How can I improve my listings for the AbeBooks Advanced Search?

 

AbeBooks allows buyers to refine and limit their searches in two ways.

They can either limit their search through the Advanced Search settings or they can select various refinements from the search results.

A good way to improve your sales is to ensure that your books are searchable for buyers who refine their book search with specific attributes, such as:

• Signed
• Hardcover
• Softcover
• Dust Jacket
• First Edition

You can increase exposure of your listings by adding new fields to your book data. For example, separate fields for different search attributes such as:

• Signed
• Binding
• Edition
• Book condition
• Jacket condition
• Printing

How does it work?

AbeBooks scans each field using specific parsing terms which are then mapped to the buyer search attributes.

For example, if you have a "Jacket Condition" field, we map the books with a jacket condition to the buyer search attribute "Dust Jacket".

In practice, if a buyer selects "Dust Jacket" in the Advanced Search settings, your books with a jacket condition will be included in the search results.

Similarly, if the buyer refines their search on the results page by selecting "Dust Jacket" your listing will appear in the search results.

When the buyer selects to view the book details, the "Dust Jacket Condition" is then displayed in the Bibliographical Details.

How to add additional fields

By adding additional text fields to your book data, you can increase the presence of your listings when buyers search using specific attributes.

You may therefore wish to add the following fields:

• Signed
• Binding
• Edition
• Book condition
• Jacket condition

AbeBooks scans each field for keywords; these are referred to as BSA parsing terms. These words are then mapped to an AbeBooks search attribute and are included in the buyers' search refinements.

Below you can see the fields we recommend adding and the search attributes these are provided. In the third field "BSA Parsing Terms" you can see the full list of terms for which we scan each field.

At the bottom of the chart you can also have the option to download a file in PDF format with the BSA Parsing Terms.

Important Note: Before you upload your new file with the additional fields, please contact our Customer Service team as your custom conversion will need to be updated.

Search Refinement /Bookseller Field	Description Attributes	BSA Parsing Terms
Binding	Hardcover	hard cover hardcover hard HC HARD BACK BOARDS H BACK HARDBOUND HARD BOUND BRODART BUCKRAM CLOTH EMBOSSED EX-LIB EX LIB GILT HB HBK HINGE LEATHER MYLAR HARDBACK
	Softcover	SOFT COVER SOFTCOVER SOFTCOVERS soft sc S.C. PB P/B PAPERBACK PAPER BACK P BACK PBACK PAPERBOUND PAPER BOUND SOFTBOUND SOFT BOUND PBK PAPERCOVER PAPER COVER SOFT WRAPS SOFT BOARDS SPIRAL BOUND SB TB TP TPBK TRADE PAPER TRADEPAPER Wrappers Wraps Proof
Book Condition	New	brand new new
	As New	like new as new near new mint almost as new new
	Fine	Fine
	Near Fine	Near Fine
	Very Good	very good - very good + very good very good condition very good minus very good plus very good- very good+ very good++ vg vg- vg+ -vg vg + vg +++ vgminus vgplus vg++
	Good	- good almost + good Good Good condition Good + Good ++ Good – Good plus Good minus +good -good good+ good- good++ good+++ good-- goodplus g g+ g++ g-
	Fair	Fair Fair condition Fair + Fair plus Fair copy Fair ++ Fair++ fair+++ Fair+ Fair- Fair – acceptable acceptable- acceptable-- acceptable+ acceptable++ acceptable+++
	Poor	poor poor- poor+ unacceptable
Edition	1st Edition	first edition 1st edition first ed. 1st ed. first ed 1st ed 1st
	2nd Edition	second edition 2nd edition second ed 2nd ed second ed. 2nd ed. 2nd
	3rd Edition	third edition 3rd edition third ed 3rd ed third ed. 3rd ed. 3rd
	4th Edition	fourth edition 4th edition fourth ed 4th ed fourth ed. 4th ed. 4th
	5th Edition	fifth edition 5th edition fifth ed 5th ed fifth ed. 5th ed. 5th
Jacket Condition	New	new
	As New	as new mint
	Near Fine	Near Fine
	Very Good	verygood verygood+ verygood++ very good -very good very good+ very good++ very good+++ very good- very good-- very nice very clean very tight dj clean v g vg vg- vg+
	Good	good +good good+ good++ good+++ -good good- good-- good--- dj-good g g+ clean no clean text tight clean tight
	Fair	very minor very faint very slightly very slight very light very little very lt very sl very mild very small very sm d j minor d/j minor dj minor dust jacket has minor dust jacket has no dust jacket minor dustcover minor edgeworn minor exhibits minor some minor fair - fair + fair minor acceptable corner crease cover crease cover creases crease on back damaged now protected now protected damaged dj now in dj is lightly dj lightly
	Poor	very worn very torn very chipped very rubbed very poor very edgeworn very tatty chipped d j chipped d/j chipped d w chipped d/w edgeworn dw poor torn chipped rubbed edgeworn tatty
	No Jacket	no jacket no jackets no dj no d j no d/j no djs no dustjacket no dust jacket no dust jacke no dust cover no jac dj none dj-none does not come with dustjacket none no jacquet no d no d c no d/c no d w no d/w no d wrapper no dust no dustcover no dustcovers no dustjackets no dustwrapper no dw no j no jack no jkt d j not d/j not dj not issued dust jacket not issued dust jacket was not issued dustcover not issued dustjacket not issued dustjacket not called for dustwrapper not issued nodj not issued not jacket not offered with not orriginal jacket not orriginal dj not present not printed with jacket not pub in jacket not pub in jackets not pub with jacket not published in dj not published in jacket not published w jacket not published with dust cover not published with dust jacket not published with jacket not supplied
Printing	1st	first printing 1st printing FIRST
	2nd	second printing 2nd printing SECOND
	3rd	third printing 3rd printing THIRD
	4th	fourth printing 4th printing FOURTH
	5th	fifth printing 5th printing FIFTH
	Unknown
Signature	Signed By Author	author signed signed by author signed by authors
	Inscribed By Author	signed and inscribed by author inscribed by author
	Signed By Illustrator	signed by illustrator
	Inscribed By Illustrator	inscribed by illustrator

 

To download a PDF with a full list of the above parsing terms, please click here. 

 

If you are using HomeBase to manage your inventory, you have the option of including attributes in the description field or by using the drop down menus.

In addition to BSA parsing, AbeBooks also uses Description Parsing. For more information on this, please click here. 

For more information regarding related subjects:

What information and format for book data is required for your service?

AbeBooks Glossary

How can I list my books on your platform?

Best Practice Tips!

How can I update my inventory?