AbeBooks UK Seller Help: AbeBooks payments and fees

AbeBooks payments and fees

Your Abebooks statements explained

Your statement is a summary of the previous month's sales and payments. It contains the monthly total of your gross payable sales, offset against the monthly totals of commission, payment service fees and subscription fees charged. If you look at your weekly summaries, the totals together match the figure that you see on your monthly statement.

Sample statement with explanatory notes:

A general outline of the payment process is as follows:

Every Friday, we send you a payment notification email that includes all sales for that week. From those sales, we offset your commissions and credit card payment service fees

On the first of each month, we apply your subscription fees to your account. On the first Friday of the month, your payment is therefore offset by that weeks commissions and payment service fees as well as your subscription

Should the amount that you owe us be greater than the payment for your sales, we will charge your credit card to make up the difference. As long as your sales are greater than your fees, we never need to charge your card

Please note that all EU sellers are charged VAT on subscription fees, processing fees and sales commissions in accordance with EU regulations. If you are VAT registered and did not enter your VAT number during the registration process, please contact our customer service team in order to update your account and be exempt from the VAT charge in future. Please ensure to include the following information when contacting us: Name of the VAT registered company, Address of the company and Company status (Ltd., PLC, etc.)

In accordance with South African regulations, AbeBooks charges South African VAT (14%) on fees and commissions for sellers located in South Africa.

Payment notification emails are advanced notice of your deposit; the funds will be transferred to your bank one week later, and then deposited by your bank within a few days.

Related subjects:

How and when do I receive my payments from AbeBooks?

Where can I view details for payments and fees?

How can I check for which orders I have received payment?

How can I print my weekly or monthly sales details?

AbeBooks Direct Debit

AbeBooks currently offers sellers located in Germany, who pay their fees in Euros, the ability to pay AbeBooks by direct debit. In order to comply with SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) regulations, and so we may offer direct debit to other sellers within the European Union in the future, the following update has been implemented.

Note: This information applies only to bank account information provided specifically for direct debit, where direct debit is offered to sellers (EU only). If you’ve provided your bank account information for EFT payment purposes only, the following information does not apply.

If you pay your AbeBooks seller fees via direct debit from your bank account, by providing AbeBooks with your debit account information, you authorize:

AbeBooks to send instructions to your bank to debit your account
Your bank to debit your account in accordance with the instructions from AbeBooks

As a part of your rights, you are entitled to a refund from your bank under the terms and conditions of your agreement with your bank. A refund must be claimed within 8 weeks starting from the date on which your account was debited.

Frequently Asked Questions:
What is SEPA?
SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) is a payment-integration initiative of the European Union for simplification of bank transfers denominated in euro. Beginning Feb 1, 2014, all euro Direct Debit payments between euro zone bank accounts must conform to SEPA regulations, including collection of Direct Debit Mandates and routing of payments using BIC and IBAN numbers.

What is a Direct Debit Mandate?
A Mandate is the authorization you provide to AbeBooks to direct debit your bank account. By providing AbeBooks with your debit account information, you have provided AbeBooks with a Direct Debit Mandate. SEPA regulations require that each Mandate is assigned a Mandate ID number.

Where can I view my Mandate and Mandate ID?
If you have provided a Mandate, a printable version, including your Mandate ID, is accessible through the ‘My Bank Account Information’ link in your Members Menu.

Can I cancel my Direct Debit Mandate? If so, how?
You can cancel your Mandate at any time. To do so, simply delete your direct debit bank account details through the ‘My Bank Account Information’ link in your Members Menu

Does my Mandate ever expire?
Your mandate expires 36 months after the last attempt to apply a charge to your account by direct debit, or 36 months after your mandate was created, whichever is later.

How can I print my weekly or monthly sales details?

Printing your sales details can be done when you check your payments online:

[Sign On] to your AbeBooks.com bookseller account
Select [My Payments] from the Members Menu
Then click [Monthly Account Activity report] - here you can select the month in question and click [View]
To view the breakdown of each payment select [Sales Details by Week]

To print a copy simply click on the Printable Version link.

Where can I view details for payments and fees?

You can easily review your financial details for your payments and fees through your bookseller account:

[Sign On] to your AbeBooks.com bookseller account
Select [My Payments] from the Members Menu
Then click [Monthly Account Activity report]

Select the statement month and click [View], which will give you a summary of your sales for the previous month. For example, the 'Statement Summary: February' gives details for January. Here you can see the totals for the month for all your fees and the total amount that was paid to you for the month.

By clicking [Weekly Summaries for Statement Period] you can see a weekly break down for the month. You will notice that all 'Paid to You' amounts in the weekly summaries equal the total amount that is given on the Statement Summary.

How can I check for which orders I have received payment?

You can easily see the orders that are included in your payment through your bookseller account:

[Sign On] to your AbeBooks.com bookseller account
Select [My Payments] from the Members Menu
Then click [Monthly Account Activity report]

Select the statement month and click [View], which will give you a summary of your sales for the previous month. For example, the 'Statement Summary: February' gives details for January. Here you can see the totals for the month for all your fees and the total amount that was paid to you for the month.

Then click [Sales Details for Statement Period] to see the orders that are included

Remember that Bookseller Direct orders, where you process the payment, the commission will be included in the table but no payment will be made to you. If you are having difficulty understanding your online information or if you have any questions, please contact us.

Taxes and Regulations

Important: Information on this, or other, AbeBooks Help Page does not constitute tax, legal, or other professional advice. If you have questions about your potential tax obligations, or if you have other questions, please contact your tax, legal, or other professional advisor.

There are many types of taxes and regulations that may affect your business. This page provides an overview of the taxes and regulations you should be aware of when selling on AbeBooks.

In some cases, there are taxes on seller fees, regional tax obligations for sellers, and transaction taxes to be collected from buyers during the order process. Not all of these taxes affect all sellers and it is the responsibility of each seller to determine what, if any, taxes apply to their business.

Taxes and regulations are continuously changing around the world. We recommend that sellers do their research to understand their tax responsibilities.

Seller Obligations

This section provides an overview of the tax obligations by region which may affect sellers on AbeBooks.

Austrian Tax Amendment Law

French Tax Obligations

German Tax Obligations

Taxpayer Identification Requirements

Transaction Tax

This section provides an overview of transaction taxes and seller shipping requirements that may impact your AbeBooks orders.

Transaction Taxes and Customs Requirements

Taxes on Fees and Payments

This section provides an overview on any taxes and fees that may be collected on your AbeBooks seller fees.

How Much Does it Cost to Sell on AbeBooks and How Does AbeBooks Pay Me?

Additional Resources

As with all of the other Help Pages, information on the links in this section does not constitute tax, legal, or other professional advice. If you have questions about your potential tax obligations, or if you have other questions, please contact your tax, legal, or other professional advisor.

External Tax Advisors and Offices

How to upload your German Tax Certificate

How to provide your German Tax Declaration

Downloadable Tax Report

Tax invoices (2020 and later)