AbeBooks is focused on the health and safety of our employees, and based on regional regulations and social distancing requirements this has resulted in longer than usual response times from Customer Support. Please be patient.

If you have a specific question about an order, we recommend contacting the seller directly. This is often the fastest way to obtain order information. View instructions.

Due to Covid-19, delivery times may be longer than normal in your area. Learn more

Many other questions can be answered by visiting our help center.

AbeBooks Help Center

What does my ‘Order Status’ mean?

When you submit an order through the AbeBooks checkout, we forward it to the bookseller who will then process the order and ship the book or, more rarely, cancel the order if the book is no longer available.

Orders are assigned various statuses during the process, displayed within your account to allow you to monitor your order’s progress:

  • Ordered – Your order has been forwarded to the bookseller for processing. You will receive an email when the order is confirmed.
  • Shipped – Your credit card payment has been processed and the book has been shipped to you.
  • Availability Confirmed – You will see this status if you’ve elected to pay the bookseller directly by a payment method other than credit card. The bookseller has confirmed your order and will contact you to arrange payment. The seller will ship the item upon receipt of payment, however the status will not update to ‘shipped’. To confirm that your payment was received and your order shipped, please contact the bookseller directly (see below).
  • Cancelled – The order was cancelled at your request. You were not charged and the item was not shipped.
  • Credit Card Declined – Your credit card was declined. You were not charged and the item was not shipped. Find out more.
  • Item Unavailable – The book was no longer available when the bookseller received your order. The order is cancelled, you were not charged, and the item was not shipped.
  • Unknown – Very rarely, two buyers will order the same book almost simultaneously. The first one submitted will result in a successful order, making the book unavailable to the second buyer. This results in an ‘Unknown’ status, which means the book is unavailable and the order is cancelled.

 

To view your order status and ask the bookseller a question:

  1. Click [My Account] and then click [View My Purchases].
  2. Find the order in the list and click [Contact Bookseller].