IndieCommerce

Perpetrators of fraudulent order schemes are becoming increasingly sophisticated, as evidenced by the frequency and variety of scams reported by ABA member bookstores. Unfortunately there is no hard and fast rule for identifying a fraudulent order, but booksellers are being urged to err on the side of caution. Among the most easily identifiable scams are orders originating in Nigeria or another African nation for large numbers of medical books, textbooks, technical books, or bibles. A stolen credit card is usually offered as the means of payment.

A number of booksellers with BookSense.com Web sites have recently reported a new twist to the problem of fraudulent orders. In addition to orders for large numbers of Bibles and medical texts, booksellers are now seeing fraudulent orders for popular trade titles, sometimes with expedited shipping, and with domestic billing and shipping addresses.

BookSense.com has begun offering detailed traffic reports on an individual store basis. This service, which was developed in response to booksellers' requests, provides data showing how many visitors come to a bookstore's site, which pages they're visiting, when they're visiting, and much more.

On Tuesday, June 22, the on-sale date for former President Bill Clinton's My Life (Knopf), BookSense.com announced that it had made available to BookSense.com participants an audio clip and chapter excerpt from the book.

BookSense.com is now offering Book Sense marketing program members the chance to launch their own BookSense.com Web site -- free of charge, with no obligation to continue after the free trial ends. The BookSense.com Free Trial Offer, which began June 1 and runs through September 30, 2004, offers booksellers a chance to test this valuable online sales and marketing tool.

On Tuesday, June 1, and Wednesday, June 2, the American Booksellers Association Board of Directors and senior staff met at the Hotel ABA - Chicago (Allerton Crowne Plaza), prior to the start of BookExpo America. During a busy two days, the Board and staff:

Here is the latest news and an update on improvements from BookSense.com. On May 26, BookSense.com sent an important e-mail to members in which it discussed the new inventory upload price reduction, new enhancements, BEA reminders, and fraudulent order vigilance.

Partnership With BookstreamInc. to Bring More Content to Independent Bookstore Web Sites

Preparations are in high gear for ABA's education sessions at this year's BookExpo America (BEA), which will be held from June 2 - 6 at Chicago's McCormick Place Convention Center. Among the many events planned are two very valuable users group meetings -- for BookSense.com and for Book Sense Gift Cards.

Here is the latest news and an update on improvements to BookSense.com. On April 29, BookSense.com announced that it had made following enhancements to its templated sites: