The Phooks Library is open for submissions of self- and indie-published photography books or zines, either from individual artists or creative collectives.
- No Submission and Basic Store listing fee for the lifetime.
- We charge only the sales commission (see below) when an order happens.
Submission form for new sellers
To submit your title, please fill in the form and be patient. Every submission will be reviewed, and, in case if accepted, we will create a “Seller account” for you.
Already with us? Use this form!
In this form, we will reduce the number of questions to make it simpler. Make sure you provide the same email address you have signed up before.
By submitting your books or zines to The Phooks Library & Marketplace you accept our Seller Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy & Cookies Policy.
Here are all the key rules are described in a human-friendly way:
- You do really have the book or a zine you submit
No print-on-demand books are accepted. No pre-orders unless you get in touch with us via email [email protected] submitting, you confirm that you are the author, owner, a person or company permitted to sell submitted titles. - By submitting your titles you provide us with rights to use all the materials about the book on thephooks.com and external channels
We will do our best to promote every title on the web. For this reason, we will use photos, videos, descriptions of your book, authors’, co-authors, publisher’s names in our advertising materials, editorial content, posts in social networks, and email newsletters without additional notice or approval. - Submissions Acceptance and Decline
Please provide all the requested information to make the review process simple and fast. We will request additional details, if necessary until we have everything required for the publication in the library.Submission review takes time. From a week to a month, which depends on our workload and the quality of information you provide. We reserve the right to decline your submission and will do our best to provide you with feedback explaining the reason for decline.
- We create a Seller account for you
In case if your submission is accepted, we will create a seller account for you based on the information you provided via the submission form.- We will use the email address you provided via the submission form as your login and contact email.
- You will receive an automated email including your sign in and usage instructions. Make sure to check your spam folder.
- You will be asked to confirm your email address by clicking the link.
- You will need to reset your password.
- Accepted titles are added to the library and become available for purchase immediately
If your titles are accepted, they will be listed in the library right away. Anyone will be able to order your title, even if you have not logged into your “Seller dashboard” yet. You will receive a message to your email address with all the details in case if an order for your title is placed. - Title price and Shipping rates are to be set up according to the information you provide via the submission form
You can always edit the price of your title and shipping rates, but we kindly ask and recommend to notify us about any price and stocks related changes. We’re also happy to change anything for you. Just let us know via email.
Library listing is free of charge and for the lifetime. We charge commissions only when an order for your title(s) is placed. Find the rates and calculation examples below:
| 25% — for products priced ≥ $15 | 15% — for products priced < $15 |
|---|---|
Example:
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Example:
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Payouts are to be made to the bank account details you provide
- You provide via the dashboard, at the Settings -> Payment page.
- Our payment system (Transferwise) sends you an email with details request when the transfer is ready to be made — this is very convenient, you don’t need to edit any settings.
- Payouts conditions
The main condition for a payout to be made is a “Fulfilled” status and a proof of shipment you provide to us via your order management page or via email. Proof of shipment:
– Package tracking code for registered trackable shipments;
– A photo of your parcel with correctly written customer address on it (Name, Surname, full address including zip code and country name). - Payouts timings
We send payouts not later than the 10th of the next month.We will do our best to send payouts immediately after you Fulfilled an order and provided proof of shipment, but we reserve the right to make them once a month. Transaction processing could take some time, which depends on many different factors. If the transaction was declined or you didn’t receive the payout, please contact us. - Payouts consist of
– Cost of ordered products – our commission (see the actual rate).
– the full cost of shipping according to the rates you provide.
As you send your titles directly to a customer, the whole cost of shipping goes to you and we do not charge any commission from it.
We set shipping rates by zones which cover the whole world altogether. You can see an example here in the “Shipping” tab of the description.
The simplest scenario is, for example, to have a special rate for your home zone and any other destination.
- Dennis set his rates this way: $6 for the EU as he’s located in Germany and $9 for all the other zones.
- Dominique does not charge shipping costs for his books at all, the price of an item covers everything.
For orders with multiple items, please keep in mind, the shipping cost consists of a Base rate for the order + The amount for every item in the order. Like in the example below, $7 – a base rate, $3 — the amount for every item in the order.
- If there is 1 item in the order:
$7 + ($3 * [quantity of items in the order]) = $7 + ($3 * 1) = $10. - If there are 2 items in the order:
$7 + ($3 * [quantity of items in the order]) = $7 + ($3 * 2) = $13.
Please let us your base rate and how much you want to add for every additional item within the submission or via email.
If you want to do that yourself, use the field “Cost” and write the formula exactly this way: 7 + (3[*qty]), where [qty] is a parameter, do not change anything inside [square brackets].
Like on the screenshot below:
VAT notice for non-EU sellers and buyers from non-EU seller:
We would like to make EU VAT implications clear to you. Before 01.01.2021 we as a marketplace operator were not involved in the collection and/or reporting of any VAT on the sales of the books, apart from VAT on our fees.
Please be aware that, when a non-EU seller sells the book to an EU buyer, the buyer would need to fulfill customs formalities upon receipt of the book, pay VAT and customs duties (where applicable).
Please check VAT obligations at the official sources of the buyer’s country.
Here is the summary table for informational purposes only: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/vat_buying_online.pdf
* Supplies from Switzerland are considered as non-EU supplies.
** UK will leave the EU VAT regime on 31.12.2020.
When you are an EU(*) seller, please be aware that you must have a valid VAT number and pay VAT once you reach the thresholds.
Here is the summary table with the thresholds for informational purposes only:
https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/sites/taxation/files/resources/documents/taxation/vat/traders/vat_community/vat_in_ec_annexi.pdf”
Please check your VAT obligations at the official sources of your country carefully and monitor your thresholds.
We remind you that you gave us as a marketplace operator warranties, representations, and waivers regarding your VAT obligations when you registered. Please monitor constantly if they are valid.
* Including the UK until 31.12.2020.
2021 VAT notice
!!! This notice concerns all non-EU and EU sellers.
As of 01.01.2021 we as a marketplace operator will be collecting and reporting VAT on your sales (this is separate VAT to that we charge on our fees as a marketplace operator). We will be generally considered as a seller for VAT purposes, and the new rules will be applied as follows:
| If you are a non-EU seller | Unless the European unified system is designed and implemented which would allow us to make customs clearance for door-to-door sales of books, the buyers will stay responsible for clearance upon receipt and paying VAT. |
| If you are an EU seller with VAT number | You will be considered as having made b2b sales charging VAT from us. We will sell the books to the buyers charging VAT and deducting VAT you have charged as input VAT. |
| If you are an EU seller without a VAT number | You will not charge us VAT. However, we must charge VAT on sales to buyers as our turnover will not fall under the thresholds and pay it to authorities without any deductions.
Apart from this, we will charge VAT on our commission as electronically supplied services. |
We kindly ask you to keep actual prices and stocks for your titles via your Seller Account page. Not sure how to do something — just let us know.
- Copies in Stock
Please make sure you have the specified number of copies for sales via The Phooks and don’t forget to change the stocks amount if necessary to avoid order cancelation. - Price
You’re able to change the price or to set a discount at any time. - Shipping rates
Here we would recommend contacting us in case you need to change your shipping methods and rates and we will do that for you. The system is quite complicated with not the best user interface (for now) and we’d better help you to avoid mistakes and errors. - Adding a new product
Please use the same submission form to make the review and publication process fast and smooth. Make sure you use the same email address. - Disabling products
If you want to disable a product, please just set its stocks to 0. If you want to remove the product completely from the system and our website — contact us.
The main idea behind The Phooks library is to provide a scene and a shelve, to build a media around for promoting every title individually and the whole library at the same time.
Every accepted title will be promoted by us in following ways, absolutely for free:
- Showcased at the “New Titles” section on the main page.
- Published to our social network pages and accounts (we promote every account with both paid advertising and other mechanics).
- Promoted together with the whole platform in search engines (we do a lot of tech and SEO work behind the scenes to get higher positions at search results pages in Google and other platforms).
- Sent out to The Phooks email list subscribers with our Library Review newsletter.
We encourage you to help us in promoting your work:
- Share links to your titles on The Phooks in your own social network accounts.
- Add a link to your titles on The Phooks to your own website.
- Make sure to follow us in social networks and share posts with mentions of your works.
- We will make and publish our “People. Not Pages” mini-interview with every accepted artist. See example.
The Phooks Library works and grows thanks to the community: every share helps us to promote your work. The more artists share their work, the more value everyone gets.
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