Welcome to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page at Preloved Bookshop!

Preloved Bookshop works much like any other online marketplace with multiple "shops" or vendors, the main difference being that we exclusively sell secondhand books.

Every book listed here is sold by one of our vendors, who have prepared the listings, set their own prices, and determined their shipping and handling fees.

Go on, try it out! Browse for your next secondhand book.

Much like any online marketplace, Preloved Bookshop lets you create your own miniature store within the website, complete with a landing page for your shop and individual listings. Everything is sold on a commission basis.

That means nobody earns anything from your book until it actually sells, so there are no upfront costs to use the service.

The key difference with Preloved Bookshop from any other online marketplace is in the name: we deal exclusively in secondhand books.

Preloved is a community-based marketplace for readers, collectors, and small-scale vendors rehoming secondhand books.

We're not a platform for large commercial retailers or chain bookshops. If you operate a retail store or sell primarily across multiple online marketplaces, your business model may fall outside our marketplace scope.

Each vendor is individually responsible for:

• Listing books with clear, accurate information (including at least one or two photos),
  Guide: The Quickest Way to Get Your Book Online
• Noting any significant damage (photos really help set buyer expectations),
• Pricing their books fairly and including any localised tax requirements,
• Setting shipping and handling costs,
  Guide: How to Set Up Shipping Rates as a Vendor
• Packaging and dispatching books promptly once sold,
• Managing customer messages and reviews in a timely and courteous manner,
• Keeping their inventory up to date (updating availability or removing listings if you decide to not sell it any more, or sell it elsewhere),
• Ensuring compliance with Preloved Bookshop policies and any relevant consumer laws,
  Read our Terms & conditions here.
• Responding appropriately to disputes, including providing photos or proof of postage if required.
• Vendors are expected to operate as individual or small-scale sellers, not as large commercial retailers or resellers.

Choose your purchases carefully and remember this is a secondhand bookshop. Most books will have some use, wear and tear, or ageing (especially vintage titles).

If a book has significant damage, it's the vendor's responsibility to note it in the listing. If you believe your book has arrived in worse condition than described, you can contact the vendor directly.

Every vendor page includes options to get in touch with the vendor and to leave reviews. The vendor will then discuss options with you.

First of all: as someone who ran an online secondhand bookshop for nearly six years, I can say it does happen, but it's rare. Most buyers know they're purchasing secondhand books, and as long as you've been upfront in the condition notes, people are usually satisfied.

When it does happen though, I've found the best approach is clarity and communication.

Start by apologising that the book didn't meet their expectations, and ask them to send photos of the book they received. These photos are essential, because you need to confirm whether the damage occurred during transit.

If the book looks the same as when you sent it:

• remind them that the listing included condition notes (this is why it's important to always add them),
• refer them back to the listing photos if you included any (especially if there was visible damage).

If the book was damaged in transit:

• thank them for the photos (you'll need them for the next step),
• let them know you'll be lodging a claim with the postal service, explain it may take a week or more for a response, and commit to keeping them updated.

From there, you'll need to submit a refund claim with the postal service, and once they approve it, issue the refund to your customer.

With AusPost, for example, the process is slow and they'll only consider refunds on tracked parcels, but it's worth following through, because once they pay out, you can refund your buyer with confidence.

This is why it's worth thinking about whether tracking is right for you: if a buyer never receives their parcel, most postage services will only consider refunding you if the parcel was tracked.

If the parcel was tracked:

• Use the carrier's online tracking tools. Often, when a buyer says a parcel never arrived, it's because the service either:
  • attempted delivery but didn't leave a card and the parcel is sitting at the local post office, or
  • left it in a "safe place" on the property that the buyer hasn't seen or checked.

Tracking will usually show this, and you can pass the info on to the buyer.

• If tracking status isn't clear, contact the carrier and lodge a lost parcel claim. The process varies, but if the parcel is confirmed lost, they'll refund you, and you can then refund the buyer.

If the parcel wasn't tracked:

• The postage service probably won't care (trust me, I've been there).
• You'll likely need to refund the buyer yourself. It sucks, but it's your call.

This experience is exactly why, when Preloved Bookshop ran as its own store, we chose to send all books with tracking, as it saved these kinds of headaches.

Shipping is always a balancing act: charge too much and customers drop off; charge too little and you end up paying for the privilege of sending books.

Ultimately it's your call, but here's some info to help you decide. I have a guide on how to set up your shipping rates here: How to Set Up Shipping Rates as a Vendor

• Customers want shipping to be simple and affordable. If it costs $20 to ship an $8 book, many will cancel. If shipping is too complicated (e.g. requiring custom quotes), most will drop off unless they really want the book.
• In theory you could set rates by weight and size, but that means measuring every book and building complex tables, which is not really practical.

Options to consider

Flat rate shipping: The simplest. Sometimes you'll pay a little extra, sometimes you'll come out ahead. When orders come in, you can check carriers (Auspost vs Sendle, or NZ Post vs Pass the Parcel) and choose whichever is cheapest for that order.

Official satchels:

• Auspost prepaid satchels (bulk) are tracked and deliver nationwide.
• NZ Post single bag range offers tracked nationwide delivery.
• Use these as a baseline when setting your domestic flat rate.

Own packaging:

• Auspost costs $6–30 within Australia, depending on distance and size.
• NZ Post domestic rates are $5.40–14.
• Reusable boxes or eco-satchels (e.g. HeapsGood) can help.

Other couriers:

• Sendle (Aus): Often cheaper than Auspost in metro areas, more expensive regionally. Requires strict label printing; some regions have limited pickup/delivery days.
• Pass the Parcel (NZ): Often cheaper than NZ Post, especially for small local shipments.
• International (Aus ↔ NZ): Slower and more expensive, plus declaration forms at the post office.

What we used to use at Preloved (for reference):

• $9 flat rate, Australia-wide (actual cost was $10–14, but we absorbed the difference to stay competitive).
• NZ shipping: $5 flat fee + $10 per book. In hindsight, a flat $15 rate would have been better, as most orders were just 1–2 books.
• $21 Express Post (Australia-wide).
• Free shipping over $99 (domestic).

At the end of the day, there's no perfect answer. Pick the approach that feels right for your business. It's why vendors get to choose their own shipping setup.

It works just like it does for other book sellers, with one extra benefit: readers know that by buying your old stock, they're directly supporting you as the author.

Once you have registered as a vendor, even before your account is approved, you'll be able to choose your Vendor category as "Author", which is a searchable filter on the "all Vendors" page:

13% + 50c of all book sales goes to Preloved Bookshop. This covers the fees that Paypal and Stripe take from the order total, when the customer places the order, so realistically, Preloved receives approx. 6-9% of sales, depending on what payment gateway the user has chosen to use (and type of credit card).

When you list a book and specify it's price, it'll tell you straight away how much of the price you'll receive. Some vendors will be able to negotiate their commission down the line, but I'll contact you if that's the case.

As well as that, you and I split the transfer fees down the middle, when you request a withdrawal to your Paypal (the current Paypal fee rate is 2.6% plus 30c, so your fee there would be 1.3% plus 15c).
If you request a withdrawal to your regular bank account, then there's a 15c fee to just cover the time.

When you create a vendor account you'll need to specify the Paypal account, or regular Bank account that you want funds to be transferred to.

When your vendor account has accrued $50AUD or more in profit, you can request a manual withdrawal, and I'll transfer you the money.

All shipping and handling fees are set by the vendor directly, so check when you're in the cart, as they may differ from vendor to vendor.

Yeah, probably! If you're buying books that'll be sent to you from Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Christchurch, then yes, you'll need to pay the vendors their individual shipping requirements.

Sorry, we can't think of a more fair way to do it! My advice would that if you find a vendor who posts the kinds of books you're interested in, follow them and you'll be the first to know when they list new-old books.

If you purchase multiple books from the one vendor, and they have a flat-rate shipping fee enabled, you'll pay it once, obviously.

Welcome to Preloved! Give me a sec, okay? I love the internet, but it's increasingly turning into a hive of scam and deceit, so to combat what is a very tempting system to bots and scammers, I'm turning vendor signup to approval only.

This also helps ensure we don't have large-scale retail stores joining the platform. Preloved is designed for members of the public and small independent sellers who are rehoming preloved books, not for commercial bookshops or bulk resellers.

To speed up your vendor account approval, make sure you complete your profile, in particular - write a decent store bio, list any relevant terms of sale, and decide on your shipping rates.

Once your account is verified and approved, you'll be able to list books and publish them straight away.

Any vendors who haven't added a store profile within two weeks of registering will be automatically removed as vendors, to keep the system humming. Don't worry, you can always sign up again when you're ready to add a bio!

There are several reasons why a book listing might be removed from Preloved Bookshop. My first advice is to review the Terms & Conditions to ensure your listing complies with our marketplace rules.

Common reasons for removal include:

• Low-effort listings
  Listings with little or poor-quality information may be disabled until they're improved. To create a quality listing, please make sure you:
  • Include clear photo(s) of your actual book.
  • Add the book's blurb or description (not condition notes) in the description field.
  • Enter condition notes only in the field marked "Condition notes."
• Incorrect tagging or spamming
  Avoid over-tagging or spamming genres, categories, or authors. Only tag your book in categories or genres that genuinely apply.
• Ineligible product types
  Listings must be for physical books only. Digital, downloadable, or promotional items are not allowed.
• Prohibited or harmful content
  Any listings containing or promoting harmful, explicit, or otherwise inappropriate material (including pornography) will be removed.
• Marketplace misuse
  Using listings to advertise other websites or redirect buyers off the platform, or engaging in spam-like behaviour, violates our Terms and will result in removal and possible account suspension.

If your book has been taken down:
You'll receive an email explaining the reason. In most cases, you can edit and resubmit the listing once it meets the quality and content standards.

If you believe your listing was removed in error, you can contact me.

You can include a brief mention or link in your shop bio (for example, to an author website), but you must not encourage buyers to make their purchases outside Preloved Bookshop.

You can include a variety of social media links in your shop bio, under Settings > Social Profile.

Listings that attempt to redirect buyers elsewhere to purchase books will be taken down.

Please note that vendor bios should not be used to advertise external retail stores or direct customers to make purchases off-site.

If you need to make changes to a listing, head to Vendor Dashboard > Books. Hover over the book you want to edit, and you'll see options to "Edit," "Delete Permanently," "View", "Quick Edit", or "Duplicate."

• Choose Edit to update any details about your book (e.g. title, description, photos, price).
• Choose Delete Permanently if you want to remove the listing completely.

If you unpublish or delete a listing, it'll disappear from public view straight away. You can always re-add it later.

Yes, of course!
If they're identical (same edition and condition), you can set a stock quantity on the product/book edit page.
If they differ in condition or edition, it's best to create separate listings so buyers can see exactly what they're getting.

Contact the vendor immediately, ideally within a few hours of placing your order.
If the parcel hasn't shipped, they can usually correct it. If it's already been posted, they'll advise on next steps (for example, waiting for it to be returned to sender).

Start by messaging the vendor directly from your order page. Most issues can be resolved that way.

If you can't reach an agreement, use the dispute tools within your dashboard to record the problem.
Preloved Bookshop doesn't mediate disputes, but the tools help you and the vendor keep clear records.

Reviews help other readers and sellers, so try to be fair, specific, and constructive.

Head to the vendor's store page, and you'll see a Review tab; click on that and you'll see a button to leave a review.

Any reviews that are intentionally misleading or harmful will be removed.

No, an ABN isn't required for casual or small-scale selling.

Preloved Bookshop is intended for individuals and small independent sellers rehoming preloved books, rather than for large-scale retail or commercial operations.

If you do operate as a registered business, it's your responsibility to comply with any applicable tax laws, including registering an ABN if required.

To close your account, contact Min through the Contact us form.
Once confirmed, your listings and order history will be permanently removed.
If you just want a break, you can unpublish your listings instead.

You can only have one vendor account per person or business.
Creating multiple accounts to avoid limits, fees, or warnings can result in suspension.

You must not list, promote, or upload:

• Digital or downloadable files
• Counterfeit or unauthorised copies
• Pornographic or highly sexualised content
• Anything promoting violence, hate, or discrimination
• Content that violates copyright laws

Preloved Bookshop reserves the right to remove any listing that breaches these rules or that we consider harmful to users or the platform.

Yes of course - your photos remain yours. But by uploading them, you grant Preloved Bookshop permission to display and promote them on our site and social channels to showcase your listings.
We'll never sell or distribute your images outside this purpose.

We only collect what's needed to operate the marketplace, like your name, email, address, and order details.

Full details are available in our Privacy Policy.

Vendors are responsible for keeping buyer data safe and using it only for order fulfilment.

Yes of course.
If you’d like all your data removed, send a request the Contact form, and we'll permanently delete your account information within 30 days (except for records we're legally required to retain, like tax invoices).

Vendors are responsible for providing shipping rates and may choose to include tracking as part of their services.

Vendors do have the ability within their dashboard to specify tracking information for your order. If they have chosen to do so, you'll receive an automatic email from them once they've applied a shipment to your order, which includes the tracking ID.

When in doubt, check what the vendor specified when you placed your order, and if it's still unclear, message the vendor directly.

Preloved Bookshop is a marketplace platform, which means that each vendor is responsible for their own sales.
If you need a tax invoice, you'll need to contact the vendor directly.

Vendors who operate as registered businesses should include their ABN and provide a valid tax invoice if requested.
Preloved Bookshop itself doesn't issue invoices for individual vendor sales, but you'll still receive an order confirmation email at checkout as proof of purchase, and an order completed email once the vendor marks your order as completed.

I've published a quick guide here: The Quickest Way to Get Your Book Online

1/ Sign up as a vendor, and wait to get your store approved. This is a measure implemented to reduce spam and scams. To ensure your vendor account is approved swiftly, please make sure you write a decent bio, and if you have any specific terms of sale, include them (there is a checkbox for Terms & Conditions). I have a guide on all the settings to fill out for your store here: How to properly set up your vendor account (and be approved faster!)

And another article here on how to set up your shipping rates: How to Set Up Shipping Rates as a Vendor.

You will need to add both shipping rates and a store bio, before your account will be approved.

2/ Once approved, head to your Vendor Dashboard, and create your book listings, from Books > Add new book. There's a guide, here on how to get your books online.

That's it!

Anything else that you add to the Vendor Dashboard will help to support your store (such as social media links, Store SEO, etc). Feel free to advertise your store however you like as well.