Shop and Search

Ferret Treasures

We have our very own online store! Sales directly benefit FACT.

eBay

Ferret & Shelter Benefit Items – In addition to the Ferret Treasures store which focuses on bedding, supplies and gifts available through the shelter store, FACT’s President Emeritus has an eBay store – 1 Ferret’s Treasures. Some of the same items are offered there, but mostly we sell send one of a kind ferret items or unique items generous donors have given us to raise funds for the shelter. Items that benefit FACT are clearly identified as such. She will be grateful for any purchases you choose to make from her items (patches, fabric etc.) that are not FACT benefit items. While they do not directly benefit FACT, they do help her personal charitable giving to FACT and other ferret shelters.

Affiliate Marketing Links

There used to be a number of companies that offered “affiliations” and gave commissions for referral sales. Many of these have closed down over the years as competition has increased. To be honest, trying to keep up with the links became more of a burden than they ever offered in commissions!

The ones here are reliable and we can recommend them as legitimate. While none of them will make the shelter rich, they are “painless” ways to give that can add up to significant amounts to help with buying food, vaccinations, or even paying for surgeries for shelter ferrets.

Shopping Sites/Shopping Search Engines

We suggest if you are a power shopper or are buying something expensive, that you compare what each of  the different “portals” offer. The variations in benefits and pricing to you as a buyer can sometimes be surprising. One site may not include a particular store, but another site will. eBates usually offers daily double up bonuses days for popular sites like Macy’s and Kohl’s. So if you are planning to shop there anyway, you may as well double-up on your contribution. We LOVE bargains and when they benefit both the ferrets and our donors, we love them even more!

If you shop via the web, it is worth checking out Goodsearch or IGive (below). Using these portals to shop DOES NOT increase your cost in any way. Make your shopping count! Even if you don’t select FACT (though we HOPE you do!), you will be helping good causes with very little effort. Just make sure you click through the shopping portals FIRST before making your purchase to ensure the donation is automatically tallied.

GoodSearch

We learned about this site through Entrepreneur magazine. This Yahoo Search based search engine will give $.01 per search to the charity of your choice. The Ferret Association of Connecticut is registered as Ferret Association of Connecticut-FACT. So if you use AOL, MSN, Google or Yahoo, please consider switching. You can easily set your Goodsearch login page as your home page so every search benefits your designated charity. Does $.01 per search seem tiny? It ads up! Just think of how many searches you do in a typical Internet session!

Even better, they have a GoodShop component which benefits both us and YOU.  Click on the Goodshop tab and you can search from hundreds of online stores that will donate a percentage of the sale back to your selected charity.  As an added bonus, they nearly always have a discount or promo code that lets you save money.  For example, you can almost always find a coupon for Ferret.com for 5% off or free shipping. Just click on your selected coupon and the discount will automatically be applied.

iGive

When you make a purchase through their “portal” while logged into their site, your selected non-profit organization receives a donation that varies depending upon the store’s stated policy. The companies you can buy from include many “biggies” –  major booksellers and even computer companies. The lists change and stores are added/dropped, so make sure to double check before shopping anywhere!

Watch for specials and referral bonuses for your cause. You can even track how much you’ve earned and how much FACT has earned through iGive. They do offer a browser bar so you don’t forget or lose track which also incorporates the search bar.

Ebates

Here you can earn cold, hard CASH for buying on the web! But another feature this site offers is to send your “earnings” from buying at the thousands of shops (sometimes including certain eBay and Amazon.com departments) directly to the charity of your choice. Of course, we hope it will be the Ferret Association of Connecticut! As this is your earned “cash-back,” keep in mind that funds you direct to a charity may be income tax deductible to the extent allowed by U.S. law – it’s as if you took the cash and sent it as a check. What we love here is you can get your rebate via PayPal. If you shop a lot and for big ticket items, these checks can be huge.

Offers a browser bar to show potential shopping sites. A personal favorite of FACT.

Amazon Smiles

A relative newcomer, Amazon smiles gives the charitable organization of your choice .5% of your eligible purchases. It’s the same Amazon you probably already shop at – you even use the same login name and password.  When you first visit, you choose the organization you want to support.  Amazon Smiles will remember (it can be changed whenever you like.)  When you click on an item, beneath the price and stock notice will be a note: Eligible for donation.  Once you make your purchase, Amazon will automatically tally the donations and send FACT a check every quarter! It’s like free money for us and costs YOU nothing! Even small amounts add up fast and periodically they offer bonuses such as an extra $5 donation for purchasing an eligible item during a special time period. For those of us who are forgetful, you can also set up your Amazon account to redirect you to the Smiles site.  A FACT favorite site.

Please feel free to share this information with friends and family! Many sites will offer referral bonuses. It is very easy to change your choice at any time to designate your donations to any favorite charity. These are the kinds of initiatives that are win/win for everyone involved.