Policies and procedures for selling books through Biblio

The following is an outline of Biblio policies and procedures for booksellers operating a BiblioDirect bookseller account. If you have questions about any of the information you see here, please contact us at bookseller-support@biblio.com.

Privacy

Biblio follows strict procedures designed to safeguard the information customers entrust to it. Biblio booksellers are prohibited from using any customer information - including but not limited to name, address, e-mail and phone number - for any other purpose than for fulfilling customer orders and/or any communication necessary to conduct or support a specific transaction. Publishing, selling, or sharing customer data with any third-party (besides shipping services) and adding customers to marketing or email lists without express customer consent are examples of uses of customer data that are expressly prohibited. Furthermore, all Biblio booksellers are required to abide by all applicable laws and regulations governing customer privacy and security, including but not limited to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the US's CAN-SPAM Act. Biblio maintains a comprehensive privacy policy that can be found at: http://www.biblio.com/pages/Privacy_and_Security.html.

General account maintenance

Your account contact information

It is important that you maintain current contact information so that you will receive Biblio order notifications, system updates and billing statements. We may need to email or call you regarding orders placed or account issues. If your account information is not kept up to date, and we are unable to contact you using the telephone number or email address provided, Biblio will place your bookseller account in suspended status until this information has been updated.

Valid e-mail address

Communications from Biblio are sent to you automatically via email, using the email address attached to your account. These messages include but are not limited to: order notifications and reminders, billing statements, monthly newsletters, and new login passwords. This will be the same email address you use to login to your BiblioDirect account. Biblio requires the use of a valid email address that you intend to keep active and check regularly. You can of course change your account email address when necessary. Many booksellers use spam or junk mail management software. Please make sure to allow all email from Biblio to be delivered to your inbox.

Customer support

Biblio booksellers are required to respond to customer inquiries within two business days. Inquiries may concern an order already placed or a listing the customer is interested in purchasing. Customers can contact booksellers directly on Biblio and it is important to reply promptly. If the inquiry concerns a shipped order, we ask that you always provide any tracking details available, including a web address where that tracking can be verified.

Inventory maintenance

Maintaining your listings

booksellers are required to maintain active inventory on an ongoing basis. Listing availability should be kept up to date and items should be accurately and professionally described. We encourage daily uploads of adds, deletes, and updates, to help prevent canceled orders and disappointed customers. If you update your inventory directly in our database through your BiblioDirect bookseller menu, we encourage you to become as familiar as possible with those tools and all of your options for managing your inventory manually.

Types of Media that can be Listed

Biblio currently allows sellers to list books, ephemera, magazines, and audio books. Other media, such DVD or VHS movies, should not be listed for sale on Biblio.com. If we find such items listed under your account, we will ask that they be removed by the bookseller. If these items are not removed in a reasonable time frame, Biblio.com will remove the listings.

Putting your account on Vacation

If a bookseller is going on vacation, taking an extended break from bookselling, or for any other reason cannot ship orders received through Biblio in a timely manner, the bookseller must place the account on vacation status. This will temporarily remove listings from live searches. You can schedule a vacation period for up to 90 days using tools in your BiblioDirect bookseller menu. If you need to schedule a longer vacation, you must contact us at bookseller-support@biblio.com to let us know your start and end dates, so that we can schedule a vacation on your behalf. Booksellers can return their account from vacation status at any time, regardless of scheduled return date.

Managing orders

Checking your account for orders and updates

Booksellers are expected to login to their Biblio account regularly to check for new orders and to update the status of orders received. Although Biblio will send an automatic notification email for new orders, non-receipt of these notifications does not constitute an acceptable reason for not processing an order in a timely fashion. If orders are not processed by the Biblio.com bookseller after 3 business days, the orders are subject to automatic cancellation.

Shipping policies and procedures

Shipping rates

You will receive an email notifying you of any new orders. The email will contain a link to the details of that order. If you are not already logged into your BiblioDirect account, you will be directed to login and then taken to the order details page. You do not have to use the link in the order notification email. You can simply login to your BiblioDirect account to locate and process any new orders.

Packaging your order

Biblio requests that you pack orders for shipping in a manner that will maintain the described condition at the point of sale. Here are a few suggested guidelines for packaging book orders safely: First, wrap each book separately, using sturdy brown wrapping paper, tissue paper, bubble wrap, waxed paper, or similar material. Newspapers are acceptable if the book has a plastic cover, but newspapers are very acidic and not suitable for valuable books. If shipping more than one book in a carton, make sure they are not able to move around and chafe other books. For less valuable books with a plastic cover, crumpled newspaper is a popular buffer, and less expensive than other materials such as foam pellets. If possible, make sure the box is larger than the books so the books do not touch. If shipping in a padded envelope, take extra precautions, such as cardboard backing. If shipping in re-used boxes not commercially available, use liquor boxes; never boxes from any place where food or insect eggs might be cached. Protect shipping labels against accident by covering the addresses with clear tape.

Shipping your order

You will receive an email notifying you of any new orders. The email will contain a link to the details of that order. If you are not already logged into your BiblioDirect account, you will be directed to login and then taken to the order details page. You don’t have to use the link in the order notification email. You can simply login to your BiblioDirect account to locate and process any new orders.

Recommended steps:

1. Please ship the order no later than 3 business days after receiving it. Change the order status to “Shipped” (if the item is not available to ship so that it arrives within your delivery estimate, use the “Reject/Out of Stock” button).

Once you mark an order “Shipped”, print a copy of the Biblio.com packing slip.

2. Cut the top of the packing slip and tape this to the outside of the box as it is the mailing label.

3. The remainder of the packing slip should be placed inside the box as a record of what is packed in the box.

4. Please be sure that the item on the packing slip matches the item that is in the box. Orders are sometimes mixed up when shipping multiple items to different customers.

5. Marking an order “Shipped" in the Biblio.com system automatically sends a notification to the customer that the order has been processed and prepared for shipment. It is very important that you update the status of all orders you receive through Biblio. If the status of any order is not updated within 3 business days, it is subject to cancellation.

6. Enter any tracking details you have in the space provided in the order details. Please be sure to enter a web address where tracking can be verified. When you add tracking, another automated email is sent to forward tracking details to the customer.

Order processing and payments

Fulfillment requirements

Booksellers must make every effort to maintain a fulfillment rating of at least 85% of total orders received. If this expectation is not met, then it will be at the discretion of Biblio.com to review the bookseller's account for possible suspension, or inactivation.

Mandatory return/refund policy

As stated in the Biblio.com Bookseller Agreement, all booksellers must maintain a reasonable return policy by which a customer may return a product within a specified period of time. If a bookseller refuses to accept returns, then this bookseller will not be allowed to sell on Biblio

Refunds and Returns

Biblio requires that a full refund, including original postage charges, be issued to the customer under the following circumstances:

1. The order is canceled as unavailable to ship or is canceled by the customer before it has shipped.

2. The order is canceled as lost in transit/never arrived.

3. An incorrect item was shipped, an item was incorrectly described, or an item arrived in a condition other than described at the time of purchase.

Returns due to seller error

If a return is the result of seller error in description, packaging or shipping, return postage must be reimbursed to the customer as well. We strongly recommend providing customers with prepaid shipping labels in those cases whenever possible. If you are not able to provide a prepaid return label, Biblio can provide one to the customer. The cost will be debited from the seller’s account. In the event that a customer pays out of pocket for postage, Biblio will reimburse the customer and debit the seller. In those cases where the customer pays for postage, the reimbursement amount should be agreed upon prior to returning the item.

Seller pre-approved refund settings

Sellers can set a preference to pre-authorize refunds with no return required on some domestic and international shipments. This setting will pre-authorize refunds where the book price is US$10 or less for domestic orders and US$ 25 or less for international orders, and one of the following is true: a wrong item was sent, an item was incorrectly described, an item arrived in a condition other than described.

The default setting will be that Biblio should always ask for refund authorization first, regardless of book price. Sellers can decide whether they want to process a return and cover the cost of return postage or refund without a return in each case where a return or refund is requested.

Optional partial refund without requiring a return

If an incorrectly described item or an item damaged in transit is received, another acceptable resolution is to issue a full or partial refund with no return required (the customer keeps the book), as long as the customer agrees to those terms. Please forward email from the customer where agreement to such a resolution is indicated by the customer when requesting that Biblio process the refund. We strongly recommend that you copy support@biblio.com in your correspondence with the customer as you work to resolve the issue. Biblio customer support staff can also communicate with the customer on your behalf until the issue is resolved.

Discretionary Returns

Refunds for discretionary returns (returns which do not result from seller error in description, packaging or shipping) should be equal to the book price, assuming the item is returned to the seller in the same condition as sent. Postage charges may be reimbursed at the seller’s discretion for discretionary returns, or the seller may provide a return label. In some cases a restocking fee may be retained by the seller, not to exceed 20% of the book price.

Biblio.com payment processing refunds

If Biblio processed the payment for an order and a refund is to be issued, use the "Issue full or partial refund to customer" option in the order details. If the order was paid to the seller directly, the seller should refund the customer directly using the same payment method originally chosen by the customer. Please contact Biblio's billing department by emailing billing@biblio.com with questions or concerns about specific refunds.

Biblio commissions and fees

Please visit the following url for full details about our bookseller commissions and fees: www.biblio.com/pages/billing_options.html .

Credit Card Chargebacks and PayPal Payment Disputes on Biblio.com

In the event that a customer is dissatisfied with the outcome of an order, a credit card chargeback or PayPal dispute may be initiated by the customer. These actions, in effect, reverse the payment. Once a chargeback or PayPal dispute has been issued, the burden of proof lies with the seller to demonstrate that the order was properly filled and that the charge was warranted. Most charge disputes can be avoided by promptly responding to customer questions or requests for additional information sent from Biblio support staff. Addressing your customer's concerns proactively will avoid disputes of this nature, saving you time and money. Signed proof of delivery is very often the best protection agains payment disputes and is strongly recommended for high value orders.

If Biblio processed payment for the order in question, then we will receive notification of any payment dispute that is issued. We will attempt to resolve these on your behalf, but if they cannot be successfully reversed, we will debit your account for the disputed amount. In the case of a credit card chargeback, a $15 chargeback fee may be assessed if you do not reply to emails from Biblio

Chargebacks and PayPal disputes resulting from fraudulent transactions involving a stolen credit card or compromised PayPal account will be handled by Biblio. You will not be debited for these transactions.

Payments from Biblio

Biblio is able to send payments to booksellers using the following methods and in the following currencies:

Direct Deposit: USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD, NZD

Wire Transfer: multiple currencies on request

PayPal: multiple currencies on request

For new booksellers or in cases where an order is in dispute, Biblio may at its discretion issue partial payments or delay such payments until the issues are resolved.

Payments due to Biblio

Payments due to Biblio are due on receipt, and should be paid by the bookseller as soon as received. Biblio will let small balances due carry over into the next period if the total amount due is less than $5 USD. Please do not let balances that do not change exceed more than 90 days of payment due status.

Overdue payments

If your account has an overdue balance for more than 60 days, you will be notified. Your account may be temporarily suspended until payment is remitted in full to Biblio.com.

Inactive accounts
An account is considered inactive if Biblio is unable to contact a bookseller via email or phone and there is no account activity on the website for a period of 30 days. Bookseller accounts that have been inactive for more than 12 months will be subject to a monthly account inactivity fee of $5.00 per month. If there is a balance due to the bookseller and regular payments via check or electronic methods have been returned to Biblio, this fee will be deducted from that balance. This inactivity fee will also apply to any BiblioBucks credits belonging to the inactive account.

Payment Types Accepted Biblio.com can accept any of the following methods of payment for balances due: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Check, Money Order and PayPal Payments

Misuse

Listings

If at any time Biblio recognizes the misuse of listing data on Biblio.com the listing will be removed from the web site. Depending on the scope and severity of the misuse the seller's account may also be temporarily or permanently suspended. These types of misuse can include:

1. Copied item descriptions belonging to another bookseller.

2. Copied inventory used to create a dummy store reselling another bookseller's products.

3. Counterfeit, stolen, illegal or fraudulent listings or listing information.

4. Listings that are obscene or contain pornography.

5. Any defamatory or trade libelous, unlawfully threatening or harassing content.

6. Any listings or listing information that might infringe any third party's copyright or other proprietary rights.

7. Any listings of material which promote racist, hateful and discriminatory ideologies where Biblio determines that the intent of listing such material is to promote those underlying ideologies.

Orders

Biblio strictly prohibits the misuse of the listing service and order process located at www.biblio.com. Some examples of misuse of the order process can include:

1. Creating false orders to perpetuate credit card fraud.

2. Canceling Biblio orders and reprocessing the order outside of the Biblio system to avoid paying commissions or fees for the sale.

3. Encouraging customers to cancel their orders so that they can then process the order directly offline, and outside of the Biblio order process.

General

Biblio maintains a general misuse policy to prevent fraudulent and illegal activity from occurring on the Biblio web sites. If any of the above instances occur, they can lead to the immediate suspension of a bookseller's account, the removal of all listings for that bookseller, and a requirement of at least 1 year waiting period before said bookseller can re-apply for an account with Biblio.