Greg and I experimented with whether or not a buyer can view a purchase from an inactive book and the answer appears to be yes. But - only for 120 days. I tried various methods, but I couldn't view anything older than that. Sellers can view back 360 days. There may be other ways to view older pics of approvals, but I haven't been able to find a way to do so.
So from our experiments we discovered this;
Active allows sales and full access by all.
Inactive allows the seller to manipulate the book and keep it as a reference. Buyers can still see pictures of the purchased item even if a book is made inactive but the buyer will only be able to view the page with the purchased item not the entire book. An inactive book can be reactivated for new sales. A seller can make a book inactive at any time - even with outstanding sales. It is like a 'pause' button.
Retired closes a book voluntarily. I could not reactivate a book I retired. But the book was still available for the seller to view as an archive. I kept my first approval book, but retired it, and I can still view the book but not cannot reactivate it. Not sure if a buyer can see a purchase from a retired book.
Closed is a book automatically shut down by the system because it is sold out. It is available to be viewed the same as the retired books, but it cannot be reactivated.
Delete - self explanatory. Delete it and it is gone completely. Recommended for books that have been depleted, all invoices are paid and closed and you don't feel that you'll ever need to reference the information again.
Thank you, Greg (Soundcrest), for taking the time to help me investigate these states and for using your excellent approval books as test subjects.
If anyone has found any other pertinent info about the various book states, please share.
Theresa, thanks for taking the time to research and document this because I always wondered about the various status codes and what a buyer can see or not see. Thanks also to Greg for bringing up this question that has bugged me for awhile !! Steve
Good job to both of you....
Cogitatin' again....
TuskenRaider
I know it has been mentioned that approval book housekeeping is necessary from time to time. Books with less than 10% of their original content should be cut down. My question is, if you mark a book inactive, can a buyer still see it? I would hope so but I don't think so. This presents a problem as if you shut down a book, a buyer cannot check their stamps against the book. I just read the rules and it states "Only Active Books are shown to potential buyers". That being said, how long of a time should one wait before changing the status to inactive. I just changed a few but will now reverse the change.
Greg
re: Book Status
Greg and I experimented with whether or not a buyer can view a purchase from an inactive book and the answer appears to be yes. But - only for 120 days. I tried various methods, but I couldn't view anything older than that. Sellers can view back 360 days. There may be other ways to view older pics of approvals, but I haven't been able to find a way to do so.
So from our experiments we discovered this;
Active allows sales and full access by all.
Inactive allows the seller to manipulate the book and keep it as a reference. Buyers can still see pictures of the purchased item even if a book is made inactive but the buyer will only be able to view the page with the purchased item not the entire book. An inactive book can be reactivated for new sales. A seller can make a book inactive at any time - even with outstanding sales. It is like a 'pause' button.
Retired closes a book voluntarily. I could not reactivate a book I retired. But the book was still available for the seller to view as an archive. I kept my first approval book, but retired it, and I can still view the book but not cannot reactivate it. Not sure if a buyer can see a purchase from a retired book.
Closed is a book automatically shut down by the system because it is sold out. It is available to be viewed the same as the retired books, but it cannot be reactivated.
Delete - self explanatory. Delete it and it is gone completely. Recommended for books that have been depleted, all invoices are paid and closed and you don't feel that you'll ever need to reference the information again.
Thank you, Greg (Soundcrest), for taking the time to help me investigate these states and for using your excellent approval books as test subjects.
If anyone has found any other pertinent info about the various book states, please share.
re: Book Status
Theresa, thanks for taking the time to research and document this because I always wondered about the various status codes and what a buyer can see or not see. Thanks also to Greg for bringing up this question that has bugged me for awhile !! Steve
re: Book Status
Good job to both of you....
Cogitatin' again....
TuskenRaider