record of who paid.
2. 2.Checks. They get made out to the parent, or to the wrong name. Some bounce. And a big pile can run into your bank’s weekly deposit limit.
3. 3.Payment apps, like Venmo. They’re made for person to person, like paying a friend back, not for a group’s sale. So the money goes to the seller’s parent, not the group, and sits in their account, mixed in with their own, until they send it on.
4. 4.Cards. What most neighbors would rather use. The catch is the processing fee, taken at the time of sale. A $20 order doesn’t put $20 in the bank. If you take cards, plan for the fee in your prices.

Set the rules before the sale

1. 1.Decide what you’ll take: cash, checks, cards, or a mix.
2. 2.Spell out who checks are made out to: the group’s exact name, never a person. Give every seller a printed card with the name on it, and have them check the “Pay to” line before they leave the door.
3. 3.Decide on payment apps. App money lands in a parent’s account, not the group’s. If you don’t want that, don’t take them, and say so in writing. If you do, have parents turn that money in every week, like cash.
4. 4.Decide when money is due: when the order is taken, or at pickup (less common).
5. 5.Keep cash safe. Collect it often, and don’t let kids carry it around. Sellers go in pairs or with a grown-up, and come home before dark.

Keep track as it comes in

Write the payment on every order as it comes in: how they paid, and whether they’ve paid. Have families turn money in each week, in an envelope with their name and a tally. Count it with two people. Then the night before the supplier order isn’t spent matching checks to names.

Copy this

A quick example

A girls’ basketball team took cash and checks for its pizza sale, and said no to payment apps, so no money sat in a parent’s account. The kickoff message spelled out the team’s exact name for checks. Families turned money in every Monday at practice in a labeled envelope, and two parents counted it together. At the close, the paid orders matched the money to the dollar, and the three unpaid orders went on the list for pickup day.

How The Order Buddy handles it

With The Order Buddy, every order records how it was paid: cash, check, peer to peer (like Venmo), or not paid yet, plus any notes. Card payments mark their order paid on their own. Reports show paid or not for every customer. So when the sale closes, your coordinator and treasurer know what money to expect, and who still owes.

We offer cards too, if your group wants them. Most neighbors would rather pay that way, and the money goes to the group’s own account, not a parent’s. Stripe’s processing fees apply, and we add none. How card payments work →

Every card payment is one less envelope of cash, check made out to the wrong name, or app payment sitting in a parent’s account. The trade is the fee, which comes out of the sale. If you take cash and checks too, the rules above still apply to those.

What it won’t do is track partial payments, connect to your payment app, or make the deposit.

Want to see it on your own sale? Request a demo, or read straight answers on how it works.

Your checklist

• The risk of each way to pay, known
• What you’ll take, and when it’s due, decided
• Checks to the group’s exact name
• Payment apps decided: allowed or not, in writing
• A printed card with the check name for every seller
• Payment rules in the kickoff message
• Every payment written on its order
• Money turned in weekly and counted by two people