One of the best ways to attract new buyers is with a high Bookseller Rating. We encourage all listing booksellers to work on improving their Bookseller Rating, which is displayed to buyers on each listing.
Improvement Opportunities
The first step to improving your Bookseller rating is to identify the most common reasons for your unfulfilled or returned orders. If you notice a pattern, you can determine which steps to take to reduce those types of unfulfilled or returned orders. It is best to try to ensure that the following occur as seldom as possible:
- Returned Items: Follow the tips below to minimise the chance of a buyer returning an order and reduce your overall Return Rate
- Rejected Orders: Keep track of the reasons why you reject orders and consider ways to reduce these instances
- Expired Orders: Be sure to process your orders within 2 days of receiving them. We recommend signing on to your account at least 3 times per week to check for new orders. Please do not let orders expire! When going on holiday for 3 consecutive days or more, use the Vacation Tool to temporarily remove your books and prevent unfulfilled orders and disappointed buyers
You can easily check the reasons for your unfulfilled or returned orders through your Ratings Tracker:
1. [Sign On] to your AbeBooks bookseller account
2. Go to "Your Sales" on the Members Menu
3. Click [View Your Completion Rate]
Select the 3, 6 or 12-month rating period from the Order Period drop-down list. Click the order count under [Unfulfilled Items] or [Returned Items] to view the order counts for the unfulfilled and return reasons
Top Tips When Dealing With Returns
Here are some tips to best help you reduce the overall number of your returns:
- Keep up-to-date on what the correct return reasons are to ensure that you not only refund the buyer the correct amount but also do not reduce your Bookseller Rating. To view a summary of returns and refund reasons please click here
- To avoid unnecessary refunds from being initiated keep in touch with your buyers. Good customer service not only increases buyer confidence in your services, but can also prevent buyers from initiating refunds too early
- If you send via trackable means, be sure to add the tracking information to your orders. Buyers can no longer initiate a refund for 'Item did not arrive', provided you have updated the order online
- If you have not received a returned item, you should report a missing shipment online via the order processing page to avoid the buyer being refunded until the book has been returned, or a tracking number has been provided
- To minimise refunds for "Item did not arrive", ensure your shipping matrix accurately reflects your actual shipping times. In addition, always ship your orders within 2 days of processing them
- To minimise returns for "Damaged Item" please pack your books well to prevent damage in the post
- When dealing with returns for "Item Not As Described" it is especially important to review buyer comments for this reason, and then use their feedback to update and improve your descriptions. We also recommend clicking the [Book Details] link on the order processing page to review your description and make sure it accurately reflects the book you will be shipping
Top Tips For Improving Your Return Rate
- Describe your books accurately. Make sure all bibliographic details are correct and that any notable details about the book are mentioned, including full disclosure of all flaws
- Adding images to your AbeBooks inventory can result in fewer returns, since buyers see the book they are ordering in advance. Providing your own images is also one of the best ways to help increase your sales by making your listings more attractive
- Process the order only after you have located the book and verified that it matches the description the buyer saw online. If the book can't be found, or if it doesn't match the online description, reject the order. A rejected order will impact your Completion Rate but not your Return Rate
- Send your orders with trackable shipping. This is the best protection against claims of non-delivery and returns for 'Item did not arrive.' Trackable shipping also instils buyer confidence, resulting in repeat business for you
Top Tips For Keeping Your Inventory Up-To-Date
Ensuring that your online inventory is up-to-date and accurate will help to keep your Bookseller Rating high. Below you will find our top tips:
- Keep your AbeBooks inventory up-to-date by removing any titles that you have sold through other channels
- Upload your complete inventory on a weekly basis in order to refresh your listings
- Conduct a purge and reload on a monthly basis to ensure that any transmission errors are corrected
- Carry out regular stock checks to ensure that you are listing titles that you can provide
- For more information on managing your inventory, please click here.
We hope these tips are helpful for you! If you are not sure of the correct return reason, or if you are having trouble with your inventory or account, please do let us know so that we can immediately help, and keep the negative affects to your Bookseller Rating to a minimum.
