Schoolpop has been interesting to watch. I did look at the financials a bit. They're troubling. Looks like the company just left the "OTC" (over-the-counter) exchange for another. The stock price is about one or two pennies per share. They've been losing fairly sizeable amounts of money each of the past several years.

I'm not all that familiar with much else, but what happened at the end of the National Scrip Center may be pertinent. Basically, when NSC finally pulled the plug all those groups that had orders (and money) in to NSC -- but who had not yet received their scrip -- wound up waiting a long time for their scrip or their money back. I'm not sure if all groups were made whole (I think so, eventually).

The lesson, I think, is be careful how much money you're fronting to a company like this. You don't want to be a big creditor. If you're sending $4,000 or $10,000 in per order, then you could be left waiting on that $10,000.

What can you do? Order from several different vendors (to reduce your exposure to any one). Perhaps order in smaller increments (so your risk per order is less). If you start to see warning signs (missed delivery dates, more companies out of stock), be even more careful.

Tim

Schoolpop is alive and well. I use their site on a weekly basis and always receive prompt quarterly payments.

You might be thinking of the company National Scrip Center that was going under in Calfiornia and was bought out by Schoolpop.

Schoolpop is now in the scrip business as well as the site they have had for years. Both I use regularly and are doing well.

Seems like there was an article on the blog a year or so ago announcing the downfall of this company. Perhaps you could do a search on this site. I could be wrong.

I'd be very careful with this company. By the looks of their financial information (which is public because they are a public company) they very well may be on their last legs.

Does anyone use schoolpop and if so, are they reliable and how much money do you average? Thanks for any information.