AbeBooks UK Seller Help

How can I increase my sales?

• Best practice tips
• How can I check my bookseller rating on AbeBooks?
• How can I improve my Bookseller Rating?
• Taking Part In Our Monthly Sales Program

Best Practices for successful selling on AbeBooks

Whether you are new to AbeBooks or a long-standing partner looking to grow your sales, here are some “best practices” to successfully sell on AbeBooks:

1. List your full catalog – The more items you list on AbeBooks, the greater the chances that they will be found and purchased.
2. Improve the quality of your listings – The information you include in your listings, improves their findability and conversion.
   • ISBN. Include your items´ ISBN to easily benefit from our internal catalog information and gain additional visibility from our marketing campaigns.
   • 85% of items purchased on AbeBooks had an image. Images are an effective selling tool, as they enhance the experience for a customer who wants to see the actual book before buying. Use images to highlight attractive bindings, dust jackets, and artwork. For instructions on how to add images, click here.
   • Use the description field to ensure customers have as much information about the item as possible. Important attributes include condition, more details about signatures, and the binding. Make sure to note any defects.
   • Book attributes. Populating fields for books (i.e. edition, publisher, illustrator, keywords, etc) improves the findability of your listings.
   • Product type. Use product types to categorize your non-book inventory and collections to offer customers more discovery options.
3. Review your prices – Compare your prices to similar items on AbeBooks when you make your pricing decisions. You can use the AbeBooks’ online Inventory Management price comparison function to compare your prices. Please find more information here.
4. Configure your shipping options – Use the shipping matrix to optimize shipping times and costs. Use and update tracking information in your orders. For instructions on how to add tracking numbers to orders, click here. When it is appropriate, consider offering free shipping. AbeBooks promotes sellers who offer free shipping through special free shipping pages and a monthly email campaign. Learn more about free shipping here.
5. Participate in our sales program - We promote sellers who discount their inventory through special sales pages and a monthly email campaign. Click here to learn more.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please let us know.

How can I improve my Bookseller Rating?

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.

 

How can I check my Bookseller Rating on AbeBooks?

To check your AbeBooks Bookseller Rating:

1. Sign on to your AbeBooks account
2. Go to "Your Sales" from the Members Menu and select "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.

Click here for instructions on how you can exclude an order from counting against your Bookseller Rating. 

Taking Part In Our Monthly Sales Program

Each month AbeBooks promotes a group of sellers who have discounted their inventory. These sellers are promoted via a Sale page on our site, as well as through email, and other online marketing methods.

Our monthly sales last for a maximum of 27 days, usually beginning in the first week of the month. The exact start and end dates are dependent on weekends and holidays.

Participating sellers must be prepared to discount their entire inventory by at least 10%. Any type of seller can participate in a sale but sellers with a rating of 4-stars, their own images, and at least 1,000 listings for sale on AbeBooks are preferred.

Sellers are eligible to participate in up to three sale months per calendar year, so long as the months are not consecutive.

Sales are planned in advance and work on a first come, first serve basis. If you are interested in participating in a sale, please send an email to sales@abebooks.com

How will participating in a sale help me improve my sales?

1. Sales are promoted to hundreds of thousands of AbeBooks customers every month.
2. The Sale page promotes all on sale sellers with a link to their storefront.
3. The Sale page has a search box that allows customers to search exclusively for items that are on sale.
4. Sellers with their listings on sale have each of their items advertised with an ‘on sale’ sticker on the listing image and a ‘was’ price.

Can any seller offer a sale?

Any seller who has sold with AbeBooks for more than 6 months can participate. It is preferred if you have a rating of at least 4 stars and at least 1,000 listings on AbeBooks.

Can I choose to have just part of my inventory on sale?

All items listed on AbeBooks must be discounted. If you have items that you don’t wish to discount, you may choose to remove the listings from your online inventory for the duration of the sale.

Why are sales a maximum of 27 days?

Legally, sales may only last for a maximum of 27 days. However, some sale months are shorter due to scheduling complexities.

Why can’t I have a sale in consecutive months?

Legally, we cannot promote a seller’s inventory over consecutive months. Once a sale is over, sellers must return their online inventory to regular prices.

Why can I only have three sales per calendar year?

We allow a seller to stage three sales in a calendar year in order to ensure the Sales Program features a diverse range of sellers and items.

Am I able to upload new listings and update existing listings during a sale?

This will depend on your inventory management system. Please contact sales@abebooks.com to inquire about your specific inventory management system.

When a buyer views my individual listings, will they display as ‘on sale’?

Yes, buyers will see an ‘on sale’ savings sticker on the listing image and a ‘was’ price of the item.

What do I have to do at the beginning of a sale and at the end of a sale?

The process depends on your inventory management system. Email communications will be sent prior to the start of each sale and at the end of each sale that outline the instructions for your inventory management system. If you have any questions or require assistance, please email sales@abebooks.com.

Are there other ways to improve sales, in addition to participating in a sale?

Providing a detailed listing description and seller supplied photos are great ways to improve sales. Please take a look at this page for additional strategies.