Buying Sports Equipment for Your School or College: Purchase Orders, Supplier Setup and Pay on Invoice Explained

Buying sports and PE equipment for an education setting should be simple. In practice, it often means quotes, purchase orders, supplier setup forms and finance sign-off, all before a single football arrives. That is true whether you run a nursery, a primary or secondary school, a college or a university.

This guide is for whoever does the buying. That might be the PE lead or a class teacher, the school business manager, the office or finance team, or in a smaller school, the headteacher. It explains how to buy from ChildrensFootball.com in a way that fits your purchasing process, so the kit arrives on time and the paperwork is right first time.

Where buying usually goes wrong

The most common workaround is card first, paperwork later. Someone pays on a personal or school card to get the equipment in time, then the supplier setup and purchase order are created afterwards to match. It gets the kit delivered, but it leaves problems behind:

• Staff can be out of pocket while expense claims are processed
• Purchase orders are raised after the event, which most finance policies are designed to prevent
• Office and finance teams end up chasing receipts, invoices and supplier details
• Spending is invisible until after the money has gone

The opposite problem is just as common. The order is done properly, but it stalls waiting for supplier setup, and the equipment arrives after the lesson, sports day or fixture it was needed for. The fix for both is the same: sort the paperwork once, up front, so every order after that is quick.

How to buy, step by step

The smoothest route is to set us up as a supplier first, then raise a purchase order, then order. Pay on Invoice means nobody has to pay personally, and whoever handles finance stays in control of every payment.

1. Set us up as a supplier. Send us your new supplier form, and we will complete and return it. You only need to do this once.
2. Raise your purchase order. If your process needs a quote first, ask, and we will send one.
3. Place the order. Order on our website as normal, mark clearly which nursery, school, college or university it is for, and add your PO number to the order notes.
4. Choose BACS / Bank Transfer at checkout. We hold the order and send the order details and invoice to your agreed finance or office contact to check before anything is processed.
5. Pay the invoice. Once you are happy the order is correct, pay us directly by bank transfer.

The result is one invoice and one payment, matched to your own paperwork. No personal cards, no expense claims and no purchase orders raised after the event.

What we can provide for your finance process

Most education providers need a supplier set up on their finance system before they can pay. We are used to this and happy to help whoever is handling it.

• Supplier setup forms: send us your new supplier form, and we will complete and return it.
• Purchase orders: email your PO to us, or quote the PO number on your order, and we will reference it on the invoice.
• Quotes: if you need a formal quote before a PO can be raised, ask, and we will send one.
• Bank details: our bank details are on every invoice, and we can confirm them with your finance team if your process requires it.

Once we are set up as a supplier, future orders from anyone in your setting can run through the same process.

Part of our School Partnership

Pay on Invoice works alongside our School Partnership offering. Partner schools receive points that build up in a funding pot and can be redeemed against future purchases, used to support sport equipment purchases, or used for prizes for PTA-run raffles or competitions. Running every order through Pay on Invoice means:

• One clear record of sports and PE equipment spending
• No staff waiting to be reimbursed
  

Getting set up

If equipment is still being bought on personal cards with the paperwork filled in afterwards, or orders keep stalling at supplier setup, it is worth getting set up once and doing it properly. Get in touch with us with your supplier form or finance contact details, and we will take it from there.