IndieCommunication: News, Updates, and More

Here’s the IndieCommunication e-newsletter for Monday, May 4:

Signed Copies of Julia Alvarez’s Afterlife

Ingram has made 200 signed copies of Julia Alvarez’s Afterlife available for consumer direct fulfillment (CDF) purchase on IndieCommerce and IndieLite websites. To find it on your IndieCommerce or IndieLite website, the signed copy has a dummy ISBN of 2300715728663. If your store has copies of this book, you can promote it on your website using the dummy ISBN.

Fraud Update

As the volume of online sales has increased, IndieCommerce and IndieLite stores are also seeing a significant increase in fraudulent orders being placed. We need your assistance to stop the orders from going through. Here are some of the red flags to watch out for:

• Orders for large boxed sets retailing for around $400 being shipped to addresses in California. The shipping and billing address have the same first and last name, but the addresses are different and no one answers the phone numbers that were submitted with the orders. The IP addresses that the orders are placed from are not in the vicinity of either the shipping or the billing address.
• Single titles with different billing and shipping addresses and an IP address that is not in the vicinity of either address. The buyer(s) of these books are using stolen credit card numbers to fulfill orders they have received for these books on Amazon, eBay, and other online marketplaces. Essentially, they buy the books from your store using a stolen credit card number and you are then shipping it to their buyer, who thinks they are getting it from a legitimate seller. We found out about this last year when one of these Amazon buyers called the number on the invoice that was included in the packaging of their book order and the store knew nothing about the purchase. Eventually, the buyer and the store figured out what happened, contacted us, and we got Amazon to remove the seller.
• Out-of-state orders for a large number of expensive books (including textbooks). This usually starts with a phone call or an email from a person you are not familiar with. If an order looks too good to be true, proceed with EXTREME caution. Check them out thoroughly. Don’t accept a credit card as payment; insist on a bank transfer.

If you want an additional opinion on the validity of an order, write to us at [email protected]. Please include “Fraudulent / Suspicious Order” in the subject line, and we’ll check it out for you. Please also check all CDF orders carefully before sending them to Ingram. Ingram does NOT review orders for fraud before processing them. When you share a fraud incident with us, it gives us the opportunity to check the entire IndieCommerce and IndieLite system to make sure no one else has similar orders pending.

Do You Know an IndieCommerce Expert?

The American Booksellers Association is looking to hire two full-time IndieCommerce customer support specialists to assist with the growth in stores using the IndieCommerce platform as well as the large increase in customers shopping online.

These are work-from-home positions. The IndieCommerce team is specifically seeking to hire someone with previous work experience managing and/or maintaining an IndieCommerce website for an independent bookstore.

See the full job details on BookWeb. To apply for this position, email [email protected] and include “IndieCommerce Support Specialist” in the subject line.

Booksellers are encouraged to send their thoughts, questions, or suggestions via email to IndieCommerce staff at any time.

Past editions of IndieCommunication are available on the IndieCommerce Updates page on BookWeb.org.