Girl Scout cookies to be sold online for the first time ever

Buying Girl Scout cookies from your niece in Massachusetts is about to get a lot easier.

For the first time ever, Girl Scouts will be able to sell their cookies online, the Girl Scout Association of USA announced Monday.

But stop Googling Girl Scout cookies right now -- it's not that easy. To keep with the entrepreneurial spirit that the Girl Scouts teach  (and protect the safety of the scouts), girls will set up personal pages to sell their cookie, and they have to personally send a link to a prospective buyer. For security reasons, girls are asked to share only on personal social media accounts, and not on public Twitter accounts.

"I think it will completely expand how I sell," said Olivia Cranshaw, 12, a cadette of Troop 3199 in New York. Olivia said she plans to send a link to her grandparents in Florida and some of her friends from camp in other states.

Katie Soper, the director of product sales for the Girl Scouts, said there are already girls signing up. The digital cookie pages will go live on Dec. 1, and open for sales on Dec. 12.

"It's kind of historic," Soper said. "This is something that customers and girls have been asking for a long time."

Boxes of cookies are $4, and the traditional cookie sales will continue, and the breakdown of where the cookie sale money goes will not change.

On the girls' digital cookie pages, they, and customers, can track the girls' progress toward sales goals.

Najah Lorde, 13, a cadette in Troop 4287, said she is already getting a list of  prospective buyers together. She said she sold 2,833 boxes of cookies last year, and this year -- with the help of her digital cookie page -- she is hoping to sell 5,000 boxes.

"I'm mentally preparing for all the cookie sales and everything," Najah said.

Karenbeatrice Porcher Allen, whose daughter, Marieteresa, 11, a cadette with a troop in the Bronx, said it was a great opportunity for her daughter to expand her sales, since she lives in a private house and her parents don't have an office building she can sell in.

"I'm really excited because I'm really geeky and techie and I think this is a great opportunity for tons of girls to sell cookies," Marieteresa said.