Services · PenwinBooks
PenwinBooks: your school's online textbook shop
Paper order forms, bank transfers with no reference and families asking about their payment: the textbook campaign eats up the admin team's summer. With PenwinBooks the family chooses the year group and buys the complete list, and the school takes payment directly into its own accounts and issues its own invoices: the money does not pass through third parties. It costs 1.5% of sales, with no fixed fee; a year with no sales costs nothing.
Request a PenwinBooks demo at info@penwin.org and we'll set up your school's campaign.
How it works: catalogue, lists by year group and sales window
The school sets up its catalogue of books, stationery and school materials and organises it into lists by year group or by vocational programme. The family logs in, selects their child's year group and sees exactly what they need, without searching title by title or deciphering a PDF with twenty references. They can adjust the list if they already have some of the books and go through to payment.
Sales open in campaigns with date windows, and several windows can be opened for each year group: the main one in June or July, and a second in September for latecomers or for a last-minute change. Payment is by card through Redsys or Stripe, in cash or in instalments, depending on what the school enables.
Throughout the campaign the school has a dashboard to track progress: which year groups are well advanced, which orders are paid and which are pending, and what is still to be handed out. Delivery and collection are also managed from the platform, so the September handout is worked from the data rather than from a printed list.
- The school's own catalogue of books, stationery and school materials.
- Lists by year group: the family chooses the year group and sees its complete list.
- Campaigns with date windows, with several possible windows per year group.
- Payment through Redsys and Stripe, in cash and in instalments.
- Delivery and collection management.
- Campaign tracking dashboard for the school.
Who takes payment and who invoices: the money goes straight to the school
This is the main difference from a typical online marketplace. With PenwinBooks the seller of record is the school: the family buys from the school, the school issues the invoice and the money goes straight into its accounts. PenwinEdu does not hold funds at any point; there is no intermediate balance and no later payout to wait for.
The school connects its own Redsys or Stripe accounts and is paid from day one, with its cash flow where it belongs. The relationship with the family also remains the school's: its invoice, its terms of sale and its judgement on any issue, with the order, the payment status and the delivery all traceable on the dashboard so the issue can be sorted out in a minute with the information to hand. PenwinEdu provides the technology – catalogue, lists, campaigns, payments, vouchers, deliveries and tracking – and charges a percentage of sales, not of the money it moves, because that money never passes through its hands.
Vouchers, grants and regional funding
PenwinBooks builds voucher and grant management into the purchase process itself, with native support for two widely used Spanish schemes: the Val Escolar (Catalonia's school voucher scheme) and the Banc de Llibres (the Valencian textbook bank scheme). The amount is applied to the order and the family just pays the difference, if there is one, so the discount is recorded in the same place as the sale. Other discounts specific to the school can be handled as generic vouchers. We cover on our blog the manual work these schemes involve.
Integration with the school's ERP and access for families
PenwinBooks integrates with the school's ERP, for example with Educamos and with GlobalEduca, two of the most widely used management systems in schools and colleges, so the same information does not have to be maintained twice: pupils, year groups and enrolment live in the ERP and the textbook campaign relies on that data. With any other management system, the platform works just as well on its own: the school loads its year groups and lists and the campaign gets going without touching the ERP.
Families log in with a one-time code they receive by email, without creating an account or remembering yet another password, and each login leads to the list for the right year group. As for personal data, the controller is the school, which decides what information it asks for and why; PenwinEdu acts as the technology provider and processes that data on the school's behalf. The platform records what is needed for the campaign: pupil and year group, family contact details, order and payment status.
Groups of schools, foundations and parents' associations
PenwinBooks is multi-site: a group of schools, a foundation that owns several schools or a school group that brings together publicly funded private schools (concertados) and private schools, vocational training centres, business schools and universities can manage them all from the same platform, each with its own catalogue, lists by year group, campaign windows and tracking dashboard. That way the owning body can set common criteria without requiring every school to sell the same things or on the same dates. It also works for parents' associations (PTAs) and other associations that organise group purchasing, on the same basis: lists by year group, a sales window and payment taken directly by whoever organises the purchase.
Pricing: 1.5% of sales, no fixed fee
PenwinBooks costs 1.5% of each sale. There is no fixed fee, no set-up fee, no annual licence and no implementation charge: for every €100 of sales, €1.50 is PenwinEdu's commission and the rest goes straight into the school's accounts from day one, because it is always the school that takes the payment. PenwinEdu only charges when the school sells, so a small campaign costs little and a year with no sales costs nothing.
Payment gateway fees follow their usual course: since the Redsys or Stripe accounts belong to the school, the gateway invoices them directly to the school, on the terms it has negotiated with its bank and with no intermediary or surcharge in between.
- 1.5% of each sale.
- No fixed fee and no set-up fee.
- You pay only when you sell.
- Gateway fees are invoiced to the school by Redsys or Stripe, on the terms the school has negotiated.
Frequently asked questions
Who receives the money from families?
The school does, always. With PenwinBooks the families' money goes straight into the school's accounts and does not pass through PenwinEdu at any point. The school is the seller of record, issues the invoice and is answerable to the family for the order. PenwinEdu provides the technology that manages the catalogue, orders and payments, and charges its commission on sales.
How much does PenwinBooks cost?
1.5% of each sale, with no fixed fee and no set-up fee: for every €100 of sales to families, €1.50 is PenwinEdu's commission. There is no implementation charge and no annual licence: PenwinEdu only charges when the school sells, so a small campaign costs little and a year with no sales costs nothing. Gateway fees are invoiced by Redsys or Stripe directly to the school, on the terms the school has negotiated with its bank.
What about Catalonia's Val Escolar or the Banc de Llibres?
They are handled within the platform itself. PenwinBooks includes voucher and grant management with native support for the Val Escolar (Catalonia's school voucher scheme) and the Banc de Llibres (the Valencian textbook bank scheme), so the amount of the funding is deducted from the order and the family just pays the difference, if there is one. Other funding or discounts specific to the school can be handled as generic vouchers.
How can families pay?
By card through Redsys or Stripe, in cash or in instalments, which is useful when the complete list comes to a large amount or when the school wants to spread the outlay over several points in the school year. The school decides which payment methods to enable in each campaign, because it is the school that takes payment and sets the terms of sale. Orders paid in cash are recorded just like the others and appear on the tracking dashboard, so the school keeps a single list of orders and payment statuses.
Does it integrate with the school's management system?
It integrates with the school's ERP, so pupil and year group data is maintained once and the textbook campaign relies on it. With any other management system, PenwinBooks works just as well on its own: the school loads its year groups and lists onto the platform and opens the campaign.
What happens if a book changes halfway through the campaign?
The school updates the catalogue and the list for the year group affected, and any later orders go out with the right title. Several campaign windows can also be opened per year group, which makes it possible to open an extra period for the change. Orders already paid are traceable on the dashboard with their year group and status, so the school knows straight away which families are affected by the change and deals with them one by one with the information to hand.
Does it work for a group with several schools?
Yes. PenwinBooks is multi-site: a group of schools or a foundation that owns several schools can manage them all from the same platform, each with its own catalogue, lists by year group and campaign windows. It also works for parents' associations (PTAs) and other associations that organise group purchasing. Each school keeps its own campaign tracking dashboard.
Who is responsible for families' and pupils' data?
The school, as it is the one that decides what data it asks for and why. PenwinEdu acts as the technology provider and processes that data on the school's behalf. The platform records the data needed for the campaign: pupil and year group, family contact details, order and payment status. Families log in with a one-time code sent by email, with no passwords created or stored.
Let's talk about your school
Email us at info@penwin.org with details of your school, or fill in the contact form, and we'll reply with a specific proposal.