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Account Setup
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Seller Account Profile
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It is the Seller’s responsibility to make certain that all account information is correct at all times. The shipping address and the billing address must be the same and must match exactly the address your bank has associated with the credit or debit card used to establish the account. A valid telephone number is required. Up-to-date information is vital for the Seller to receive all orders and payments. Account information, including address, phone number and email address that is found to be incorrect or outdated, could result in suspension or termination of the Seller account and all listings taken off line.
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Selling Levels
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When registering, the Seller chooses either to be an Individual Seller or a Volume Seller. Both are subject to a commission fee of 15% of the purchase price of their listing at the time of sale. The Individual Seller is also subject to an additional $0.75 transaction fee per item sold. Also, item listings expire 90 days after the date they are listed. A notification email will be sent five days before the listing expires. Volume Sellers pay a monthly subscription fee of $19.95 after the first 3 months of enrollment. They pay no additional transaction fees beyond the 15% commission. The Volume Seller has access to Volume Seller Listing Tools. Volume Sellers benefit from having no expiration on listings. The Seller may upgrade or downgrade their account at any time by contacting Bookbyte.com.
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Commissions and Fees
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Individual Seller
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- Free to list individual items, no limit to number of items
- Commission of 15% of purchase price of each item sold
- Transaction fee of $0.75 per item sold
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Volume Seller
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- Free to list individual items or volume uploads
- Commission of 15% on purchase price of each item sold
- No transaction fee
- $19.95 monthly subscription fee after 3 months (currently not applicable)
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Seller Payments
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Payments are issued for all transactions older than two weeks (not previously paid) on or about the 1st and 15th of each month. Sales made between the 1st and 15th of the month are paid on the 1st of the following month. Sales made between the 16th and the end of the month, are paid on the 15th of the following month. If the normal payment date falls on a weekend or holiday, the payment will be initiated on the next business day. In the event of a Safe-Buy Claim submission, the funds for that sale will be held pending a resolution of the claim, after which the funds will be released for payment to the Seller or refunded to the Buyer. If the Seller owes Bookbyte money due to refunds, Bookbyte has the right to debit that Seller's bank account for the balance due. Payments are made by check and are mailed to the physical address shown in the Seller account. Volume Sellers may be eligible for direct deposit via electronic funds transfer after three months of sales activity. Contact Bookbyte Bazaar customer service to request direct deposit. Verification will be required to assure that the name and address associated with the bank account matches the name and address in the Bazaar Seller Account. Payment history as well as payments pending can be found in the Seller Account.
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Inventory Maintenance
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Listings
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All Sellers must keep their inventory accurate and up to date. Prompt deletion of sold items will minimize order cancellations. Items sold through Bookbyte are automatically removed from the seller’s online inventory. In the case of a refund or cancellation that does not result in the sale of an item, the seller will need to re-list that item to put it back into active inventory status. Sellers may post a maximum of five individual listings for a single ISBN, regardless of differences in price or condition. Volume sellers may include a quantity field in their upload files to indicate the availability of multiple copies of a single listing.
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Item Descriptions
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All listed items must be described as accurately as possible to avoid misrepresentation of the item. International editions, annotated editions, instructors' editions, Advance Reading Copies, and free copies must be clearly described as such. Items that are not described accurately are subject to return, refund, and negative feedback. In the case of a Safe-Buy Claim. Bookbyte cannot defend the seller if item is misrepresented.
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Listing Content Rules
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Listings containing any of the following will be removed from the Bazaar:
- Personal contact information, including email address, phone number, or URL.
- Profanity
- Any information unrelated to the item for sale.
- Shipping prices or requests for additional payment.
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Listing Regulations
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Items with any of the following should not be listed on the Bazaar:
- Books with missing pages
- Books that are unclean with mold, strong smells, dark stains or obscured text
- Pornography or graphic and offensive material
- Photocopied materials or unauthorized reprints
- Counterfeit, stolen, illegal or fraudulent items
- Defamatory, trade libelous or unlawfully threatening or harassing items
If Bookbyte deems the Seller’s items to have any of the above, the listing will be removed. Any items sold with any of the above may be returned to the Seller at the Seller’s expense.
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Pricing
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Sellers are responsible for setting the price of inventory items. Competitive Bookbyte pricing is available using the Individual Listing Tool. The minimum listing price is $1.00. An item priced below $1.00 will be automatically rejected by the system and result in an error in your upload report.
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Listing Procedures
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Individual Sellers must manually list items for sale using the Bookbyte Bazaar Individual Listing Tool. Volume Sellers may use the Individual Listing Tools, as well as having access to Volume Seller Listing Tools, which include add/delete upload files and purge/replace upload files. Upload files are processed throughout the day in the order they are received. Bookbyte supports several third party services as well.
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Customer Service
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Seller/Buyer Communication
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Through a link, Buyers are asked to send all inquiries to the Seller directly. The Seller should respond to the Buyer in a timely manner, usually within two business days. The Seller risks receiving negative feedback from the buyer if email communication is not responded to in a timely fashion. We ask that any disputes be handled between the Buyer and the Seller. If an amicable agreement has not been met, the Buyer has the choice to file a Safe-Buy Claim, which may result in the Seller’s account being debited. All sellers on the Bazaar must comply with the Bookbyte Privacy Policy.
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Seller Order Fulfillment Rating
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To ensure buyer confidence and to assist in the buying decision, we post two types of Seller Ratings. The first being an Order Fulfillment Rating, which shows how frequently the Seller completes and ships orders. This rating is the percentage of orders that have been successfully completed relative to the total number of orders.
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Seller Feedback Rating
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The second rating system is based on buyer feedback. Shortly after the completion of a sale, the buyer is provided with a link inviting them to leave feedback about their transaction experience. Positive feedback helps establish credibility and encourages further sales on Bookbyte Bazaar. We ask the Buyer to contact the Seller if there are any problems with their order, rather than using feedback as a means of contact. Feedback will not be removed except in extremely special circumstances such as the use of offensive or profane language (strictly at the discretion of Bookbyte). Inflammatory language will not be removed (liar, cheater, rip-off, etc.).
Buyer may leave positive, neutral, or negative feedback for the seller, and the results are complied into a Feedback Rating. This is a five star rating system, and is calculated as follows:
95 – 100% Positive Feedback = 5 Stars (Top Rating)
85 – 94.99% Positive Feedback = 4 Stars
75 – 84.99% Positive Feedback = 3 Stars
65 – 74.99% Positive Feedback = 2 Stars
1 – 64.99% Positive Feedback = 1 Star
The Seller’s star ratings are not posted until 10 items are sold. Up until that time, a "New Seller" icon will show next to the Seller’s name. All buyer feedback is posted immediately. If a Seller receives 1 or 2 Stars in the Feedback rating or below 80% in Fulfillment rating their account may be subject to warning, probation, or suspension, at the discretion of Bookbyte.
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Order Fulfillment
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Order Management
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When an item is sold on the Bazaar, the Seller will receive a notification email with the item information and buyer’s shipping information. From the time the order is placed, the Seller has three business days to ship the item and mark it confirmed in their Seller Account on the website. Once the order is confirmed, the Buyer’s credit card is charged for the amount of the sale and those funds (less applicable commissions and fees) will be deposited into a Payments Pending Account. If the Seller fails to confirm the order on the site within 3 business days, the order will be automatically cancelled and the Seller will not be paid for the item, regardless of whether or not the item has been shipped. If the order needs to be cancelled, the Seller must click the "cancel" link in the Pending Orders section of their Seller account. At this time, the Seller will have the opportunity to leave comments explaining the reason for the cancelled order. Leaving comments is encouraged, but not required. All Sellers should be aware that canceling orders may result in negative feedback that could affect future sales on the Bazaar.
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Shipping Methods and Reimbursements
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All Sellers on the Bazaar must offer Standard Shipping (i.e. Media Mail) as a shipping option. The Seller has the choice to offer Expedited Shipping (i.e. Priority Mail or Ground Services.) Shipping is charged to the buyer on a "per item" basis.
Customers are charged as follows:
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Domestic Standard
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Domestic Expedited
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(5 to 20 business days)
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(3 to 10 business days)
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Books
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$3.65
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$5.95
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CDs
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$2.95
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$4.65
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DVDs
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$2.95
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$4.65
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Sellers are reimbursed as follows:
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Domestic Standard
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Domestic Expedited
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(5 to 20 business days)
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(3 to 10 business days)
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Books
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$2.65
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$5.65
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CDs
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$2.00
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$4.00
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DVDs
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$2.00
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$4.00
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It is the Seller’s responsibility to ship the item via the requested method, regardless of whether the shipping reimbursement covers the full cost of shipment. If the Seller has an item that will cost more to ship than the reimbursement, the item price should be adjusted accordingly. Sellers are strongly encouraged to ship items via track-able shipping methods. This is for customer satisfaction, but also for the Seller’s protection in the event of a Safe-Buy Claim for non-delivery.
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Returns and Refunds
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It is the Seller’s responsibility to determine and outline their Return Policy. We strongly encourage Sellers to accept returns to ensure buyer satisfaction, but it is not required. If the Seller chooses not to accept returns, it must be clearly stated in all individual item listings. Restocking charges are discouraged, but if a restocking fee is required by the Seller, it needs to be stated in each item description. All refunds should be processed on the website from the Seller Account. Once the sale is complete, and the Bookbyte Payment Services has processed the Buyer’s credit card, a refund link will appear next to the order information in the Seller Account. The Seller can refund the Buyer up to the total purchase price including original shipping costs.
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Safe-Buy Guarantee
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The Bookbyte Bazaar Safe-Buy Guarantee is a 30-day guarantee to the buyer of the correct description and delivery of items purchased through Bookbyte Bazaar. This policy allows Buyers to have confidence while shopping on Bookbyte Bazaar. If a Buyer has a qualifying order problem (defined below), they are encouraged to contact the Seller directly to resolve it before submitting a Safe-Buy Claim. Claims must be submitted within 30 days of the order confirmation date. A qualifying problem is defined as one of the following:
- Failure to Deliver – Item is not delivered after payment is made.
- Item is Materially Different than Advertised – The item arrives in a condition dramatically different from the listing’s description. Item condition is a subjective matter, and to qualify as being Materially Different, the differences must be clear (at the complete discretion of Bookbyte). This may include, but is not limited to, missing pages, used instead of new, receipt of an entirely different item, etc. This does NOT include items in which the Buyer is simply disappointed with the condition.
When a buyer submits a claim, the funds for that sale are put on hold until the claim is investigated and resolved. The Buyer and Seller will receive email notification of the claim and the claim process. Both are encouraged to try to resolve the problem outside the claim process. Both Buyer and Seller may be asked to provide additional information about the item and method and date of shipment for the purpose of Bookbyte’s investigation.
Types of claims include:
- Failure to Deliver – The investigation of this type of claim begins on the 31st day following the confirmation date. It is the Seller’s responsibility to provide a tracking number and proof of delivery.
- Item is Materially Different than Advertised – Investigation of this type of claim begins immediately. Sellers and Buyers are strongly encouraged to resolve the problem independently.
After resolution has been made, the held funds will either be released to the Seller (if resolution is in his favor) or debited to refund the Buyer (if resolution is in his favor).
Claim Restrictions:
- Any Buyer may make no more than one claim per month.
- Any Buyer may make no more than three claims in a lifetime.
- The Buyer is covered up to the first $100 of the purchase amount for each claim and no more than $300 total lifetime liability per Buyer.
- Shipping amounts are not included in any Safe-Buy Claim.
- If the Seller has an unreasonable number of Safe-Buy Claims placed against them ("unreasonable" will be determined at the discretion of Bookbyte), the Seller’s account may be suspended or terminated.
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Account Termination
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Bookbyte has the right at any time to terminate a Seller's account, or any current sales or listings for any reason. Likewise, the Seller has the right to terminate their participation with Bookbyte for any reason at any time. Notice must be given by the terminating party.
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