The default: shoppers pay at checkout
On a standard Print Your Cause store, each shopper pays for their own order. Every item is printed on demand and shipped to the address the shopper enters, so there is no inventory to buy up front and no minimums. Your organization sets the final sales prices and makes 100% of the difference between the item cost and the sales price. That setup works well for fundraisers and open community stores, where supporters expect to pay for what they order.
It is not the only way a store can run.
Billing orders to your organization instead
A store can be configured so orders placed through it are billed to your organization rather than to the shopper. In that setup, members visit the store, pick their items and sizes, and check out without paying — the organization covers the order. You can also decide whether shoppers see prices while they browse; hiding them is common when the merch is a benefit or a thank-you rather than a purchase.
There is also an optional shopper-choice arrangement, where each shopper decides at checkout whether to pay personally or bill the organization. That suits groups where the organization covers some orders — a uniform item, a welcome shirt — while members are free to buy extras on their own.
These configurations are set up with our team, not switched on from a settings page. A real person builds the store with you, and details like billing arrangements and how shipping is handled on organization-paid orders are confirmed during that setup conversation. Because items still ship to each recipient's address, this works for distributed teams and remote members just as well as for a single campus or office. See how it works for the broader setup process.
Keeping control of what gets billed
When your organization is paying, you will want visibility into what comes through the store. We recommend three things:
- Order approvals. Ask our team to enable approvals so an administrator can review orders before they move ahead. This catches duplicates, wrong sizes, and anything outside what you intended to cover.
- Order notifications. Have notifications sent to the right administrator so orders never sit unnoticed.
- A test order. Before you share the store link, place one order yourself. You will see exactly what members will see — including whether prices appear — and confirm the billing setup behaves the way you expect.
When organization-paid ordering makes sense
Common fits include employers outfitting staff, schools and teams covering a required item for each member, and appreciation programs where recipients choose their own size and style instead of receiving a guessed one. Because stores stay open year-round, an organization-paid store can also run continuously — new members simply order when they join, and the organization is billed as orders come in.
If you are weighing this against a single large order handed out at one event, a bulk order may fit better; both paths can be combined.
