Usborne Books at Home

How to place an order...

Place an Order

illus i.

The “Place an Order” menu within Online Services is where you click to submit and
complete all of your customer orders. The system is designed to automatically calculate your
commissions, free book values, carriage charges etc (full details of each of these are explained
in the Organiser Handbook. Your Mentor will also be happy to explain).

To ensure that your orders are included in the appropriate computed month you must submit
your orders by midnight on the last calendar day of each month.

All direct orders are given a unique reference number beginning with a ‘W’, and all website
orders are given a unique reference number beginning with a ‘C’ (found at the top left of the
panel at the top of each screen). If you need to contact Head Office with a query, please quote
the W or C and the number that follows - this is the order reference.

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illus ii.

When placing any type of order (party or school), the panel at the top of each screen (illus ii.)
details:

• Order – This is the order reference number.

• Organiser – This is the Organiser number of the Organiser making the order (i.e. you).

• Total Value - This is the entire value of everything on the order, including stationery, half
price books and all other non-commissionable items.

• Commission – The amount of money that an Organiser has earned from an order. This
is deducted at source, and taken off the total amount that you will pay for that order. For
virtual parties, this commission is paid as an override.

• Delivery – Delivery charges are automatically added where applicable and may vary. Refer
to the handbook for more details.

• Net Value – This is what the Organiser has to pay and is calculated by taking the Total Value
of the Order plus delivery, and then taking off the value of the commission.

• Free Book charge – This is the Organiser’s contribution to the cost of the Free Books.

• Total Volume – This is the amount on which commission is paid and excludes all non-
commissionable items (stationery, half price items, monthly samples and delivery charges)

Each of these values is automatically calculated for you as you proceed through the order.
There are definitions of these terms in the Organiser handbook. Talk to your Mentor about the
importance of deducting sales commission at source and what Override commissions are (and
how they are paid)

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There are two main order types for you to choose from: Party and School*. The handbook
details the differing rates of commission and benefits each order type generates.

Virtual Party mode

If you add a virtual party to a party order (see page 4), an additional column will appear headed
“virtual orders”. This will detail the sales value and delivery (del.) charges assigned to all virtual
orders placed against the party.

The delivery charge (above net value) details the entire delivery charges being made for the
combined party and virtual party order. You only have to pay the delivery charge not attributed
to virtual orders.

i.e. in the instance below:

Delivery £9.00
Virtual order delivery £3.50
You pay £9.00 - £3.50 = £5.50

Order viewing

illus iii.

Please note: Organisers must first submit a minimum of six £120+ party orders before they can
access the schools order function.

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How to place an order...

We will now take you through each entry on the order menu.

Place a party order

Here you can place a party order and set up a virtual party.

To place a party order, follow these step-by-step instructions. At any time you can place an
order on hold (to return to it later) or cancel:

1. Delivery address

illus iv.

The delivery address defaults to your own address as recorded in the “My Account” menu.

If you wish the order to be delivered to an alternate address, enter the complete postal address
by filling in the relevant fields (name, address, postcode and country). Fields marked with an
asterisk (*) are mandatory.

Go to ‘My Account’ if you need to amend your own address.

If you are satisfied with the delivery address details for this order, click continue.

Please note: without a postcode, or with an incorrect postcode, your order will be delayed, as
the postcode determines the delivery depot and route. The country code must agree with the
address the order is being sent to, and you can only send to those countries that appear in the
dropdown list.

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2. Party summary

illus v.

On this page you enter the details of your party host – name, address, date of event etc.
If you have already entered the details of the event as a ‘Future Booking’ on a previous order,
you can recall these details by clicking on the ‘Select From Future Bookings’ button. Then click
the ‘Select’ button next to the required event.

Add a virtual party

Virtual parties can only be added to party orders.

Check the ‘Add Virtual Party’ box. This will provide you with a unique URL for your virtual party.
By sharing this URL with your customers, they will be directed to your Organiser website to
place orders which will be processed automatically.

Please note: it can take up to 15 minutes from the point of generation for the virtual party URL
to become live.

You will be required to set a Virtual Party start and end date, which will be the times during
which your URL will be valid for your customers to access and place orders. The default
amount of time is five days. For more information nabout Virtual parties, please read the
“Virtual parties explained” guide

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3. Party order entry

illus vi.

Here you can enter the titles you wish to add to the order.

Enter each product code (the penultimate five digits of the book ISBN) of each title, or search
for a product by title/keyword. Then click ‘Add’.

*Top tip* - for faster product entry, enter the product code followed by an oblique (/), followed
by the quantity e.g. 92227/2.

You can edit your order at any time, by altering the quantity and then clicking the
‘Amend’ button on the right hand side of the title you wish to change.

If you enter the same title more than once, the quantity will automatically increase by 1 each
time you enter the product code. Please check your order carefully as you enter each title. To
delete titles from your order, decrease the quantity to 0.

Titles marked ††, cannot be placed on hold and will be removed from your order if it is not
completed and processed in this session.

Click ‘Continue’ to proceed. Or click ‘Hold/Cancel’ order for either of those choices.

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4. A gift for your party host

illus vii.

This screen (illus vii.) will only appear if the value of your sales order is >£120.
Select the title that the host has picked from the list given and then click ‘Continue’.

5. Free books for your party host

illus viii.

This screen (illus viii.) will only appear if the value of your sales order is >£120. You will be
prompted how much your host has to spend on their free book choice

As before, to add their books to the order, enter the code or one or more key words, then click
‘Add’. When you have finished entering product codes, please click ‘Continue’.

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6. Future bookings

illus ix.

To add a new future booking, please click on the ‘New Future Booking’ button and add the
event details (much like you did with the party summary earlier). If there were no future
bookings to associate with this order, please click on the ‘Continue’ button.

illus x/

To amend a future booking you have just added, click the ‘Amend’ button next to the required
booking.

Please note: once a future booking event has been held, you can recall the host details from
the future bookings list so that you do not have to enter the same details again.

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7. Half-price gifts

illus xi.

This screen (illus xi.) will only appear if you have added a future booking as your host will be
entitled to a maximum of three half-price books – one for each of up to three future bookings
made at their party.

Add your host’s half-price choices as you have added books previously and click ‘Continue’.

8. Add a half price sample title

illus xii.

This screen (illus xii.) will only appear if the value of your sales order is >£120.
Every month you can get a brand new Usborne title half price, each time you submit a £120+
sales value order.

Select one from the list given by ticking the box to the right of the relevant product.

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Please note: only one half price new titles may be ordered on each £120+ sales volume (not
one copy of each sample). Half price new titles do not count towards volumes and no
commissions will be paid on them.

9. Add stationery and sales aids

illus xiii.

Here you can add any available Usborne stationery and sales aids from the list.

Simply enter the quantity required in the box next to the relevant product and press ‘Continue’
when you are finished.

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10. Account credits and outstanding balances

illus xiv.

If you have any outstanding credit on your account or have received payments using the
Go2Pay app, this screen (illus xiv.) will appear. You can then offset the relevant credit or
payments from your account against the value of your order.

illus xv.

If you owe the company any money, this will show as an Outstanding Balance, which you
must add to your payments to complete the order.

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11. Enter credit card(s) for this order

illus xvi.

The total amount to pay is shown under the section heading (a breakdown of charges is shown
in the Order Detail panel at the top of the screen (illus xv.))

If you are paying for the whole order on a single credit/debit card, click ‘Continue’

If you are paying for the order with more than one credit/debit card:

a) Click ‘Add Payment’.

b) Enter the value to be allocated to the first card.

c) Click ‘Add New Card’. The screen will appear to reset.

d) Enter the value to be allocated to the next card.

e) Repeat above steps until all the cards have been entered and the Net
f) Value has been accounted for in full.

g) Click ‘Continue’

If you want to amend the amounts allocated to any of the cards, click the
‘Amend’ button to the right of the card number.

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12. Review order

illus xvii.

Please check and review your order before it is sent to the warehouse. To amend any part of
the order, click the Amend button next to the required section.

Depending on the value of your order, you may qualify for free gifts, free products, half price
products and reduced price monthly titles. In order to proceed to the next screen, you must
have either selected your benefit or checked the tickbox to confirm that you do not wish to
claim these additional items.

To complete the order, click ‘Process Order’.

If you have created a Virtual Party you cannot complete the order until the day after the Virtual
Party end date. Once the end date has passed you will have 24 hours to complete your order.
Please note that sales from a Virtual Party order will count in the month that the order is
completed, not when the party ends.

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13. Process order

illus xviii.

On this screen you will see the basic commission you have earned on this order.

If you are ready to process the order, click on the ‘Confirm Process Order’ button (illus xvii.)

If you wish to continue amending your order, click on ‘Amend Order’

Once you click ‘Confirm Process’, your payments will be processed and the order will be sent to
the warehouse, after which no further amendments can be made.

14. Payments processing

illus xix.

A reminder of the credit cards and their corresponding amounts will display before you enter
any credit card details (illus xviii.). Click ‘Continue’ to be taken to the payment processing pages,
supported by ‘Verifone’.

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Remember: an Organiser must not pay for another Organiser’s order. If you do so, the
order volume may be adjusted to zero value, but you will still be charged for the order.
Please remember that customer card details must only be entered on the relevant order
which relates to the good the customer has purchased

illus xx.

You will be taken to a secure page where you can enter your credit card details. Enter the
details of the first credit card and click ‘Proceed’ (illus xix.)

Click ‘Proceed’ again to be taken back to the Payments Processing page.

Repeat until all the credit card details have been entered.

Click ‘Continue’ to be taken to the Order Accepted page.

When the order has been accepted the following message will appear:

“Your order number Wxxxxxxxx has now been completed and will be despatched to you as
soon as possible. Please allow seven working days for delivery within the UK and 10 working
days for delivery elsewhere. Please now select an option from the menu across the top of the
screen”

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Place a school order

illus xxi.

Please note: Organisers must first submit a minimum of six £120+ party orders before they
can access the schools order function.

The step-by-step principles for fulfilling these order types are very similar to the party order
mechanism and should not require additional explanation. If you do have any questions, speak
to your Mentor who will be happy to assist.

Go2Pay – available funds

Go2Pay - available funds

illus xxii.

If you have taken Go2Pay payments at an event, they will be listed here ready for you to attach
to the relevant order under the “Claim account credit” stage. For more information about
Go2Pay, read the Go2Pay User Guide or speak to your Mentor.

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Amend a held order

illus xxiii.

If you have any orders on hold, you can revisit them via this page (illus xxii.) Simply click the
“Amend” button next to the relevant order number and you are able to review aspects of and
then process the order if applicable.

Please note: One of the aspects you can ‘view’ is a list of “shop orders” - These are Virtual
Party orders that have already been placed against this held order. This is a good way to
keep an eye on your Virtual Party orders whilst the parties are still “live”.

View previous orders

illus xxiv.

This page (illus xxiii.) presents list of orders you have previously completed and processed. To
view any of these orders please click on the View button next to the appropriate entry. Please
note you cannot amend any of these orders.

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How do I track my orders?

illus xxv.

In the UK, we work with FedEx to deliver your orders. A FedEx tracking number is allocated after
your order has been dispatched.
Please visit ‘Online Services’ then ‘Place an Order’ then ‘View Previous Orders’ and then click on
the track number next to the order you wish to track. This will take you to the FedEx website for
the current status of your order.
Free or charge reorders (placed by Head Office in the event of missing or damaged items) can
also be tracked in Online Services under ‘My Downline’ (along with any other orders).

In Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, we work with Primeline to deliver your orders.
Unfortunately, we are not able to provide a tracking number. If you have any concerns about
your order/s please contact us via email (mail@usbornebooksathome.co.uk) or via the order
query line (0845 769 7324).

In the EU, we work with DHL to deliver your orders.

Please visit ‘Online Services’ then ‘Place an Order’ then ‘View Previous Orders’ and then click on
the track number next to the order you wish to track. This will take you to the DHL website for
the current status of your order.
Free or chargeable reorders (placed by Head Office in the event of missing or damaged items)
can also be tracked in Online Services under ‘My Downline’ (along with any other orders).

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Bookings calendar

illus xxvi.

The bookings calendar (illus xxv.) allows you to add future bookings outside the order
mechanism. Click ‘Add a New Booking’ to enter details about the event host and date. You
can also amend or delete existing bookings by clicking on the date in the calendar where the
booking is currently recorded.

These bookings will also show in the Future Bookings list (but cannot be amended in that list)

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