We may not think about it, but trust is a very important component to making a purchase. We trust that the food we buy at the grocery store is safe to eat. We trust that our server at dinner will only use our credit card to pay the bill when they leave the table with our card in hand. We expect that the online store we make a purchase from keeps our credit card information safe. Every single transaction we make comes with some level of trust.
With the rise in popularity of sites like Paetron, Kickstarter, direct sales, etc., we are starting to see a new way of doing business that is great for both authors AND readers. But it may take a little time and transparency to grow the bonds of trust. With that in mind, we wanted to explain exactly what happens when you purchase a book from us.
We use Shopify as our eCommerce sales platform. According to Forbes they are one of the top 10 platforms of 2022. We never see or have access to buyers’ credit card or PayPal information. That is all done directly through Shopify. We did do a lot of research prior to deciding which platform to use to sell our books, and decided that Shopify was the best choice. They are certified Level 1 PCI DSS compliant, and have invested significant time and money into making sure that they exceed industry standards in security. That security was our largest concern when we were deciding which platform to use. According to Influencer Marketing, Shopify ranks 3rd in the world behind Amazon and Alibaba as the most used eCommerce platform. So we are not alone in our choice to use them as our eCommerce host.
Once you purchase a book from us Shopify notifies BookFunnel (our book delivery platform) of which books were purchased and what email address they should be delivered to. Those emails go out immediately after the purchase is made. Once you hit confirm purchase, you will receive an email from BookFunnel with the subject line “Here’s “[Book Title]” by Thomas K. Carpenter. Inside that email is a link to download your book onto whichever eReader you would like. Click that link, then click the “Get my Book” button. The download page will look something like this:
Once you click the “GET MY BOOK” button, you’ll be asked what you would like to read the book on. Simply click on your device and follow the detailed instructions to get it onto your eReader. BookFunnel is simple and they are amazing at helping with any issues you may encounter.
We do see people’s email address, but unless you chose to be added to our newsletter we do nothing with the email address, and do not keep them in our system. If you did chose to become part of our Hundred Halls family by being added to the newsletters, we NEVER give out or sell any email address. We are grateful for your trust and work hard to maintain it.
We hope this answers any questions you may have about making a purchase from our bookstore. If you have any other thoughts or questions, please leave a comment below. Earning your trust is important to us, and we want to be as transparent as possible. Just know that by buying directly from us, 90% of the profits go directly to the author. On sites like Amazon an author will sometimes get as little as 30% of the sale price, and at most 70%.
