Own stock and shipping zones

If you have boxes of books at home, you can sell them and post them yourself. Choose I post it from my stock under How readers get it for that format.

Track your stock

Open the book in Books and, on the card of the format you post yourself, under Stock:

• Copies on hand: how many you have.
• Email me when copies drop to, optional: the number at which you want a warning.

Choose Save stock. The format says Ready to sell while you have copies.

Each paid order takes its copies off the count. When the count drops to your warning number, we email you. Once it reaches zero, readers see that format as sold out.

Shipping zones

Readers can’t buy books you post yourself until you add at least one shipping zone.

1. Go to Store settings, Shipping and choose Add a shipping zone.
2. Give the zone a Zone name, like “UK and Ireland”. Only you see it.
3. Under Countries, choose Countries I choose and type two-letter country codes separated by commas, like GB, IE, or choose Everywhere else for every country not in another zone.
4. Add a delivery option: a Name readers see like “Standard”, and the Cost to the reader: Paid with an amount, or Free shipping. A paid option can also be Free on orders over an order total.
5. Choose Add another delivery option for a faster one, like “Tracked”.
6. Choose Save.

At the basket, a reader picks their country and sees the delivery options of its zone.

To change or delete a zone, choose Edit.

Your return address

Under Store settings, Shipping, fill in the return address and choose Save return address. Packing slips and postage labels use it.

Signed copies and dedications

A signed copy is its own format, shipped from your stock. On its book page, readers can type a short dedication, up to 200 characters, before adding it to the basket. The dedication shows on the order.

To ship

To ship lists every paid copy you still have to post, grouped by book, with any dedication in large type. Choose By order to see one parcel per order instead. The To sign tab shows only the copies that need your signature or carry a dedication.

1. For a signed copy, sign the book and choose Mark signed. Other copies are ready to post straight away.
2. Tick the copies you are posting and choose Print packing slips. You get a PDF with one page per order: the books, the dedications and the address.
3. Choose Buy postage labels for a label per parcel. Leave Postage on Cheapest available, or choose A service I name and type it.
4. Choose Mark shipped, and check the carrier and tracking number for each order. A label you bought fills them in. The reader gets an email with the tracking number.

A parcel cannot be marked shipped while a book in it still needs signing.

Buying labels is built but not switched on yet. Until it is, Buy postage labels says so: buy postage at the post office and type the carrier and tracking number when you mark the parcel shipped. Labels have no customs forms yet, so a label for a parcel going abroad may be refused.