Digital Services Act: AbeBooks EU Transparency Report

For over three decades, AbeBooks has strived to be the premier online marketplace for new, used, and rare books, connecting readers with independent sellers worldwide. Our mission is to provide a trustworthy platform where book lovers can discover and purchase from a vast selection.

At AbeBooks, we prioritize earning and maintaining customer trust by ensuring a safe and reliable shopping experience. We believe that customer trust is difficult to earn and easy to lose. We invest significantly in people and technology to protect our customers, sellers, and the integrity of our marketplace.

The AbeBooks EU Transparency Report includes data required by the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), along with detailed descriptions of our controls and processes. We're proud of our approach to preventing illegal content and policy violations on our websites, and we remain committed to continuous improvement.

AbeBooks employs proactive controls to maintain a trustworthy marketplace for book lovers worldwide. Our combination of human expertise and automated systems continuously monitors every aspect of our experience, from seller registration to product listings and account activities.

Seller verification

AbeBooks maintains strict guidelines on permissible items for sale, as outlined in our bookseller policies, and reserves the right to remove listings or terminate selling privileges for items that violate these policies. This includes pirated, illegally obtained, or unauthorized items, as well as those that violate local laws or intellectual property rights. We automatically filter listing submissions that we suspect of potential policy violation, and have a content moderation team to manually review and remove listings complaints pertaining to such content. Additionally, AbeBooks verifies the identity and legitimacy of its sellers through trusted third-party tools.

Voluntary content moderation

In 2024, we took 1,215 actions on our own initiative. These actions include removing listings or accounts that violate our policies. Additionally, we employ proactive listing gates through our content moderation tools. These gates help prevent prohibited content from appearing on our EU Marketplace and proactively address potential policy violations and other non-illegal content before they are published.

Business and educational tools

AbeBooks provides clear policies and tools to help booksellers ensure their offerings comply with applicable laws. Our seller verification process and Help resources guide our sellers in listing their books effectively. We regularly update sellers on regulatory requirements and policy changes via their email, their account, and seller forums.

We have zero tolerance for intellectual property (IP) rights infringement. However, we recognize that occasionally, honest, well-intending sellers who share AbeBooks’ mission may unknowingly list a non-compliant or prohibited product. In such cases, we promptly remove listings that infringe IP rights and educate the sellers about our policies and the action taken.

We utilize sophisticated machine learning algorithms and text-based tools to identify potentially infringing or illegal content at scale. These automated systems help prevent bad actors from registering accounts and detect listings that violate our policies.

Expert manual reviews

Our team of content moderators have diverse and varied skillsets, qualifications and expertise, depending on their role. All staff dedicated to content moderation have demonstrated experience performing research on a variety of topics, including fraud, abuse, trust, and risk; and have the ability to investigate complex and highly technical problems, and perform root cause analysis. Moderators frequently undergo training updates to ensure their knowledge is current.

Safeguards applied to automation

We implement rigorous testing and auditing processes for our automated tools to ensure high accuracy. Our systems are continuously improved using new information and learnings from both internal and external sources.

This approach allows AbeBooks to efficiently monitor and maintain the quality and legality of listings on our platform, ensuring a trustworthy experience for both buyers and sellers in the specialized segment we serve.

We have built tools through which customers can submit notices that alert AbeBooks when they suspect illegal content is present in our marketplace. When we receive a notice, we promptly investigate and take appropriate actions.

AbeBooks maintains a transparent and fair process for handling policy violations and enforcement actions. When we remove a non-compliant listing or suspend a seller's account, we provide clear communication about the specific policy violation and offer guidance on how to comply with our policies in the future.

We have a process to remediate policy violations, appeal enforcements, or dispute enforcements, allowing sellers to contest decisions or seek remediation for policy violations. This approach ensures that our marketplace remains trustworthy while providing sellers with opportunities to address issues and maintain their presence on our stores.

Complaint resolution

In 2024, AbeBooks received 23 complaints from users, challenging our approach to certain content available in our stores. We reversed our original decision in six cases. Our median resolution time for complaints was two days.

Out-of-court disputes

We recorded no instances of out-of-court disputes or settlements in 2024.

AbeBooks is committed to maintaining customer trust and safety. We continuously innovate and invest in robust controls to protect our marketplace from fraudulent activities, counterfeit products, and inappropriate content. We go above and beyond our legal obligations to ensure a trustworthy selling experience.

We recognize that our job of protecting our customers, brands, and selling partners is never done. In this area, as with the rest of Amazon, we always perceive that it is Day 1 and that we must continue to innovate and get even better than where we are today.

Download the AbeBooks EU Transparency Report (2024) data (.csv) here.