If anyone is curious they can drop by the Alibris forums and look up the threads in the Alibris Answer forums regarding the new packing slip layout.  There is a controversy over the ink usage - like any of us sell enough on Alibris anymore for it to eat into our cost...lol.

Heather mentioned something interesting. She said third party software generates their own packing slips for Alibris (she mentioned f***z and Monsoon) and said that all third party custom packing slips are approved by Alibris.

So I'm running with this like a kid with scissors and switching back to my AoB custom packing slips since they do suck up less ink and take less time to load. (those two or three extra seconds add up over a decade

Thought some of you might also find this worth noting.

Happy sales!

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It shouldn't be extra steps to print Alibris packing slips, as long as you have the "Use Alibris supplied packing slips?" Yes radio button checked on your Vendor Settings page. Then they print out from AOB just like your AOB packing slips. No need to leave AOB, log in to Alibris, and print packing slips from there - unless it is a multi-item order. Then you have to log into Alibris, accept the items, and then you can print a consolidated packing slip from there. But you have to mark the items as filled first before you can print.

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I agree, AOB isn't very good in clearly notifying users about changes and upgrades.  There's been a lot of changes since the help pages were written.  If you weren't a user when the Alibris/EDI light went into effect, you'd never know about turning on the Alibris packing slip function.

Regarding the new international shipping column on the bulk ship page (that appeared one day), I guess it's pretty much self explanatory however it would have been nice to hear something from the developer.  It is supposed to be "Mac stable", however when using the new ship pages, some of the settings stick and some don't.  I finally learned the ropes myself.

I'm still trying to figure out what happened with the E-campus confirmation thing.  At the beginning, you would have to confirm your E-campus order through AOB, now the order comes in without that option, just an option to cancel.  Orders seems to confirm when the book is marked shipped on AOB.  Who would have known.  After a dozen E-capmus sales, I figured it out.  I still wonder what the various radio buttons do on the ship pages, some are obvious however how does it effect inventory when one is selected over an other? Does that change carry over to the venue? What does "defer" mean?  I remember searching high and low on the help pages, nothing was ever written about them.

Maybe the unannounced upgrades and changes are just part of the character of the site.  I'm pretty laid back, I probably would have done the same thing.  I'm a technical klutz, if it wasn't for the AOB forum, I would never have figured out the site. 

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Hmm, that's odd. If anything, mine run a line or long too long and I end up with a second page with one or two line of the return instructions. Which annoys me to no end.

But too small? I think that's fodder for a support ticket.

I am curious why you would need to print the AOB packing slip, though. Do you use the pull list feature? That can be customized to include any information you need.

You bet correctly!   

I just try to remember to print from page 1 to page 1 in the print window, so I don't end up with a second page with one or two lines of text. We have 2 PCs in the house, but one needs a new wireless card, so its not on the 'net, and the other one is my son's, 2 floors away, and not connected to my printer. So it's the Mac or nothing!

Oooh, that's a great tip Poverty! I will definitely give that a try. Like you, I prefer Firefox but certainly can switch over to Safari to do that.

Thanks! 

The pull list is part of our daily routine. I print out the orders in the sequence they appear in the AOB "Ship Your Books" screen, then print a pull list (which is in the same sequence - both in order by location.) So when I start pulling, I don't have to handle a big stack of paper - just the pull list. I keep the books in the same sequence as the pull list, then move the stacks to the area where I weigh each one. As I weigh each book, I put it's matching packing slip with it (easy, because they're still in the same sequence.) I use the pull list to note the weight of each item. Then the pull list goes to the computer with me to do my bulk ship/Endicia postage run. Once the postage is run, I go back to the stacks and slip the postage in with the packing slip - which are still in the same order, and the postage prints out in the same sequence as the pull list, so matching the labels to the items is easy.

Since my husband does all the packing and shipping, I also use the pull list to highlight any special handling issues - priority mail, international, etc. I'll note if we need to use a flat rate envelope, for example, or a bubble mailer. Works for us! I can't imagine NOT using a pull list! 

The pull list, because it's in location sequence, makes pulling orders very efficient, because you simply start at one end of your shelving storage and work your way to the other end (an over-simplification on my part, since we have inventory on 3 floors, but the point is you aren't running from one shelf to another distance shelf and back again to pull.) And speaking as one who has worked at some very large catalog companies, this is basically how many of them do it too.

I quit using packing slips all together several years ago and never get any complaints. Save your time, money and extra weight. The customers know what they ordered and where it came from. I send an email witht he details and thats it. I do about 2k orders per month and I cannot remember the last time a customer asked about a packing slip. Works for me.