Let me first say that I am not a rep for Scholastic Books but a satisfied customer. If you do not want the junk stuff tell your representative not to send it. We did. It is a bookfair after all not a gadget and junk fair. We just did not put out all the "fluff". I told our rep we are not interested in all that junk. We will, however, put out diary items, things associated with Harry Potter, journals and pens. We also do some stuffed animals. Just tell your rep. Hope this helps.
I think I read in an old post that Troll sold their book fair interest to Scholastic. Their site shows NOTHING about book fairs at schools. I was looking for another fair to come to our new school (as something different) but have found nothing in California.
Our library also sets their up and we have used Scholastic for years. We have also taken credit cards and have never had a problem with it. Our librarians (we have 2), take all the money responsibilities. I know a few years back Troll Books had done book fairs, but I haven't seen any advertising with them lately. You can check them out at www.troll.com.
Another great company that does book fairs is Usborne Books. They are recognized by a lot of teachers and offer 50% of sales in free books. Where are you all located?
Our librarian actually sets up our bookfairs (we have two). The fall fair is put on by a local bookstore actually. They deliver the books and she sends back what does not sell and from there they give us a total amount due and we pay them. They give us great books from popular kids books to helpful parenting books. We just had our Scholastic bookfair last week and it was a mess. They send so much junk (i.e. pencils, erasers, fluff stuff) and they don't send the greatest range of books.
We are also looking for another company for our school book fair. Scholastic can't be the only one out there. It seems they have a monopoly on the Book fair market and we have to agree to thier terms and service.