Everything You Need to Know about BIBLIO Routing

Modified on Mon, 23 Oct, 2023 at 4:55 PM

BIBLIO Makes it Easy to Route Your Listings to Many Other Websites



We know you probably want to list your inventory on other websites, including ABE, Alibris, and Amazon. You probably also want to list your inventory to your own website as well! With BIBLIO routing, you can send a copy of your inventory to almost any site you'd like. Here's what you need to know.


The Difference Between Basic and Pro Routing


There are a few differences between Basic and Pro Routing. You can find a complete breakdown of differences here.


IMPORTANT: Basic Routing is free. Pro Routing is $5.00/month or $10.00/month, depending on your billing option.


Getting Started with Your Route


There are two basic steps to get started with a new route.


Step 1: Contact Destination Site Support

Before you activate your new Pro Route, it's a good idea to let the support team at that site know what you're up to. Just send them a friendly email to bookseller-support@biblio.com saying:


Hello there! I'll be using Biblio Pro Routing to upload my inventory in a new format. Here's what you can expect: {{ your upload field names }}.Oh, and remember, if you see '0' in the Quantity field, it means the book is inactive. 'Y' stands for 'true' in the DJ, Signed, and First Edition fields. And when a book has more than one image, we'll send multiple image URLs separated by commas in the Image URL field.

Step 2: Confirmation

Once the support team confirms that they're all set for the change, you're good to go! Just click the "Activate" button to start routing to that site.


FAQ: How Often are Routes Triggered?


We send any inventory changes to your other sites every few minutes. On most sites, you will likely see your changes reflected within half an hour or so of saving them, but it may take a bit longer on some sites. The time it takes to remove a sold listing, display a photo, or include a newly added listing in searches depends on how frequently and quickly updates are processed at the destination site.


FAQ: Where Can't I Route To?


As of this time, BIBLIO does not support routes to Barnes and Noble, Ebay, or any non-US Amazon site, such as Amazon.ca or Amazon.de.


FAQ: How Does a Purge-and-Replace Affect My Routes?


Whenever you set up a new route, that will trigger the sending of a purge and replace the file to that site. If you want to set up a new route, but do not want to trigger a purge at the destination site, you can opt out of the automatic purge during the process of setting up the new route.   After the route has been set up, you can send a purge and replace the file any time to that route by clicking the "purge" button.



NOTE: Creating and sending of what we call a "purge file" does not necessarily trigger a purge at all possible destination sites.


Purging and replacing simply means that all your current inventory is made inactive, and then replaced by the data being sent in the purge file. 


When you request a purge for another venue, Biblio's Pro Routing system will create a file of all your currently active inventory on Biblio and send that file to the other site. The file name will contain the word "purge".  On most venues that do trigger a purge and replacement of your inventory. If you have any doubts about whether the purge and replace files sent by Pro Routing will actually trigger a purge at the destination site, please contact bookseller support at that site to see what else may be required.


FAQ: Why Aren't All of My Listings Visible on Amazon?


Amazon has some unique rules and data formats that are a bit different from what's common in the book industry, because of this, we can't guarantee that all your book listings will transfer smoothly to Amazon. Don't worry, we're working hard to make it happen!


Think of us as your book listing experts. We're trying to match your book information with Amazon's specific requirements. In most cases, we succeed about 80-85% of the time, which is right in line with what others in the industry achieve.


If you ever wonder why a particular book isn't showing up on Amazon, you can log in to your Amazon account. They provide reports that explain why certain items may not be visible, and you can make adjustments to your listings based on their feedback.


FAQ: I Created a Book Sale. Do My Sale Prices Get Routed as Well?


No!

Your book sales and sale prices appear only on BIBLIO. If you create a sale on BIBLIO, the discounted prices and/or free shipping offers are exclusive to BIBLIO and do not affect your book prices or postage on other sites.