Selling Books Online: eCommerce Solutions for Independent Bookstores

    IndieCommerce

    ABA’s state-of-the-art e-commerce platform enables ABA members to create unique, content-rich, easy-to-operate, and fully transactional and customizable e-commerce websites. The IndieCommerce database consists of nine million in-print titles and more than four million ebooks and audiobooks. IndieCommerce employs dedicated customer service representatives and offers 24-hour online information. In addition to ABA dues, IndieCommerce users pay a monthly service fee of $175 per month. 

    May to August 2017 price special! For the first three months after signup, new IndieCommerce program participants will pay just $25 per month; for the next three months, the fee will become $100 per month, a savings of $75 from the standard rate.

    Community Bookstore's websiteJust a few of the reasons to consider IndieCommerce…

    • Designed and developed exclusively for independent bookstores
    • Scalable open-source Drupal based ecommerce platform with contemporary features
    • Hosting services
    • Customizable look and feel
    • Unlimited pages, sections, content, characters, and products
    • In-store inventory book upload
    • Store's unique products in inventory
    • Improved search ranks based on stock, sales history, and format
    • Search engine optimized URLs
    • Easy check-out with in-store pickup, shipping options, and various payment options including credit cards, PayPal, coupon codes, and online gift codes

    Please visit the Help Desk for more information, or email the IndieCommerce staff.

    IndieLite

    IndieLite is a lower-cost, low maintenance e-commerce option based on the IndieCommerce Drupal platform. It is specifically designed for booksellers who are just getting started in e-commerce, or stores that want a website that requires very little time and effort to maintain. This service offers booksellers the essential tools they need to create a web presence for their store. 

    Below is a side-by-side comparison of IndieCommerce and IndieLite. To find out which product is best for your store, email the IndieCommerce staff.

    Feature Comparison Chart

    Specifically designed for independent booksellers, IndieCommerce is a full featured e-commerce solution with powerful online marketing tools. IndieLite offers the minimal e-commerce essentials for a low-cost web presence that is simple to maintain.

      IndieCommerce IndieLite
    Monthly Fee $175 $50
    Set-Up Fee No No
    Site, Domain, SSL etc
    Site URL Custom Sub-domain
    SSL Cert Yes Yes
    Shopping Cart / Checkout
    Secure cart and checkout Yes Yes
    Collapsed checkout panes Yes Yes
    Payment method - Credit card Yes Yes
    Order comments Yes Yes
    'Source' based and 'Destination' based sales tax Yes Yes
    In-Store Pickup Yes Yes
    Payment method - Pay at store Yes Yes
    Tax Exempt Yes No
    Additional checkout panes Yes No
    International Orders Yes No
    Payment method - Paypal Yes No
    Payment method - House Account, Purchase order, Gift card, Online Gift code Yes No
    Save customer credit card profiles Yes No
    Custom shipping methods Yes No (Pre-defined methods, stores can set rates)
    Theme, templates etc
    Responsive and mobile friendly Yes Yes
    Multiple site design templates Yes No
    Color wheel Yes (some templates) Yes
    Custom template Yes No
    Admin
    Permission to add customers Yes No
    Permission to create Rules Yes No
    Unlimited admin roles Yes No (Only Store Admin and Order Admin)
    Book data and inventory
    Inventory of over 9 million titles (Ingram) Yes Yes
    Related Editions Yes Yes
    Discount / Mark Up prices Yes Yes
    Create book lists Yes Yes
    Option to sell pre-order titles Yes Yes
    Create additional retail inventory Yes No
    Option to sell titles not currently in stock at Ingram Yes No
    Bulk upload of book lists Yes No
    Staff reviews Yes No
    Sync Local Store Inventory Yes No
    Search, Browse etc
    Optimized book search Yes Yes
    Predictive Search Yes Yes
    Browse, with option to select categories Yes Yes
    Other content included in search Yes No
    Customizable search weights Yes No
    Advanced Search Yes No
    Custom Products
    Create products manually Yes No
    Bulk upload of custom products Yes No
    Sell custom products online Yes No
    Update and monitor stock Yes No
    Gift Cards / Online Gift Codes Yes No
    Content - Store supplied content
    Events calendar
    Calendar of store events that is maintained by the merchant
    		 Yes Yes
    Upcoming Events view Yes Yes
    Blogs Yes Yes
    Contact Yes Yes
    Wishlists Yes Yes
    Unlimited content (pages) Yes No
    Webforms Yes No
    Taxonomy Yes No
    Content - Provided by IC / ABA
    Indie Next List Yes Yes
    Indie Bestsellers Yes Yes
    Indie Kids Next List Yes Yes
    Reading Group Indie Next List Yes Yes
    Regional Holiday Catalog Yes Yes
    ABC Catalog Yes Yes
    Privacy & Security Policy Yes Yes
    Refund Policy Yes Yes
    Misc
    SEO tools Yes Yes
    Social media integration Yes Yes
    Email Sign up Pop-ups Yes Yes
    Google Analytics Yes Yes
    CAPTCHA Yes Yes
    Affiliiate program Yes No
    Custom Customer Groups Yes No
    Discount Coupons Yes No
    Disqus Yes No
    Multiple Outlet Locations Yes No
    Preview New Features Yes No
    Order Management
    Editing an order Yes Yes
    Manual order creation by store staff Yes Yes
    Send orders to Ingram Yes Yes
    Send Pre-orders to Ingram Yes No
    Multiple order fulfillment options Yes No
    Create custom order workflow Yes No
    Reports
    Order report Yes Yes
    Sales report Yes Yes
    Money management report Yes Yes
    Customer email export Yes Yes
    Third Party Services
    Kobo eBooks Yes Yes
    Libro.fm Audiobooks Yes Yes

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