Purchasing from Amazon at SLU
The Purchasing Department at St. Lawrence University maintains an Amazon Business Account that allows for the central management of Amazon purchasing on campus.
Department User Accounts
Purchasing maintains individual user accounts within the central business account for departments that purchase from Amazon. These University managed accounts should not be used to make personal purchases. Generally, these accounts are used by support and clerical staff to make purchases for their department. If your department needs an account setup, please contact the Purchasing Department.
Making Purchases
While Amazon offers the excellent value on many different items, the University has negotiated pricing with vendors for some items such as Office Supplies and these vendors should be used when possible. If a significantly less price on these goods is found on Amazon or elsewhere, please consult the Purchasing Department.
In addition to Amazon, other 3rd party companies sell items through Amazon. While Amazon offers a safe environment for payment to these vendors, the products and service in some cases may not be as reliable. Particular attention should be paid to items that ship from companies located overseas as returning a broken or unwanted item may not be possible.
IT should be consulted for approval for purchases of software, computers, printers, scanners and other technology equipment. The exceptions are small peripherals such as mice and keyboards which may be purchased using a Department Purchasing Card on Amazon or elsewhere.
Shipping
The university has a university wide Amazon Prime account that allows for free shipping on many items.
Sales Tax
Department user accounts have been setup in advance with tax exempt status. Sales tax should not be added when making purchases that are fulfilled directly by Amazon. Amazon also sells goods that are fulfilled by independent 3rd party businesses. In some cases, these businesses do not recognize our tax exempt status with Amazon and will place tax on the order. If this happens email a copy of the invoice from amazon that shows the sales tax charge to tax-exempt@amazon.com and request it be removed.
Payment
When purchasing on behalf of a department a Department Purchasing Credit Card should be used to pay for purchases from Amazon. The Department Purchasing Credit Card purchase threshold of $1500 applies to orders made on Amazon. If an Amazon order exceeds $1500 please consult the Purchasing Department for assistance with making the payment.