What is a virtual book fair with Third Place?
Because of the COVID-19 crisis in Seattle and beyond, Third Place has begun to offer virtual book fairs to area schools as a substitute for our regular in-school book fair programming as a way to maintain our relationships with teachers, librarians, and students and to continue fostering a love of reading outside the walls of our bookstores.
The book fair concept is the same: Third Place will create a book fair home page with a suggested book list. Supporters can shop that page for books or browse our website during the open hours of the book fair (generally Monday at 8:00am to Friday at midnight). Your school will receive 20% back on the pre-tax total from all the book fair orders.
Because we have a much larger capacity for virtual book fairs, we would like to invite all schools to participate and not just those who have scheduled in-school book fairs with us in the past or for the future.
Can I buy books in-store at one of your Third Place Books locations and have that sale count towards the book fair?
Because our method of tracking orders relies on those orders coming through our website, we cannot count in-store purchases towards virtual book fairs at this time. Think of it just as a book fair being held at your school: only purchases made at the book fair are eligible for the book fair. Since these book fairs are virtual, all orders must be placed online.
If you or one of your supporters do not have internet access, please reach out to Children's Outreach Manager Sarah at 206-366-3333, and we can discuss accommodations.
What can I buy during a virtual book fair?
You can buy any book available to order on our website. Our internet order team will have to determine stock availability for all books in your order when they process your order, and if a book is out of stock, we will let you know at that time. Unfortunately, we cannot offer used or bargain books on our website. Gifts cards and donations to our Books to Students Fund are not eligible purchases for the virtual book fair.
How long will it take to receive my book fair order?
Our internet orders team needs to process your book fair order before it ships out to you or it is ready for you to pick up in-store, and this can take up to a few days, depending on the influx of orders we receive. You will receive an automatic reply when you submit your internet order; this does not mean your order is ready yet. A member of our internet orders team will contact you regarding the status of your order after checking stock availability at our stores and distributor.
Generally, you should receive your order within two weeks from the book's ship date, which can be a few days after our internet team processes your order.
How do I make sure that my school receives the credit?
Please visit your school's virtual book fair home page and follow the instructions there to ensure that your order will count towards your school's fundraiser.
Can I use a gift card for my book fair order?
At this time, we cannot accept gift cards for online orders.
Can I use my educator discount on my book fair order?
Because we are giving back 20% of the pre-tax totals from all book fair orders, no discounts can be applied to your order.
Who can shop during the virtual book fair?
Anyone with the link to your school's homepage, so make sure to share the link with all of your school's supporters! We expect individual schools to advertise the fair to their parents and drum up excitement about the fair. Like with Give Back Nights, it is our policy not to market these events to our customers.
Who should I contact to organize a virtual book fair?
Please reach out to our Children's Outreach Manager, Sarah here. We schedule virtual book fairs on a first come, first served basis, and many schools reach out to us very far in advance to reserve dates for virtual book fairs. Additionally, because of the increased demand for virtual book fairs we've been receiving, we recommend that you reach out to us at least a few months in advance of when you would like to schedule your virtual book fair. This lead time gives us time to prepare your school's homepage and to give your school enough time to get in touch with all students' parents. Please note that we cannot accommodate virtual book fairs in late November or in December because of the holiday season.
What if I have other questions?
Please feel free to email our Children's Outreach Manager, Sarah here.
