Bookseller Orientation

MVB is a global company headquartered in Germany. It is owned by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association, which also owns the Frankfurt Bookfair.

MVB US operates two electronic ordering services for North American booksellers: Pubnet and Pubeasy.

MVB US is not a wholesaler. We do not own or ship any books ourselves. Instead we are a communications platform (the modern version of the fax machine!) between booksellers and suppliers. We help booksellers transmit orders to their suppliers easily and accurately, 24/7, and then receive back order-related information such as confirmations, tracking numbers, etc.

To use our ordering services, you must first open accounts directly with suppliers. (Please email us if you need help locating supplier contact information.) When opening accounts to use with MVB services, please fill in a credit application and apply for a terms account where you are invoiced after your books ship. MVB does not handle any payment information and our services will not work with most prepay accounts.

Booksellers typically choose between the Pubnet and Pubeasy services based on their point-of-sale (POS) system. If you have an EDI-capable POS system on this list, sign up for Pubnet. Otherwise, sign up for Pubeasy. To register for either service, click here.

Pubnet works behind-the-scenes, allowing you to build and send orders without leaving your POS. All Pubnet-supported POS systems can retrieve order confirmations with pricing information (cost and retail) and stock status. Some systems also support advance shipment notifications (for tracking and license-plate receiving) and invoices. See a demo.

Pubeasy is a website that allows you to build and send orders for multiple suppliers from a single platform. Additionally, it includes search, displays basic title status (available/out of stock), and displays order status updates from most suppliers (Scholastic excluded). See a demo.

Booksellers have many options for transmitting orders: phone, email, supplier portals, or through Edelweiss. Here are some of the disadvantages of each compared to MVB's electronic-ordering services:

• Phone: Electronic-ordering is faster, more accurate, and more convenient than placing orders by phone. Our services work 24/7 so you can order whenever it's convenient for you.
• Email: Everyone has had the experience of accidentally overlooking an email and not acting on it. You don't want that to be your vitally important order! Also, email requires a rep to copy and paste your order into their system, which can lead to errors.
• Supplier Portals: Portals are much better than phone or email, but not every supplier has one. And once you are ordering from several suppliers, you may find that you like the convenience of a central ordering hub -- whether that's your POS using Pubnet or the Pubeasy.com website.
• Edelweiss: To order through Edelweiss, you need an assigned supplier rep who then must act on your order. If your rep is sick or on vacation, there will be a delay in order processing. Ordering through our services does not require a rep, the orders process faster, and we also provide you with additional order information such as availability and shipment status.