We are considering using Great American Opportunities for our fundraiser next fall. Wondering if anyone here has had experience with them?

We have used them for years. However, we are no longer going to use them. We've had problems the last three years with them -- which I hadn't known about, or I wouldn't have used them this past year. This included the order not being shipped, losing our rep and not having one replaced, miscommunication between reps and the corporate office (that's putting it charitably), product issues, and a lack of follow through.

Other schools in our area have used other companies with much better experiences, and we're currently narrowing down which one we'll be using down next year.

Again -- this was our experience, and yours may be more positive. Good luck!

yes and also with this giftco thing...you need to do your homework and use companies that sell American made products!

We used them last year. I also had a great expierence. Part of that was due to the rep. She was with another company and they merged. Our school already had a relationship with her. They were very good about prizes and and teachers receive 50% off all their orders. Most of their products are 50% profit and some are 40% profit. They are also a Christian based company as well so for some schools that is a plus. Product quality was good and they have a lot of catalogs to choose from. You can order on line and they have an outreach program for magazines.There were very few back orders and no mistakes. We are a smaller school so I can only sopeak for myself. I would use them again but I am changing up our fundraising tactics this year.
Good Luck.....

We are also considering them for our sale this coming fall. The rep just contacted me in regards to the Giftco items. She said they use very few items from Giftco, so they will not be heavily affected.

We have used Innisbrook and Meadowfarms in the past, both with decent outcomes. That said, I am pretty sure Meadowfarms will have a problem with the Giftco issue as I am pretty sure their catalog HIGHLY counts on their items (and the same can be said for Genevieve's, though I have yet to hear back from their rep yet).

Good luck! A good rep is a huge key to a company's success and a successful fundraiser. It really helps to have someone working FOR you!

Great American Opportunities is a great company to work with having said that. The company is only as good as your sales rep. If you had a negative experience it was the sales rep, and not the company. Great American was not affected by the closing of Giftco. They buy 95% of there products directly from the manufacture, cutting out the middle mad. Giftco in this case