By Oliver Morgan

The new update to BookVolume is now live. This is a rather large update, and I encourage you to contact us if you have any issues or questions about the changes.

Changes to Premium Sync(please visit our Premium Page to learn more about our Premium sync offer.)

• A new sign up page is available within BookVolume that can be accessed from the “Premium Features” tab.
• Payment is integrated directly into BookVolume in conjunction with PayPal.

Changes to Amazon

• Premium Sync is now required to view Amazon listings. 
• An 8% commission fee will charged for listings on Amazon.
  • The commission fee will be factored in and visible to you when searching for books.
  • You will be invoiced every 30 days for your Amazon fees.
  • A new invoicing page in BookVolume will alert you via email when an invoice is ready, and link you to PayPal for payment.
• The “Surcharge Rules” page in the filters has a new layout and a new rule for enabling/disabling the commission fee while searching.

By Oliver Morgan

Before I talk about the changes, I want to thank everyone who responded to our initial outreach regarding our affiliate loss with Amazon for both your feedback and your support. This was not easy news to deliver, or hear, and we were overwhelmed at the amount of positive and supportive responses we received. Thank you.

For those of you who haven’t heard the news yet, we recently received word from Amazon that our affiliate account (through Amazon only) will no longer pay BookVolume commissions for referring business. That being said, Amazon is still, and will still remain available through BookVolume.  To use continue using  Amazon through BookVolume, however, we’re going to have to start charging a fee once we build a way to accept payment, which has not happened yet. If you’re only shopping on Half.com, Alibris, Abebooks, and Valorebooks to compare, BookVolume will remain 100% free.

Please note that these changes are NOT active quite yet. Until this change is active, Amazon is still free to use within BookVolume. If you have any questions or feedback for us, please don’t hesitate to call us anytime. Our goal is to make this transition as smooth and painless as possible and, as always, to ensure that we’re still keeping your store profitable.

By Janet Rodriguez

Recently, I had the pleasure of connecting with one of our valued BookVolume users, Nancy Loomis, Bookstore Manager of Whitworth University Bookstore. Even though I reached out during rush, she made time for a interview with me about her BookVolume usage. Thank you, Nancy!

In the short span of ten minutes, I gained insight from her experience as a BookVolume user. I learned about the different ways that it’s helped make her life easier. Nancy has increased her use of BookVolume over time and seen the growth in savings.

Interview transcript between Janet R from BookVolume and Nancy L from Whitworth:

Janet: Did you purchase books online before BookVolume? If so, what did you use?

Nancy: Yes, I just went directly to Amazon and it was nightmare-ish.

Janet: Did you think of the online marketplace as a competitor before buying online? How do you feel about being able to use “competitors” for profit versus getting “left behind” by them?

Nancy: I still think of them as competitor. I really like being able to use them for profit. I try to take as much advantage of it as I can to get in there and buy all the books at the best price. I see it as me taking them off their shelves and putting them on mine.

Janet: You bought a total of 4,001 books through BookVolume in 2012. How does this compare to the total number of books you bought in 2012? How many came from wholesale?

Nancy: (Did not have stats at hand). I am still probably getting more books total from wholesale sources, but that number is changing as I am getting more and more books online. I am getting less from wholesale and publishers now, and trying to get as many from the internet marketplace. First, I shop the list on Amazon through BookVolume. I get what I can, then I go to wholesale, then publishers.

Janet: Could you have bought more used books online last year? Do you think your savings would be greater had you done so? How would your savings be affected had you been less aggressive?

Nancy: I probably could have bought more if had more time to do it. We have to do it far enough out that there is time for the books to arrive. I can only shop the marketplace for so long before [I] cut it off and go to more reliable sources.

If [I] had more time to do that, yes [I] probably could have maybe shopped the list one more time, for example.

Janet: I noticed your account activity increased the second half of 2012. Is there a specific reason why?

Nancy: I have been using BookVolume as needed each semester. I use it during specific times basically. I just started using it more, and got more aggressive with purchasing. So far it’s been really helpful.

[End of interview]

As you can see in the graph above, Nancy’s activity on BookVolume increased significantly during the second half of the year. She got more aggressive and locked in greater savings. To everyone else who’s interested in getting more out of buying online, your account managers are eager to help!

Thanks again for taking the time to talk with me, Nancy!

By Janet Rodriguez

The Campus Market Expo (CAMEX) is quickly approaching! Although the rest of the BookVolume team has been going for years, it’s my very first CAMEX and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve heard many stories about the college bookstore retailing industry’s largest trade-show. To be honest, I’m a bit intimidated by the size of the show.

I know the BookVolume team is very excited to see all of you, to be reunited with some friends, and to meet new people! Driven by my enthusiasm, I went ahead and started a countdown. As of  today, January 17th, we are 35 days away from the first day of the Show.

From timeanddate.com

I’ll give you a sneak peek into what BookVolume has planned for CAMEX. Most of you received a “save the date” email from your account managers, Kimberly or Taylor, and have an idea of what to expect. For those of you who have not received an email or have not had a chance to read it, here is what’s in store for you:

When: Saturday, February 23rd from 11:30 am – 12:45 pm
Where: Kansas City Marriott Downtown, Room: Julia Lee A/B on the third floor
What: Interactive User Discussion hosted by BookVolume
Why: We want to learn how bookstores use and manage our system, identify improvements and best practices relating to BookVolume, and take a look at buying online in general.
What to bring: In exchange for bringing a non-BookVolume user, you will get an additional drink ticket.
We will be providing: Lunch, Drink tickets for BookVolume’s Happy Hour, and Raffling a NOOK Tablet

We are working on finalizing the agenda for the discussion and I’d like to ask you for some help. What other subjects would you like to hear discussed? Any challenges you’ve had that could be addressed in the User Group? Please email your suggestions of discussion topics to info@bookvolume.com.

I hope that you’ll join us for the discussion! We’ve got you covered with lunch, drink tickets for our happy hour and you might just walk away with a NOOK tablet!

It’s been a while since our last blog, and a lot’s been happening! Hopefully, everyone had a successful rush and will start getting adoptions for Spring soon. We’ve released a couple of small updates including custom PO’s now being available for all marketplaces, and Amazon sales rank added to book information.

A larger feature we’ve released for BookVolume is a new add-on feature and is now available for Firefox when shopping on Amazon.com and Half.com. Once you’ve installed the add-on it will automatically navigate through the checkout pages including automatically filling in your shipping information(from your BookVolume account settings) with your Custom PO numbers. To get the add-on:

• Simply use BookVolume as you normally would
• When you click on “checkout”, you’ll be asked if you’d like to checkout with the add-on.
• Follow the on-screen instructions to download the add-on
• Refresh your page and our add-on will automatically begin navigating you though checkout
• The last click to finalize your order is still  to ensure you’re always in control.

Last, but not least, a new BookVolume exclusive coupon is available from ValoreBooks. It’ll be valid through November 15th and it’s good for $30 off $300 on your next purchase with the coupon code BVOL30. If you haven’t already started using ValoreBooks, you can enable them from your ‘Global Filters’ page within BookVolume.

This is a great chance to save some extra money on your books during a time when prices are at their lowest. If it’s been awhile since you’ve taken a look at BookVolume, let us know and we can take you through a refresher of the system and show you some tricks to get the most out of the system.