How to Process Your Orders

When an AbeBooks order is placed, an email notification is sent to you. We recommend that you process orders within 2 days to provide excellent customer service.

Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and JCB orders will expire if they remain unprocessed after 4 days; seller direct orders, i.e. Paypal, money order, etc., will auto-confirm if unprocessed after 4 days. (If you are unable to process orders within that timeframe, such as during a holiday, please set your account to Vacation status.)

Important Note: We recommend that you log into your AbeBooks account at least once per day to check for orders, rather than relying solely on email notifications.

You can process your orders through either of the two following methods.

1. Click the link in the email notification.

~ OR ~

1. [Sign on] to your AbeBooks account.

2. Click [Your Sales].

3. Click [abebooks].

4. Click [Review and process your orders] to see a list of unprocessed orders.

5. Click [Process Order] link in the order you wish to process.

If there are multiple books in the order, they will all be displayed.

6.  For each book in the order, update the status by selecting the radio button for the status you wish to select.

For credit card orders:  

• Will Ship - The buyer’s credit card will be charged for the price of this order.  We'll confirm on the next screen whether they charge was successful, and then you can ship the book to the buyer.

• Extra Charges* - If the amount charged will not cover the cost of shipping, taxes, or other charges, this status will allow you to submit a request to the buyer for the additional funds and put order on hold until the buyer accepts or rejects your request.

• Reduce Shipping* - If you'd like to reduce the shipping charged on a light book, or on additional items in a multi-item order, select this option. You don't have to wait for approval from the buyer to ship the book.

• Previously Sold - Select this option if the book has been previously sold and is no longer available.

• Rejected - If you are not able to ship the book, please reject the order. 

For seller direct orders:

• Availability confirmed - The book buyer is notified of availability. The shipping manifest and buyer contact information will be available on the next screen. For Paypal, money orders, and check payments, you will need to contact the book buyer to make payment arrangements. 

• Previously sold - Same as above.

• Rejected - Same as above.

Important Note: For all seller direct orders, do not ship the book until payment has been received. AbeBooks is not responsible for orders shipped prior to receipt of payment.

7. Click the [Save Order Changes] button after you have updated the status of each book in the order.

** If you have chosen Will Ship:

• If the charge to the buyer's card is successful, a Success! message will be displayed. You can click the [View Shipping Manifest] button to retrieve the buyer's shipping address. The Shipping Manifest can be printed and used as both a shipping label and incuded inside the package as a manifest.

You are now finished processing the order and can ship the book.

** If the buyer's credit card is declined, we'll notify you on the next screen. The order status will update to "Credit Card Rejected." If you receive such a message, the transaction did not complete, the order is cancelled, and the book should not be shipped. The book will automatically be re-listed for sale.

If you receive an error message other than the Credit Card Rejected message, please click here for further information.

*Requesting Extra Charges or Reducing Shipping

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