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Don’t Take IT Personally
9 Reasons to Not Source with a Personal Credit Card
While sourcing with your personal credit card might seem convenient at the time of purchase, there are conditions and ramifications not readily apparent that should be considered. Here are 9 of them:1. Creates ownership issue
- When purchases are made, your information is saved to vendors’ database. In the cases of product recalls or product exchanges for all university purchases, units purchased under personal credit card will not receive notification, leaving the owner with defective components.
2. You are not eligible for an institutional educational discount
- There is a difference between higher education discount and a personal educational discount.
- Higher educational pricing provides tax-exemption, free shipping (for many items), and contracted discounts that remain consistent.
- Personal educational discounts are discounts you may receive for being a Student, Staff, or Faculty at a university. They are oftentimes less aggressive and subject to sales tax and shipping costs.
3. BU does not pay any interest charges
- The card holder (you!) is liable for any interest charged no matter when reimbursement is approved by Boston University.
4. BU does not reimburse for sales tax
- Personal purchases subject to sales tax made with local retailers such as Best Buy, Staples, or Microcenter already face risk of not being approved for reimbursement. In all situations, sales tax is never reimbursed by Boston University. Even if the vendor does not charge you sales tax at time of sale, in the event of an audit, the state of Massachusetts is going to look to you or the vendor to pay the sales tax, plus any penalties.
5. No assistance from sales representative
- Because personal purchases take place outside of Boston University’s contracted public sector accounts, sales representatives who are normally able to assist on customer support, returns, and replacements, are unable to assist in regular consumer purchases.
6. Reduced support from Sourcing & Procurement
- In cases where units arrive defective and require a return, Sourcing’s ability to intervene is substantially limited as the purchase technically occurred outside of Boston University’s purview.
7. Reduced support from Information Technology
- IT staff at Boston University are committed to providing the best support for all departmental IT equipment. IS&T even provides in and out of warranty hardware support on campus through the IT Help Center for specific manufacturers and series of computers. Non-standard units purchased outside the approved channels Boston University has established are at risk for reduced support.
- Many manufacturers will not allow BU to service ‘home/consumer’ laptops, such a Dell Vostros and HP Pavillions, but will instead require you to mail them back to a central facility for repair (creating unnecessary costs for Boston University).
8. BU does not reimburse restocking fees
- In the event that you need to return the product, such as due to incompatibility, vendors will usually assess a restocking fee of 15-30%. BU will not reimburse such fees.
9. BU reserves the right to deny your reimbursement request
- Items created through the Online Requisition System (or carts created in SAP) go through a necessary financial approval process to ensure that purchased equipment and services best benefit the University.
- By executing a personal purchase and requesting a reimbursement, your transaction is subject to terms and conditions. If any of the criteria of purchase does not meet University’s policy, BU reserves the right to deny your reimbursement.
To learn about approved channels for sourcing a computer or Boston University’s laptop and desktop standards, check out our Standards FAQ Page. Here you can find links to BU PC Standards and BU Apple Standards.
Please contact sourcing@bu.edu with any questions