Your Guide to Seamless Direct Sales: Pricing, Payments, Shipping, and Integrations
CONTENTS
Commonly Asked Questions
Are there any fees/charges when selling direct?
Can I connect my website to Bookvault to print and fulfill orders directly
What websites do you have apps and plugins for?
Can the price on my own website be different to what I set up for distribution?
How does payment work when I sell on my own website?
Can I adjust shipping options displayed on my store?
Does bookvault send an email to my customer when an order is dispatched?
I have connected my store to Bookvault, how do orders get paid?
How long should it take for an order to transfer from my store to Bookvault
I've received an email from Bookvault saying 'You're running out of credit in your account!'
How can I test my store is setup correctly?
I had an issue in setting up my store and can't uninstall / re-install?
Guides
Click on the below for our guides on specific eCommerce platforms and solutions
Shopify - Full video setup guide
Shopify - Video guide showing how to connect existing products to titles
WooCommerce - PDF instruction guide
WooCommerce - Video guide showing how to connect existing products to titles
Payhip - Full video setup guide
Payhip - PDF instruction guide
Are there any fees/charges when selling direct?
No, there are no additional charges when selling directly through Bookvault. We do not take any percentage or commission from your sales.
The only costs involved are for production and shipping of the books ordered. These costs are clearly outlined upfront on our quote tool (linked here), so you can set your retail prices accordingly to ensure you cover expenses and generate profit.
By selling direct—whether through your own online store, eCommerce platform, or manually through the Bookvault portal—you maintain complete control over your pricing, sales, and customer relationships. Unlike other platforms, we don’t add hidden fees or take a cut from your hard-earned revenue.
Can I connect my website to Bookvault to print and fulfill orders directly?
Yes, you can connect your website to Bookvault to print and fulfill orders seamlessly. Our platform is built with an API-first approach, meaning everything you can do through the Bookvault portal can also be replicated via a web integration.
If you have a custom or bespoke website, you can integrate it with Bookvault using our Bookvault API. This does require technical knowledge or the assistance of a web developer to set up. Our detailed Bookvault API documentation provides all the resources you need to connect your site, enabling smooth automation of your book printing and fulfillment.
What websites do you have apps and plugins for?
For those using mainstream eCommerce platforms, we offer ready-made apps and plugins to make integration quick and simple. These are available for:
- Shopify
- Wix
- WooCommerce
- Payhip
With these pre-built solutions, you can often get set up in just minutes. The apps handle the entire process, including creating shipping profiles, so you won’t need to worry about charging your customers the correct shipping rates—Bookvault takes care of it for you.
Whether you’re using a custom-built site or a popular eCommerce platform, Bookvault makes it easy to integrate, automate, and manage book printing and fulfillment so you can focus on growing your sales.
Can the price on my own website be different to what I set up for distribution?
Yes, you can set different prices for your books on your own website and for retail distribution channels. These pricing options work independently, allowing you full flexibility.
When selling directly through your own store, you have the advantage of offering a more competitive price. For example, you can discount the book’s price to make it a more attractive option compared to purchasing from a retailer. Since there’s no retailer involved, you’re not losing a percentage of the sale to middlemen, which means more profit for you.
Additionally, selling directly enables you to collect customer data, which is valuable for re-marketing. By building your own audience, you can engage customers with future promotions, new book releases, or exclusive offers—something that isn’t possible when selling through third-party retailers.
How does payment work when I sell on my own website?
Your customer would have all the interaction with your website, and there would be no link or connection to Bookvault for payment.
The customer would use your payment provider and would pay you for the order. They would pay for the price you set the book and the shipping costs you indicated on your store - which you can either setup yourself, or use our pre-populated shipping rates.
When a successful order has been made on your store, the order will be transmitted across to Bookvault where we would then charge you for the production and shipping costs.
Can I adjust shipping options displayed on my website?
Yes, you can offer Free Shipping to your customers when selling through your own store using any of our apps or plugins. This can be easily managed through the app settings menu on Bookvault.
While you can enable Free Shipping for your customers, please note that the order will be shipped using the cheapest available delivery service, and Bookvault will still charge you the related shipping costs. This allows you to offer free shipping without passing additional costs directly to your customers.
- Navigate to the ‘Apps’ page on your Bookvault portal.
- Press the ‘App Settings’ button.
- A dialogue box will appear.
- You will be provided with the following options, 'Free Shipping', 'Discounted Rate' & 'Show Only Tracked Services'
Once updated, this will adjust the shipping profiles on your store. Please allow up to 1 hour for these changes to reflect on your platform.
Does Bookvault send an email to my customer when an order is dispatched?
No, Bookvault does not communicate directly with your customers. However, when an order is dispatched from our system, we automatically send the dispatch information and tracking details (if applicable) to your connected eCommerce store.
With this information, you can set up an automated email through your eCommerce platform to notify your customers about the order status and provide tracking details.
If you’re unsure how to configure automated emails, we recommend reaching out to your eCommerce provider’s support team for guidance. Platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, and others typically have tools or features that make this process straightforward.
I have connected my store to Bookvault, how do orders get paid?
Bookvault does not receive any payment directly from your store—whether it’s Shopify, Wix, WooCommerce, Payhip, or another connected platform.
How does payment work?
-
Customer Payment:
Your customer interacts with your website and pays you directly. You set the Recommended Retail Price (RRP) for the book, and our app/plugin automatically populates the shipping profiles, ensuring your customer is charged the correct shipping costs. -
Order Transmission:
Once payment is successfully processed on your store, the order details are sent to Bookvault. At this point, Bookvault charges you for the production cost of the book and the same shipping charge your customer has already paid.
How does Bookvault charge me?
Bookvault provides two main options for handling payments on your account:
-
Topping Up Your Account:
- You can add funds to your account via the ‘Payments’ page on Bookvault.
- If you have sufficient funds, orders from your connected store will be automatically processed and sent to production.
-
Using a Saved Payment Card:
- You can add a payment card on the ‘Payments’ page of your Bookvault account.
- Once linked, any orders received from your connected store will be automatically charged and processed into production.
What happens if there are no funds?
If your account does not have sufficient funds and no payment card is linked, the order will still appear on Bookvault but will be saved as a ‘Draft Order’. From there, you can:
- Click ‘Pay Now’ to manually pay for the order.
- Use funds that you’ve added to your account at a later time.
By managing your payment preferences, you can ensure your orders are seamlessly processed without delays.
How long should it take for an order to transfer from Shopify to Bookvault
When an order is placed through your store, it should typically transfer to Bookvault within 15 minutes. However, during times of high server activity, such as large queues or tasks, this process may take slightly longer.
If the order has not appeared in the Bookvault portal after 2 hours, this could indicate a setup issue or a transmission error. To resolve this, we recommend reviewing our guides in the Help Centre to check for common setup issues. If the problem persists, please reach out to our support team at customers@bookvault.app, and we’ll assist you in ensuring orders transfer smoothly between your store and Bookvault.
Why did I receive an email from Bookvault saying, “You’re running out of credit in your account”?
When you connect an eCommerce platform like Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, or Payhip to Bookvault, you may receive an email notifying you that your account is running low on credit.
This email serves as a friendly reminder that your balance is low. While this does not delay any orders for your readers, it’s important to note that if your balance reaches zero, orders placed on your website will not be automatically processed. Instead, these orders will be saved as Draft Orders in your Bookvault portal, where you can manually pay for them or top up your account to resume automatic processing.
How can I test my store is setup correctly?
A good way to test your store is set up correctly is visit your store as if you were a reader, add the book to your cart - at this point, all of our shipping rates should be populated and should match the same as if you were placing an order on the portal itself.
This is usually a good indication that all is setup correctly, a step further to test fully is to actually place an order on your store and this should filter through to Bookvault - we would usually allow for up 2 hours maximum for this to be processed and onto our portal, but is usually much quicker than that!
I had an issue in setting up my store and can't uninstall / re-install?
If you encounter any issues during the installation or setup process and are unable to uninstall or re-install the app, we recommend reaching out to us for assistance. You can contact us at customers@bookvault.app or submit a support ticket via the Bookvault portal.
When contacting us, please provide the URL of your store. For Shopify stores, ensure you include the .myshopify.com suffix in the URL.
Once we receive your request, we can remove any connections from our database, allowing you to perform a fresh install and resolve the issue.