Retailers will know immediately if a publisher can fulfill their order or whether they should order from another source. Enjoy a dramatically enhanced level of service -- no more waiting on hold while customer service verifies an order; no more waiting for publishers to pick up their online orders then begin processing.

Instant Response is ISBN-13 compliant and operational with Pubnet’s dial-up and FTP technologies.

If you use Direct Electronic Ordering (aka fixed-position BISAC ordering)

Pubnet’s Instant Response functionality was also designed to provide retailers with an alternative to the direct electronic order (“DEO”) dial-up ordering systems offered by many publishers. Many of these systems will be discontinued with the introduction of ISBN-13 in January 2007 and may no longer be supported.

If you don’t use a POS system, you can still take advantage of Instant Response by registering for PubEasy.com, which is always free for retailers. Besides Instant Response ordering, PubEasy also provides real-time order and backorder status information plus price and availability checking.

How Instant Response Works

Instant Response works by integrating Pubnet technology already built into retail POS systems with PubEasy’s interface directly into publisher’s back office systems.

Use the special “Instant Response SAN” listed above to send a Purchase Order via Pubnet to an Instant Response Publisher. Behind the scenes, Pubnet works with PubEasy to place the order directly into the publisher’s back office system, then immediately return a Purchase Order Acknowledgment (POA) using the PubEasy title status code for availability. PubEasy sends the POA back to Pubnet and the retailer’s POS system for retrieval.

How to Sign Up

Retailers will need a SAN as well as memberships in both Pubnet and PubEasy, and accounts need to be validated with each publisher. Download the registration forms to get started. For more information, contact Bruce Miller, US Sales Executive Pubnet/PubEasy, at 908-219-0053 or via e-mail at bruce.miller@bowker.com.

Publishers who would like more information about participating in Instant Response should click to contact us or e-mail at bruce.miller@bowker.com.