How do I use my Tax-Exempt number to avoid sales tax on my purchase?

You don't need to.

Orders shipped to addresses outside of California are not charged CA sales tax, so there's no need for you to give us your tax-exempt number. Of course, depending on the laws of your state, you may be required to pay "Use Tax" on purchases made from out-of-state (we have to do that in California).

It might be a surprise to everyone except California teachers, but schools here in California have to pay sales taxes just like everyone else. (No, it doesn't make sense to us, either, but there it is...) To support our local schools we will pay the sales tax on all orders shipped to a public school or public school district address in California.

If the ship-to street address for your web order is a public school, or a public school district warehouse, we will automatically deduct the sales tax from your order total before we charge your credit card.

This will not be reflected in order summary when you place your order on-line, but we will take care of it when we process your order.

And yes, we do check to make sure it really is a public school, so please don't enter your home or business address and the name of a school. When we look up the ship-to street address in the public records, if it is not listed as a public school, we'll charge you sales tax as required by law.

Private and for-profit schools and businesses: sorry, but you must pay the sales tax as required by law for all orders delivered within California. We're paying the tax only for public schools.