HomeBase 2.3 is our free inventory management software. You can work with it offline to catalogue and manage your books. It is easy to install HomeBase 2.3 and everything you need to know about how to use HomeBase 2.3 can be found on our HomeBase 2.3 User Guide. This includes how to add and edit books, how to manage catalogues, how to send your data to AbeBooks and much more. Below are our FAQs for HomeBase 2.3. We also have HomeBase 3.0 Beta online help available. How do I send my book data to AbeBooks? Once you have you have registered online and your bookseller account has been opened, you will need to enter your User ID and account password into HomeBase 2.3 before you send your first book list to AbeBooks. If you are not sure what your User ID is, you can check by signing onto your AbeBooks account and selecting [Your Personal Information] and then [Update Your Account Information]. Entering your User ID & Password into HomeBase 2.3: 1. Select [View] from the grey menu bar at the top Once you have done this you will be able to send your book data to AbeBooks and update your online inventory. Sending a full file to AbeBooks: The first file that you send to AbeBooks should include all the books you have added to HomeBase 2.3. To send a file that includes all your books: 1. In the grey menu bar click [File] and then [Import/Export] and then [Export/Send to AbeBooks] 2. In the Send Data to AbeBooks box, select [Upload Books] 3. Clear the [Changes since last load date] option* 4. Select the [All Books] option* 5. Click the [Send] button 6. Click the [Save] button. A summary of the number of books sent to AbeBooks is displayed 7. Click [OK]. The data is exported to a saved file 8. Click [OK] in the export summary box 9. Click the [Connect] button. A message is displayed stating that "Connection to ftp.abebooks.com successful" 10. Click the [Send File] button 11. Click the [Exit] button when the message "Transfer complete, closing connection" is displayed * To send only your updates, ensure the [Changes since last load date] option is ticked and skip step 4 above. * To purge your books follow the steps above, during step 4 also tick the box “Purge”. This will ensure that the full file you send us replaces everything that you have online. This will correct any discrepancies and help keep your data up-to-date. Once you have uploaded a file to AbeBooks, you will receive an email confirming the file has been received and additional details about the file. If you find that the number of books is not exactly as you uploaded, this may be due to the fact that our system counts the lines in your file as opposed to the books. With certain file types this may cause the number to be inaccurate, so please do check the changes online. To check the details of your file: 1. [Sign On] to your AbeBooks.com bookseller account As you can see below, you can use this page to check that we have received your file. You can see how many books were in the file and when the file's status was last updated.
2. Then select [Options…]
3. Enter your User ID and re-enter password to ensure that it is correct
4. Click [Apply]
5. Then click [OK]
2. Click [Your Books] in the Members Menu
3. Select [Yesterday's billable listings]
How can I manage sold books in HomeBase 2.3?
It is important to ensure that your online inventory is up-to-date, especially after your first orders have been processed. A book ordered via AbeBooks will automatically be removed from your online inventory. It is however; very important to update this also in HomeBase 2.3, marking that book as sold to ensure that in your future uploads the book is not accidentally re-uploaded.
Managing Sold Books:
To remove books from the AbeBooks online system using HomeBase 2.3, you are required to change the status of your sold books to [Sold] and then send these changes to AbeBooks.
Note: It is very important that you do not delete books in HomeBase 2.3. Your books will only be completely removed from your AbeBooks inventory if you have marked them as [Sold].
When you send a file of sold books, AbeBooks matches those book numbers against the ones already online. When our system reads that book #1234 is marked as sold it removes the listing from the AbeBooks websites. It is imperative that you send your sold book records to AbeBooks on a regular basis.
To mark books as sold in HomeBase 2.3:
1. Click [Books] in the red bar. The [Find Books] screen is displayed
2. Select the book you wish to update
3. Double click to open the book record
4. Select [Sold] from the Status list
5. Click the [Save] button and then click [OK]
Note: There is a shortcut for marking books as sold. On the [Find Books] screen, select the sold books. Right-click and select [Mark Selected Books as Sold].
The best way to keep track of sold books in HomeBase 2.3 is to create a "Sold" catalogue and move all of your sold books into it.
To create a Sold catalogue and move books into it:
1. Click [Catalogs] in the red bar. The [Catalogs] screen is displayed
2. Click the [Add] button . The [Add Catalog] box is displayed
3. Enter the catalogue name as "Sold" and enter a description (optional)
4. Click the [Save] button
5. Click [Books] in the red bar
6. In the Tools menu, select [Move all sold books to]
7. Select the "Sold" catalogue from the list. Click the [OK] button
All books marked "Sold" will now be moved into your "Sold" catalogue. You can now send your books to AbeBooks as you normally would.
Note: There is a shortcut for marking books as sold. On the [Find Books] screen, select the sold books. Right-click and select [Move all Sold books to] and complete step 7.
If you would like to find out more read the HomeBase 2.3 User Guide.
Associating Your Listings to the AbeBooks Categories
While many buyers use the search function to find the books they are looking for, many buyers also use browsing to find books. If you assign categories to your listings, your books will be more visible to those buyers who browse. If you do not, our system will attempt to match your books to the appropriate category. Please note that when you assign your own categories we will not add further categories to your listings
HomeBase 2.3 does not contain the AbeBooks Categories, however, you can easily categorise your listings via our Online Inventory Management system.
An alternative option for categorising your listings would be to use the latest version of HomeBase 3.0, where each book can be assigned up to 10 AbeBooks Categories.
HomeBase 3.0 uses different technology than HomeBase 2.3, so it is not an upgrade. This means that if you would like to download and install HomeBase 3.0 to take a look around before deciding whether to use it, it is safe to do so.
Further help with categories in HomeBase 3.0.
