How to Achieve Top Sales on AbeBooks

Book Pricing - Setting Your Prices Competitively:

With the exception of collectable and antiquarian books, the biggest driver of sales for online buyers is price. One of the most important criteria for success in selling online (and not just on AbeBooks) is competitive pricing. Do a search of your title on AbeBooks to find out how many listings exist for that title, and make sure that you price competitively in comparison with similar listings from your area.

Shipping Rates and Speeds:

Buyers are internet-savvy and check both shipping rates and book price when making a decision about a purchase. Make sure that you’ve done your research and compared your total price with other booksellers, both on AbeBooks and other marketplaces. Similar items from the same region will be competing with other booksellers, so be sure both your book price and shipping rates/speeds measure up.

• Are your current shipping costs too expensive? Explore your options – there are many shipping companies out there who can provide effective business solutions and ship your orders with tracking to most areas of the world. Contact a number of providers to find the best deal.

• Set your shipping matrix accurately. Buyers are looking for the best rates and speeds but if you have to ask every buyer for extra shipping and your shipments don’t arrive on time, you will lose orders, negatively impacting your Bookseller Rating. Find the most cost effective method of shipping within a reasonable amount of time and make sure your AbeBooks Shipping Matrix is set to reflect this.

• Ship with tracking, and say so in your Terms of Sale and/or Shipping Terms. This is great for buyer confidence, as they know they are guaranteed to get their order or a refund. Be sure to enter the complete and accurate shipper information along with the order after processing so that buyers can view it, and you can be protected from returns for the reason "item did not arrive".

• Use our ["Request Extra Shipping" tool] for heavy books or expensive books that need to be insured. You may wish to purchase insurance based on the buyer’s location as well. This tool allows you to set your shipping rates around the average book in your inventory, and to effectively collect extra funds needed to ship heavy and valuable books.

Find a Niche:

If you are in the process of building your inventory, be aware of what’s available online. If you are going to list the same books as many other sellers, you’ll need to be the most competitive. You’ll be competing with large businesses who can offer these titles and ship them at a low cost. We recommend specializing, finding a niche of unique titles or subject matter that will stand out from the crowd. Make sure you describe your items accurately and with keywords that will allow buyers searching for a particular subject to find your books!

Use Pictures:

Pictures are one of the most effective ways to differentiate your listing from others. Buyers choose listings with pictures over those without. For many ISBN books, AbeBooks adds a stock photo to the listing, but the most effective sales tool is your picture of the actual book. This is most important for sellers of unique or collectible titles, where cover art and condition are of utmost importance to buyers.

Describe your Books Accurately and Attractively:

Good descriptions differentiate your book against similar listings. Make sure that any interesting details about the book are included, and that the condition and binding are accurately described. The more a buyer knows about a book, the more likely they are to buy it – include a brief synopsis wherever possible (though keep it brief) and any interesting facts about the book. Provide details about any signatures or inscriptions and describe all flaws clearly.

Make Sure Your Books are Searchable:

You can set up your inventory in a way that maximizes your book's "searchability." For more information on using distinct fields and our recommendations on how to set up your listings to be attractive and most visible to buyers, please visit our Inventory Management section.

• Use distinct fields for your bibliographic details. Condition, Publisher Year, Publisher Info, Illustrator, Binding, Signature and Keywords should all be in separate fields.
• Add keywords – be sure to use the book’s subject, and even the names of main characters in some cases, so it will be found with more searches.
• Use catalogs, but not too many – we recommend no more than 40. Catalogs allow buyers to browse your listings, but if you have too many catalogs, they won't bother reading through the long list while they browse.
• Categorize your listings. Catalogs are displayed on your storefront and are unique to your store, but Categories combine all booksellers' listings into the Browse function available on our home page.
• Include ISBNs in a field separate from your description.

Review Your Listing Online:

Once your listing is online, review it carefully for typos or errors in any of your fields. Make sure your picture is successfully associated with the appropriate listing and that all the information you've provided to us is appearing as you expected.

Provide Fantastic Customer Service:

Buyers on AbeBooks return time and time again when they've had a good purchase experience, and we know that they return to the same seller when they've received great service. Generate a loyal following of buyers by "wow"ing them every time. At a minimum, follow AbeBooks Customer Support guidelines, as outlined in our policies:

• Reply to all buyer and AbeBooks Customer Support inquiries within 2 business days.
• Process all orders within 2 days of receipt and ship them out within 2 days of processing.

• Review "special instructions" with every order to find out if the customer has any additional needs.

• Be customer-focused in all of your interactions with your buyers.

Return to Seller Help Topics