SENDING TO ABEBOOKS

Sending inventory files to AbeBooks from HomeBase® 3.0 is done through our Web Service. The first time you attempt to send an update to AbeBooks, you will be prompted to log in with the email address and password associated with your AbeBooks bookseller account. Doing so will set a security token on your computer that will make logging in unnecessary for future uploads, unless:

  • Your bookseller account has been closed or suspended.
  • You have installed HomeBase 3.0 on a second or new computer.
  • You have removed and re-installed HomeBase 3.0.

There are 2 ways that you can send your adds, deletes, or updates to AbeBooks:

1. When you close HomeBase 3.0, you’ll be prompted to ‘Send listing updates to AbeBooks?’ As long as you're connected to the Internet, clicking ‘Yes’ will automatically send all updates, adds, and sold books to AbeBooks via our Web Service.

This automatic prompting can be disabled by selecting Tools from the Menu bar and then choosing Options > Disable send updates prompt.

2. You can also send updates to AbeBooks at any time during a session by selecting
the Tools menu from the menu bar, and then choosing either of:

  • Upload Listing Changes
  • Upload Want Changes

Tools - Upload - HB 3 Beta 2 

 

When sending data for the first time, if you are unable to obtain the upload token, please note:

· Ensure your email address and password have been entered correctly - verify spelling and remember that both are case sensitive.

· If you have a buyer account on any of our European websites under the same email address and password as your bookseller account, you will need to change one of the passwords. 

 

Once your changes have been uploaded, you will receive a confirmation message letting you know what action has been completed:

Upload Confirmation - HB 3 Beta 2 
If the message above says that you have a number of listings that failed, please contact Abebooks Customer Support.

If you made changes to your inventory and get a message that ‘No Listings needed to be sent to the server’, it may be that the listing or listings are invalid.

There are a number of reasons why a listing might not be sent to AbeBooks, even though the listing has been updated:

1) The Listing is Invalid:

Please note that there are mandatory attributes for each listing in HomeBase 3.0. Any listing for which mandatory attributes have not been populated will not be included in your uploads.  You can easily see which listings these are by looking at the AbeBooks Valid’ column for your listings.  If the listing is missing mandatory attributes, the cell will say ‘Invalid’.

Valid Column - HB 3 Beta 2 
If a listing says ‘Invalid’, double-click on the listing to open it.  An   will indicate the fields that are preventing the listing from being Valid.

In addition, custom text can be used in the mandatory attributes fields but must first be mapped to AbeBooks standardized lists.

2) The ‘Send to AbeBooks’ check box is not checked,

In the Edit and Add Listing or Want screens, there is a Send to AbeBooks check box located at the bottom right. As long as this box is checked, your changes will automatically be included in your next upload.

Send to Abe Checkbox - HB 3 Beta 2 
If this box is not checked, the listing will not be sent to AbeBooks.

 

Important Note: 

HomeBase 3.0 should not be used in conjunction with any other inventory management system. For example, if you make some updates via HomeBase 3.0, others via HomeBase 2.3, and still others via our Online Inventory Management System, it is extremely likely that the changes made in one will overwrite those made in another, resulting in missing listings, sold books appearing online, etc.