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Year Round Physical Product Sales Online


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Good afternoon everyone. We are new to boy scouts, just moved up last month. The question I have that I can't seem to find a solid answer on. If one of the businesses I own sells physical products online would it be against BSA policy to allow the boys to design their own products which I would then list to sell online? Without using any BSA logos, symbols, or even mentioning they are designed by boy scouts. Basically, it would allow the boys to learn what sells online on their own designs and descriptions only without relying on the power of the BSA name.

My thought would be to offer it to any scout in the troop who wanted to try it out. In my head, I figure that a predetermined amount of the profits from each sale would be set aside and donated by myself to the troop every quarter, or month, etc for allowing the boys to have time to work on these designs. And then as rewards to the boys who do design things that successfully sell offer them a gift card for the reward. Like if you sell $250 retail price in the calendar month you earn a $25 gift card etc. Would any of this violate any policy or is it just looked at providing opportunities for scouts to learn salesmanship, business, paying their own way, and being thrifty?

Also, note there wouldn't be any "end date" so I'm not even sure it would be considered a fundraiser. My 10 year old makes anywhere from none to $50 a month doing this however that's just between me and him and has nothing to do with BSA just as an example of the potential if there are 30+ kids participating.

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Thanks for the response John. I was a cub scout leader from Tiger-Arrow of Light. I am current on my dues and my YPT. I just started the merit badge counselor training as well. This is a whole new troop for us from cubs to boys. Just wasn't sure if the idea would violate policy as I don't want to bring it up if it's obvious a violation that I'm not aware of.

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That's exactly how I would like to do it but wasn't sure if that's allowed. My son has learned so much from doing it and he knows he has to pay for things he wants outside of the normal. It took a while as at first, he would spend all the money the second I gave it to him, but now he actually learned to save what he earns as he knows things like new video games, rocks (he collects rocks), etc comes up that we make him use his own money for. A few times missing out and now he actually saves and when he wants something larger he knows he just has to work and make the money for it. :)

I figure this could help the boys learn and help the troop along the way.

 

And I meant amazon or gamestop etc gift cards only because I didn't think cash would be allowed haha

Edited by Matty2Shoes
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A merit badge class revolving around designing a product for online sales might actually meet "Entrepreneurship" requirements pretty well. So, in addition to "Salesmanship" (as suggested by John-in-KC), you might want to take a look at "Entrepreneurship" and see if that's something you might also be interested in counseling.

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One thing I would say, if you’re going to offer a “class”, keep it small. Four youth or so.  Tailor your idea to the requirements of the MB. Take them through the critical learning, be available for phone/Skype mentoring, but, as always, test individually. 

Remember to stay in current bounds of YP, burdensome as they are. 

Good hunting!

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