Payment Terms

By registering for any FIRST® Program, you agree to the following payment terms:

All FIRST® Teams

Below is the FIRST Checkout Process for the current season.
- All teams will need to check themselves out fully on the FIRST Registration Dashboard.

  • All Purchase Orders and Credit Card Payments must be made through your Registration Dashboard.
  • If money is sent to FIRST for a team, FIRST will apply funds as a credit on your Registration Dashboard.
    • This includes partial payments
  • The FIRST Dashboard will automatically apply funding to purchases using the following process:
    • Grants restricted to registration & products must be utilized before any other payment method can be applied.
    • After restricted grants, funding will be applied in the order it was received. For example, an unrestricted grant added to a team’s account at 10:00 a.m. will be utilized before a credit added to a team’s account at 11:00 a.m.
  • All orders, upon checkout, including payment checkout method will be considered complete. This means:
    • Payment Checkout Method from any completed order cannot be used for a future order
    • Any grants that may come in after the completed order will need to be used for a future order
  • If you are expecting a grant, please do not check out until that grant has been awarded. FIRST will not be able to make changes to orders after checkout.

- FIRST will accept donations intended to support a specific FIRST team’s registration fees or other costs associated with participating in FIRST programs only, subject to the following requirements:

  • The minimum donation on behalf of a specific FIRST Team is $99 per gift
  • Matching gifts will be applied to specific FIRST teams only if FIRST has an agreement and process in place with the source of the matching funds to do so
  • Gifts and remainders of gifts accepted on behalf of a specific FIRST Team that are not utilized by the specific FIRST team at the end of each FIRST fiscal year will become unrestricted gifts to FIRST

For questions, please contact customerservice@firstinspires.org

FIRST® Robotics Competition Team Registration

Changing Event Registration

FIRST® Robotics Competition Teams may request to change any Event registration to a comparable Event by submitting a request to FIRST® (by email to customerservice@firstinspires.org). Event registration changes are subject to availability and approval by FIRST.

 

These Payment terms apply to all FIRST Robotics Competition Teams except for Teams registering in the FIRST Israel (ISR) District, the FIRST Ontario (ONT) District, and the Pacific Northwest (PNW) District.

  • Teams registering in the FIRST Israel (ISR) District, should see the FIRST Israel website for payment terms, fees, and payment due dates.
  • Teams registering in the FIRST Ontario (ONT) District, should see the FIRST Robotics Canada website for payment terms, fees, and payment due dates.
  • Teams registering in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) District, should see the Washington FIRST Robotics website for payment terms, fees, and payment due dates.

 

Fee Refunds

Registration Fees paid to FIRST to register for the 2024 FIRST® Robotics Competition Season ("Initial Registration Fee") and Additional Event Fee(s) paid to FIRST for 2024 FIRST Robotics Competition Season Additional Regional Events, Additional In-District Plays, Additional Inter-District Plays, and/or District Championship (“Additional Event”), are non-refundable except as expressly set forth below. 

  • Initial Registration Fee
    • The person or entity that paid the Initial Registration Fee shall be entitled to a 100% refund of the amount paid if (i) the refund request is submitted to FIRST (by email to customerservice@firstinspires.org) before the Team receives the Kickoff Kit, and (ii) if the Kickoff Kit was shipped to the Team, the Team follows return instructions from FIRST to return the Kickoff Kit, unopened, to FIRST. 
    • Initial Registration Fees will not be refunded under any other circumstances, even if the FIRST Robotics Competition season is cancelled, in whole or in part. 
  • Additional Event Fee(s) 
    • The person or entity that paid the Additional Event Fee shall be entitled to a 100% refund of the amount paid if (i) the refund request is submitted to FIRST (by email to customerservice@firstinspires.org) before the Team receives the Kickoff Kit, and (ii) if the Kickoff Kit was shipped to the Team, the Team follows return instructions from FIRST to return the Kickoff Kit, unopened, to FIRST.
    • If a Team is unable to attend an Additional Event because of circumstances beyond its control, the Team must notify FIRST as soon as possible by submitting a request to FIRST® by email to customerservice@firstinspires.org, and If FIRST can register a replacement Team for the Event, FIRST will refund 100% of the amount paid to the person or entity that paid the Additional Event Fee for the Event

Payment Types:

  1. Check: (USD funds only drawn on a U.S. bank).  Please make sure that all checks remitted state your Program and Team or Account Number to enable swift & proper crediting.

Regular Check
Make payable to:
 FIRST
Attn: PO Box 845446
Boston, MA 02284-5446

For Checks that need to be Overnighted
Make payable to:
 FIRST
Attn: Lockbox Operations box #845446
1 Cabot Road, Suite 202
Medford, MA 02155

  1. Credit CardFIRST accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.  Credit Card Payments can be processed through the payment screen on your Registration Dashboard
  2. Purchase Order (PO):  You may upload your purchase order through the payment screen in the registration system FIRST cannot accept a commitment letter from a School or School District. Schools and School Districts should issue legally binding Purchase Orders as provided above.

All POs will be invoiced with Net 30-day terms.

FIRST® Tech Challenge Team Registration

For Payment Terms related to FIRST Tech Challenge, please click here, FIRST Tech Challenge Registration Payment Terms, to be taken to the PITSCO website.  

FIRST® LEGO® League Team Registration and Products

Payments must be submitted to FIRST Finance referencing the Team Number(s) or Account Number(s), and Program(s). Once registered the system will give you the option to print out an invoice for the amount due.  

 

Payment Types:

  1. Check:(USD funds only drawn on a U.S. bank).  Please make sure that all checks remitted state your Program and Team or Account Number to enable swift & proper crediting.

Regular Check
Make payable to:
 FIRST
Attn: PO Box 845446
Boston, MA 02284-5446

For Checks that need to be Overnighted
Make payable to:
 FIRST
Attn: Lockbox Operations box #845446
1 Cabot Road, Suite 202
Medford, MA 02155

  1. Credit Card: FIRST accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.  Credit Card Payments can be processed through the payment screen on your Registration Dashboard

Purchase Order (PO):  You may upload your purchase order through the payment screen in the registration system FIRST cannot accept a commitment letter from a School or School District. Schools and School Districts should issue legally binding Purchase Orders as provided above.

All POs will be invoiced with Net 30-day terms.

FIRST LEGO League Refund Policy: Program registration and product purchase(s) are non-refundable. There are no exceptions to this process regardless of reason.
 

FIRST Class Pack Registration and Products

Payments must be submitted to FIRST Finance referencing the Team Number(s) or Account Number(s), and Program(s). Once registered the system will give you the option to print out an invoice for the amount due.  

 

Payment Types:

  1. Check:(USD funds only drawn on a U.S. bank).  Please make sure that all checks remitted state your Program and Team or Account Number to enable swift & proper crediting.

Regular Check
Make payable to:
 FIRST
Attn: PO Box 845446
Boston, MA 02284-5446

For Checks that need to be Overnighted
Make payable to:
 FIRST
Attn: Lockbox Operations box #845446
1 Cabot Road, Suite 202
Medford, MA 02155

  1. Credit Card: FIRST accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.  Credit Card Payments can be processed through the payment screen on your Registration Dashboard
 

Purchase Order (PO):  You may upload your purchase order through the payment screen in the registration system FIRST cannot accept a commitment letter from a School or School District. Schools and School Districts should issue legally binding Purchase Orders as provided above.

All POs will be invoiced with Net 30-day terms.

FIRST Class Pack Refund Policy: Program registration and product purchase(s) are non-refundable. There are no exceptions to this process regardless of reason.
 

FIRST Championship Registration for FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST Tech Challenge, FIRST Lego League Challenge, and FIRST Lego League Explore

Payments must be submitted to FIRST Finance referencing the Team Number(s) or Account Number(s), and Program(s). Once registered the system will give you the option to print out an invoice for the amount due.  

Registration Fees paid to FIRST to register for FIRST Championship are non-refundable except as expressly set forth below:

  • If a Team is unable to attend FIRST Championship because of circumstances beyond its control, the Team must notify FIRST as soon as possible. If FIRST can register a replacement Team for the Event,FIRST will refund 100% of the amount paid to the person or entity that paid the Championship Registration.
 

Payment Types:

  1. Check:(USD funds only drawn on a U.S. bank).  Please make sure that all checks remitted state your Program and Team or Account Number to enable swift & proper crediting.

Regular Check
Make payable to:
 FIRST
Attn: PO Box 845446
Boston, MA 02284-5446

For Checks that need to be Overnighted
Make payable to:
 FIRST
Attn: Lockbox Operations box #845446
1 Cabot Road, Suite 202
Medford, MA 02155

  1. Credit Card: FIRST accepts Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover.  Credit Card Payments can be processed through the payment screen on your Registration Dashboard
     
  2. Purchase Order (PO):  You may upload your purchase order through the payment screen in the registration system FIRST cannot accept a commitment letter from a School or School District. Schools and School Districts should issue legally binding Purchase Orders as provided above.

All POs will be invoiced with Net 30-day terms.

Event Registration for FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge Teams

FIRST Program Delivery Partners (PDPs) run local and regional events, which may include physical, remote, or a combination of physical and remote elements. For a team to participate in an event, the team must register with FIRST as well as with their local FIRST Program Delivery Partner. PDPs may charge an additional fee to participate in these events, and those fees and payment terms are set by the FIRST Program Delivery Partner.

FIRST Championship Registration is available to qualifying FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge Teams for an additional fee.

Refund Policy: Program registration and product purchase(s) are non-refundable. There are no exceptions to this process regardless of reason. 


Gifts and remainders of gifts accepted on behalf of a specific FIRST team that are not utilized by the specific FIRST team at the end of each FIRST fiscal year will become unrestricted gifts to FIRST.
For details on regrants and the regrant process please go Regranting, Process, Procedures, and W-9 | FIRST (firstinspires.org).