Vendor Programme

A storefront built for serious booksellers.

Reach a focused audience of history readers. List your titles alongside ours, ship on your own terms, keep ninety percent of every sale. Monthly payouts, your own vendor page, no hidden fees.

Revenue share
90%
Platform fee
10%
Direct payouts
Monthly
Customer reach
Global

Who this is for

Independent voices in primary-source history.

We're not trying to be Amazon. We're trying to be the marketplace serious collectors actually bookmark. If your catalogue includes books that are hard to find elsewhere, your readers are already shopping here.

Independent publishers

Small imprints with a focused catalogue. Military, political, archival, translation — if it's rigorous, it belongs here.

Authors with a backlist

Self-published historians, academic authors, and dealers with a personal imprint. Reach readers who actually want your work.

Rare book dealers

Out-of-print, foreign-language, signed editions — we have a customer base that hunts for exactly this kind of stock.

Economics

Transparent terms. No surprises on payout day.

What you keep

90%

Of every net order total (excluding taxes and shipping-cost pass-through). No listing fees, no monthly minimums, no surcharges on collector drops.

Our share — what it covers

10%

  • • Payment processing fees
  • • Featured placement & newsletter reach
  • • Customer support & returns handling
  • • Editorial review & quality curation

Payout cadence

Monthly · 15th

Payout methods

Bank · PayPal · wire

Currencies

GBP · USD · EUR

What you get

The tools a modern bookstore needs. Nothing extra.

Your own storefront

A vendor page at irvingbooks.com/sellers/your-name. Your branding, your story, your complete catalogue — indexed in our site search.

Real-time dashboard

Orders, payouts, stock warnings, customer messages. Export CSV whenever you need it. No clunky reports to chase.

Product management

Titles, variants, inventory, pricing, condition notes. Bulk upload via CSV. Digital products and print-on-demand both supported.

Fulfillment flexibility

Self-fulfil from your warehouse, plug in a 3PL, or route through print-on-demand. Set per-product shipping rates and cutoffs.

Customer reviews

Build a review profile tied to your vendor page. Trust compounds: a ten-review seller converts better than a brand-new one.

Editorial curation

Every listing is reviewed before going live. Quality signals matter in our audience — and that curation raises every vendor's conversion.

"In six months on Irving Books we've moved more titles than in two years on general marketplaces. The audience is built-in."

Independent publisher · North London

What we expect

A short list. We'll hold ourselves to the same standards.

Service

  • Ship within 2 business days — or mark stock as print-on-demand
  • Reply to customer messages inside 48 hours
  • Keep a 4.0+ star rating on a rolling basis
  • Honour our shared returns window (30 days, some exclusions)

Listings

  • Accurate titles, condition grades, and ISBNs
  • At least one clear product photo (three preferred)
  • Honest descriptions — don't pad, don't overstate
  • No duplicate listings; use variants for edition differences

How it works

Apply to first order — typically ten days.

  1. 01

    Apply

    Tell us about your catalogue, fulfillment model and where you currently sell. Typically ten minutes.

  2. 02

    Review

    Our editorial team reviews within 3–5 business days. We may ask for samples or clarifications — nothing nit-picky.

  3. 03

    Onboard

    Vendor account, dashboard access, and a walkthrough of the catalogue tools. Bulk CSV upload for large backlists.

  4. 04

    Go live

    Listings reviewed, vendor page polished, orders start flowing. First payout clears on the next monthly cycle.

Common questions

Before you apply.

Do you take exclusivity?

No. You're free to sell the same stock on your own site, at events, or on other marketplaces. We believe the best vendors pick Irving Books because it outperforms alternatives — not because they're locked in.

What if I'm just starting out?

We'd rather approve a focused newcomer with five excellent titles than a catalogue of five hundred generic ones. Quality beats volume.

How is pricing set?

You set your own prices. We'll advise if something is materially out of market — but the call is yours. You can also set sale prices and compare-at prices for promotional periods.

Who handles returns?

You're responsible for the return, but we centralise customer support and returns processing. The customer only interacts with our team; we reconcile financially with you on the next payout.

Can I integrate with Shopify / Square / WooCommerce?

Yes — stock sync, order-push and shipping-label integrations are available for Shopify, WooCommerce and Square. Custom ERP integrations on request for higher-volume vendors.

What titles are off-limits?

Generic mass-market reprints outside our editorial scope, anything infringing copyright, or titles that contravene UK publishing law. We'll tell you fast if something won't work.

Your catalogue deserves a serious audience.

Apply to the vendor programme and list alongside an imprint that's been publishing primary-source history since 1980.