What are BTFE and how are they traded?

[mama22qts]

Box Tops For Education

www.boxtops4education.com (http://www.boxtops4education.com)

BTFE are a great way to raise money for your school! They are worth .10 each for your schools. These small box tops can be found on many products that you buy. See a full list of participating products HERE (http://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/clip/Brands.aspx).

Occasionally a package has bonus box tops.

Often grocery stores will have promotions where buying certain products will generate a "bonus boxtop" coupon that will print from the catalina machine at the register. These can also be sent into local schools and are worth .10 per box top. So if you earn 50 bonus box tops, that is $5.00 for the school.

How and why are these traded?

Schools need all the help they can get, so many members trade for the box tops to ensure that they go to schools and not the recycle bins.

Some members will pay a set amount to you for each box top you have. Sometimes .05 per boxtop. Some members accept boxtops as "payment" for coupons that they have.
an example is they have $15.00 worth of coupons that you need. They are looking for $1.50 cash or 30 box tops which would give these a value of .05 each. Some traders value these higher others lower.

Some members trade 1 box top for 1 coupon. At the end of the day, a fair trade is one where both members get something they can use.

If you don't have kids in school, save these and trade them for coupons you need.

[PMFan]

is this an example of a fair trade using BTFE for coupons ?

$10 worth of coupons for $10 in BTFE (100 BTFE x .10c = $10)

or is there another formula to use for this type of trade ?


thanks!Box Tops For Education

http://www.boxtops4education.com/index.aspx

BTFE are a great way to raise money for your school! They are worth .10 each normally. Occasionally there will be bonus boxtops that will be worth more.

I have seen them traded in the past for .05 cash value...but it really depends on the trader. Some will trade for more than that when their school is having a contest. I've seen these sell on Ebay for so much more than that!


If you don't have kids in school, save these anyhow and trade them for coupons you need.

[MrsPinecone]

That's what I usually do with them-- $ for $ trades with the BTFE valued at .10 face value.

[phlack]

Since so many ebay auctions are selling them for above face value, I wonder if these people are actually the schools selling them! LOL

-Mike

[MOM2SNOX]

And with so many more companies jumping on the BTFE bandwagon, there are more opportunities to collect them! Anybody notice they're on the Cottonelle wipes now? I actually have to check the website every now and then to see which products they may be hiding on.

[PMFan]

thanks for confirming what i thought is fair........That's what I usually do with them-- $ for $ trades with the BTFE valued at .10 face value.

[mochi]

who and how do you trade the box tops??
i have tons from cereal boxes!

[momabrown3]

Please note :AlWAYS check the expiration date before trading them.Schools DO NOT GET CREDIT for EXPIRED BTFE.I am a school cordinator for BTFE.You would not beleive how many BTFE I throw away because they are expired.If you are trading for these ask for least a 6 -12month expiration date when trading .Schools ship 2 times per year.Schools only get 2 checks per year for sending in BTFE.HTH

[MrsPinecone]

Thanks for the info, momabrown!

[momabrown3]

Another little tip.
When trading your BTFE do not tape them to a sheet of paper.The person in charge at the schools will just have to remove them from the paper.BTFE have to be shipped to the BTFE Headquarters in plastic baggies only.HTH

[SummerAnne]

Another little tip.
When trading your BTFE do not tape them to a sheet of paper.The person in charge at the schools will just have to remove them from the paper.BTFE have to be shipped to the BTFE Headquarters in plastic baggies only.HTH

Doesn't it drive you nuts that they offer those printable sheets to attach the box tops to, yet you can't ship them that way?! I'm starting my first year as coordinator for DD's school this year... I did a bit of work on it at the end of the last school year as the previous person was planning to leave and I didn't want to come in completely clueless.

[brixtonrileightaylor]

So would it be a good idea to suggest to my school to list them on ebay vs sending them in for redemption? because it appears that selling them on ebay gets more money than they are even worth?

[Shanshu]

I have little bit of advice as a former BTFE co-ordinator for 2 years.

When you clip them from the package....please make sure you clip the whole BTFE. You don't know how many I had to throw away because people would send in halves.

Don't send in the Betty Crocker Points as I had happen too many times to count. These do not count toward BTFE.

Also, please don't wait until the last minute to drop them off at school...drop them off every 2 weeks or so. One year I had about 1000 that were dropped off a few days before the deadline. Do you know how sore your fingers get having to clip even half that amount?! OUCH!!

It makes it much easier to clip the BTFE neatly to begin with so all the co-ordinator has to do is count them and put them in baggies. That can be very time consuming in itself...believe me.

I know I enjoyed doing this for my son's school and we were able to raise over $3000.00 in two years...not too bad for a small district!

[JANE4girls]

So would it be a good idea to suggest to my school to list them on ebay vs sending them in for redemption? because it appears that selling them on ebay gets more money than they are even worth?

that is what I am thinking!

[jlaporte]

Yup. I have been saving those all summer to drop off at school. I cut them nice and neat and send them in nice baggies of 100 in each. At least thats what I have done.This year the school isn't really pushing it.

[Shanshu]

Yup. I have been saving those all summer to drop off at school. I cut them nice and neat and send them in nice baggies of 100 in each. At least thats what I have done.This year the school isn't really pushing it.

I would have loved having you as one of the parents sending in BTs at our school!! lol

[4vaughns]

Are the campbells soup labels for education part of this-or is that a totally different program? Just curious.

[momabrown3]

Doesn't it drive you nuts that they offer those printable sheets to attach the box tops to, yet you can't ship them that way?! I'm starting my first year as coordinator for DD's school this year... I did a bit of work on it at the end of the last school year as the previous person was planning to leave and I didn't want to come in completely clueless.

You can attach them to the BTFE web site printable collection pages.They just don't want them tape to regular paper due to count issues.The web pages collect 25 btfe per page.I think Its easier for them to count.Good luck this year on your BTFE.We just did our first collection contest and collected 733.50 worth.Good for a school with only 550 children.We have a contest ever 2 months.

[momabrown3]

Are the campbells soup labels for education part of this-or is that a totally different program? Just curious.

Campbell is a different program.They do not get cash for soup labels.The school has to shop from the Campbell school catalog.

[Debbieomi]

Yup. I have been saving those all summer to drop off at school. I cut them nice and neat and send them in nice baggies of 100 in each. At least thats what I have done.This year the school isn't really pushing it.
I have lots of parents who trim them up, but none who bag them. I would love to have you as a mom for my program too, 'cept we have to send them in groups of 50. An FYI, they don't have to be trimmed, we just rip them close to the lines. The tiny bit of extra postage is not worth hours of mine and my clippers time. :smile:

[sdasilva27]

I just ripped a BTFE off that says HH where it normally says .10

Does anyone know what that means?

[Debbieomi]

I went straight to the people who know...the coordinator's forum at boxtops4education.com :biggrin:
From what I'm seeing, it just stands for Hamburger Helper. I may be mistaken and I was in kind of a hurry cause Survivor is coming on rightthisminute! I'll investigate further and get back with you.

[Debbieomi]

Yep, it is Hamburger Helper. Evidently, there are alot of codes for the porducts they came from on the BTFE. They are of no use to anyone other than General Mills' people. HTH.

[sdasilva27]

But it still counts for the .10, right?

[Debbieomi]

But it still counts for the .10, right?

Yes indeed. All BTFE will be worth at least a dime. There are bonus tops out there but it's printed on them their worth.

[gvt611t]

I got some box tops education .10c coupons on huggies diaper .expires 04/01/11.

I don't know what can I do for this, anybody explain,.

thanks.

[Debbieomi]

First, if you have an elementary school child, through 8th grade, actually....find out if their school collects these. If so, collect from 100's of items and send them into the school.
If you do not collect for a school, these are a commodity for trading. There are many people on this board who willl take BTFE and give you coupons you want. You can check out have and wish lists HERE (http://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/forums-trading-share-wealth/) .

[borntoshop]

I'm one of those ones who loves to donate box tops to my son's school. If you don't have anyone to pass them on to, I'd be happy to trade for them!:smile:

[gvt611t]

Thanks for the information, I will check how many coupons i have.

[ShoppingCartDiva]

I've always traded 1 box top for 1 Q. :)

[mom2Isaac]

I have always collected these but have never actually sent them in:( It's a bad habit I picked up from my mom.....

[neekyme]

When I worked at Walmart, I'd cut the box tops off any out-of-date items we had to throw away! I had a ton of them in a very short time (shame how much food goes to waste there)

I could have kicked myself though, I misplaced them during the move to a new house, and when I finally found them, half were expired!

[laylar77]

:coupons4:
How does one go about trading the BTFE's?:shrug7:

[hcwhcw]

I checked the BTFE web site but couldn't find the printable collection sheets that some of you mentioned upthread - link, please? :-)

If you don't use tape, how do you attach the BTFE's to the paper so that the person receiving them can get an easy count?

And how do you handle those staticky clingy thin BTFE's from the Cottonelle and Scott TP packages?

[scouch71]

I had never thought about trading coupons for BTFE. THat is an excellent idea. My children go to a school with uniforms. Every month the class that brings in the most BTFE get on day where they don't have to wear their uniform. I have several coupons that I'll never use. This is a great way to trade them.:giggle2:

[Tamara]

Maybe this is a silly question but why would people pay more than they are worth for them????

[Debbieomi]

I checked the BTFE web site but couldn't find the printable collection sheets that some of you mentioned upthread - link, please? :-)

If you don't use tape, how do you attach the BTFE's to the paper so that the person receiving them can get an easy count?

And how do you handle those staticky clingy thin BTFE's from the Cottonelle and Scott TP packages?

The printable collection sheets are only in the coordinator's forum for coordinators only. When trading them for coupons, etc, please don't bother with attaching them to any kind of paper. Just send as is. The collection sheets, whether directly from BTFE.com or whether one a coordinator created are generally used as contests in the schools. If you happen to have one and wish to trade the BTFE you've already stuck to it, that's fine. They may be attached with tape or glue stick. The people who get them at BTFE from the schools don't care and they may be submitted to them with either. The clingy plastic ones are the same as any other.

Maybe this is a silly question but why would people pay more than they are worth for them????

Unfotunately, there are people who will pay more than the value so that their child or child's classroom can win prizes. It's one of the reasons that myself and many other coordinators have done away with contests that pit student against student or classroom against classroom. Last year, I changed my contests to goal oriented where each classroom could win prizes based on the number of items they bring in. Since all classes have the potential to win, it does eliminate alot of the "big dog" syndrome.
Sadly, not all coordinators are on board with it yet, so it's why we continue to see ebay auctions with BTFE selling for two-three-four times their actual value. :shrug2:It makes me sad that we are teaching our children that if you have the money and the access, then you can win. :sigh2:
Getting off the:soapbox: :)

[hcwhcw]

Hey Debbieomi, thank you for answering my question from 5/11/08!

Even though the question was two and a half months old, I never did get an answer and I was actually still wondering how people organize their BTFEs when trading or submitting them.

Based on your answer, it sounds like stuffing them all (including those clingy thin plastic ones) into one small clear plastic bag would be alright. And then I guess the person receiving them just sorts them out for themselves.

Thanks again for your reply! :-)

[srichart]

i know this is an old thread but how do you trade for btfe? what are each of the btfe's worth? tia