Bookseller Digest UK

Notify AbeBooks of Missing Shipments

From time to time, one of your customers may wish to cancel their order and return the book they have bought.

As soon as the customer initiates a return or refund request in their AbeBooks account, an email will be immediately sent to you giving the reasons for the return as well as the instructions on how to process the refund when you receive the book back from the buyer.

However, sometimes buyers change their minds and decide to keep their order after initiating the return. To avoid a refund being processed in error, AbeBooks has provided you with a way to notify our Customer Service Team that the book has not arrived.

When a return request is in process and has not yet been completed, a reminder email will be automatically sent to you after a few days. This email, entitled "Outstanding Return..." is created 21 days after the buyer has requested a refund (70 days for international orders). If the book has not been returned, you then have 7 days to let us know. To do this, click on the link found in the email, then select "Notify AbeBooks of Missing Shipment".

You can also access this page through your Members Menu:

1. Go to AbeBooks.com then click on My account
2. In the Quick Links on the right hand side, select [Process your orders]
3. Search for the order, by entering the number, the date, etc.
4. Click on [Update Return]
5. Select [Notify AbeBooks of Missing Shipment

Add your own image to your Storefront

Personalising your Storefront can really help buyers to gain a deeper insight into your bookselling business and, through this, gain trust and loyalty that will lead them back to your shop time after time.

One of the new features of the storefronts on AbeBooks is the ability to upload your own photo, image or logo to the page. This could be your business logo, a photo of your shop, your books or even yourself... It's entirely up to you.

Customising your storefront can be done easily by accessing your Members Menu, going to Your Storefront and then Change/update your storefront as seen in the following images:

To add your image to your storefront, you need to follow the instructions below:

1. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the box "Use your own image:", click [Browse]
2. Select your photo, click [Open] and then [Upload]
3. You should receive a confirmation message:
   Thank you! Your custom Storefront image has been received. Your image is being processed and will be available shortly.
4. Refresh your screen and then make sure that the box next to [Your Uploaded Image] is highlighted.
5. Select [Save & View Storefront]

For further information on customising your Storefront, please visit our Bookseller Help page on this topic.

Upload multiple images at the same time

As you already know, adding images to your listings can significantly increase your book sales on AbeBooks. If you would like to save time and upload several images in one go then you can put them into a zip file or transfer them using FTP.

Uploading a zip file through your Members Menu:

To create the zip file:

1. Select all the images you want to send to AbeBooks using your mouse (or hold down Ctrl and the key A on your keyboard at the same time)
2. Right-click on the selected images
3. Select "Send to..."
4. Click on "Compressed (zipped) folder" (Important: Only the files ending in .zip will be recognised by our system, not those with a .rar ending)

Send the zip file:

1. Sign on to your Members Menu (www.abebooks.com, then click on "My account" - you may need to enter your email address and password)
2. Click on "Uploads"
3. Click on the link "Upload your book pictures (gifs and jpgs)"
4. Click on "Browse", find the zip file that you have created and click "Open"
5. Finally click on the button "Send file"

If the page "Upload your book pictures (gifs and jpgs) takes too much time to load, due to uploading a large number of images, you can also upload the zip file using the instructions below:

 1. In the Members Menu, click on "Your Books"
 2. Click on the button "Upload your book file now!"
 3. Upload your zip file using the method in steps 4 and 5 above.

To transfer high numbers of images via FTP:

The web address to use for this service is as follows: ftp.abebooks.com

To connect to our system, please use your UserID (this is not the same as your email address) and your AbeBooks password.

If you have any difficulties adding images to your listings, please consult our Bookseller Help or contact our Customer Service Team.

Issuing Partial Refunds

When a book arrives late or when a customer is not satisfied with the condition of the book they have received, proposing a partial refund could resolve any potential disagreements effectively, whilst avoiding a full refund. Additionally, issuing a partial refund indicates that the bookseller want to address the buyer's concerns and that their business is valued. Keeping buyers happy will, of course, encourage them to buy from you again.

If you would like to reimburse a buyer with a portion of the book price, the shipping charge or both, you can initiate a partial refund easily through the Members Menu. The steps to do this are below:

1. Go to the Members Menu through the website www.abebooks.com
2. Click on the Quick Link "Process your orders" in the right column
3. Find the order in question by entering the order number, the order date or the status in the search refinements.
4. Click on the link "Review Order" for the order and then "Request a Refund"
5. Select the refund reason "partial refund"
6. Enter a comment - this will be sent to the buyer
7. Enter the amount of the book price and/or the shipping charge you would like to refund to the buyer
8. Confirm the partial refund

You can find more information on the various refund or return options on our Bookseller Help.

New Price Comparison tool available through your AbeBooks account!

When you create new listings, it is often useful to check if there are other copies available on AbeBooks and at what price. By doing so you can ensure that the listing you create is attractive in relation to those that it will appear with.

In order to make this process easier, we have added a Compare Prices link to the Inventory Management page:

1. Sign on to your Members Menu
2. Click on the link "Your Books" and then "List and maintain your books"
3. Search for the book that you would like to use the Price Comparison for and click "View Items"
4. Click "Compare Prices" underneath the price of your chosen book

A page will then open with the lowest and the highest prices currently found on the site for books which match the book you have searched for.

Tips and tricks:

• To widen the scope of the comparison, we would recommend that as few fields as possible are filled in the search table. To see how the system has searched for comparable books and amend the criteria, click on the link "Refine Results" and change the search criteria.

• Similarly, if you are using this tool at the time of creating your new listings, we would recommend that you compare the price before entering the book description (eg. click on Compare Prices straight after entering the Title and Author)

5 Steps to Delete Books Quickly

We'd like to give you a helping hand to delete your books on the site quickly and effectively. Here are 5 simple steps which will help you to delete up to 100 books in a few minutes:

1) Sign on to AbeBooks.com.

2) Select [Your Books] and then [List and maintain your books].

3) Enter the book numbers for the listings you would like to delete (one per line or separated by commas) in the box, "Inventory by Book Number". Then click on [View Items].

4) You should now see a list of the books you want to delete.
Click on [Select/Deselect All] and then [Delete/Restore].

5) Confirm that you wish to delete these items by clicking [Yes, Delete].

Please note: If any of the books that you have listed are already deleted on the system, the process will not work. Remove the book number of the listing/s that have already been deleted from the list and try again.

Delete your books regularly to keep your AbeBooks inventory up-to-date and your buyers happy!

Love Thy Neighbour - Country-Specific Postage Rates

Have you already updated your shipping matrix to include your neighbouring international markets? (Denmark, Republic of Ireland, Belgium, The Netherlands, etc.) If not, you may be missing out on orders from just next door!

You may have updated your shipping matrix to include rates for the major English speaking countries such as the USA, Canada or Australia, but be aware that you might be missing out on important sales from a little closer to home!

Buyers located in the Republic of Ireland, Belgium and The Netherlands order a substantial number of books from the UK. If you have not added these countries to your shipping matrix, then there is a good chance buyers will be put off ordering by being asked to pay your International shipping rate.

Updating your shipping matrix can have a strong positive effect on your international sales. One of the main advantages of being a bookselling partner with AbeBooks is that your books are not only available to the masses in Blighty but also to the wider world on six multilingual websites in three major currencies!

Act now. Add custom shipping rates for these countries and ensure that you don’t miss out on any more orders from our European neighbours.

Bookseller Help: How do I set up or edit my shipping rates and speeds?

by Andrew Chisnall, AbeBooks UK Customer Service Representative

Are you using the Rare Book Room?

Have you been to the AbeBooks.co.uk Rare Book Room recently?

Through this page you can contact us with details of any books you'd like to be featured.  If you're selling a truly fascinating book and you have a good quality photo, feel free to submit the information for our "Favourites From Our Booksellers" section (see example below). This can be done by simply completing the online form and emailing your pictures to pictures@abebooks.com.

If you have any difficulty, our Customer Service Team will be happy to help you.

The website is regularly updated with interesting features and visitors can view features from the past along the left hand side (Biggles, Codex Seraphinianus, Imre, Bonté and more). The Advanced Search Options allow you to use Boolean logic and different sort orders to carefully refine your search according to your needs.

We have a special selection of books just one click away from the Rare Book Room as well as links to the Book Collector Forum, the First Edition Room and Signed Books Room, with interesting information for both buyers and booksellers.

Going on Holiday? Put your books on vacation too...

If you are lucky enough to be going on holiday this year, do not forget that you can put your books on vacation at the same time. This will ensure that your books are taken offline when you are away, leaving you to enjoy your holiday.

We recommend that you set the vacation to start 24 hours before you go on holiday and to end 24 hours before you return so that your books will be removed and then re-instated again on time.

Be advised that any outstanding orders will need to be processed before you update your account to vacation status.

To put your books on vacation simply:

• Sign on to your account on www.abebooks.com
• Select [Your Books]
• Select [Manage Vacations]
• Enter your vacation start and end date
• Save the changes

For further information on using the Vacation tool, please visit our Bookseller Help.

View your AbeBooks Account Details

You can take a look at your AbeBooks sales, charges and revenue through the Members Menu. A history of your account balance is accessible through following the steps below:

1) Sign on to AbeBooks.com
2) Select [Your Personal Details]
3) Select [Account Details by Statement]

To view your account details for the month of May, you need to select June from the drop-down menu and then click [View]. By doing so, you will be shown your account balance leading up to the beginning of June.

To view a more detailed description of your sales during a given time, you should select [Sales Details for Statement Period] or if you wish to see a weekly summary of your revenue and charges, you can click on [Weekly Summaries for Statement Period]. Each sales sheet is available in printable format and downloadable as a text file.

For further information on viewing your account details, visit our Bookseller Help.