Answers to your questions about automatic removal of sold items using BookRouter™
What is automatic removal of sold items?
BookRouter™ includes a feature to help prevent double sales by automatically identifying sold items from major marketplaces and removing them from all other connected platforms. This feature is designed to streamline inventory management and reduce the time spent manually managing listings.
Is it right for me?
Whether you enter data directly into BookRouter™ or upload inventory from your own database, automatic removal of sold items can reduce the time spent managing listings.
There are, however, a number of things to consider before you enable the feature.
Key Considerations
1) Timing of Updates Varies by Marketplace
Timing differences mean that sold items may not be removed instantly. Regular checks are advised to ensure synchronization.
- eBay: Synchronization typically occurs within minutes.
- ABE, Biblio, and Amazon: Updates are retrieved approximately every 10 to 15 minutes.
2) Potential for Missed Removal on ABE and Biblio
ABE and Biblio only provide "open orders" to BookRouter™. If an order is processed too quickly on these platforms—before BookRouter™ retrieves it—it may not be marked as sold. Sellers should double-check in such cases to confirm the item has been removed or manually mark it as sold within BookRouter™ to ensure proper synchronization.
3) Unsupported Marketplaces
The automatic removal feature is not supported for marketplaces such as Alibris, Antiqbook, MareMagnum, and others. For these platforms, items must be manually marked as sold in BookRouter™. Once manually marked, the sold item will still be removed from all other connected platforms.
In addition to these considerations, there are website and BookRouter™ features that can throw off inventory counts and make it seem like your inventory is out of sync when it is not. Timed uploads, website only items or categories, and private catalogs are just a few possible tools that can make your inventory differ across sales channels.
BookRouter™ should not be solely relied upon to keep your inventory synchronized.
While this feature is highly effective in most cases, there are scenarios where manual intervention may be required to ensure sold items are removed. Manual verification is recommended to ensure your inventory remains accurate.
How do I enable automatic removal of sold items using BookRouter™?
1) Access Marketplaces Settings: In the control panel, click on 'Marketplaces' under the 'Routing' heading.
2) Select a Supported Marketplace: This feature currently supports ABE, Amazon, eBay, and Biblio.
Note: Orders received from unsupported marketplaces (Alibris, Antiqbook, MareMagnum, etc.) must be manually marked sold. However, sold items will be removed from all platforms — including marketplaces without sold item support.
3) Enable Automatic Sold Item Marking: On the settings page of selected Marketplace, on the right side section, turn on the toggle switch for 'Auto-mark sold items'.
Note: Repeat these steps for each marketplace where you want to enable automatic sold item marking.
Important: We strongly recommend verifying that items are correctly marked as sold.
While this feature is highly effective in most cases, there are scenarios where manual intervention may be required to ensure sold items are removed.