Procedures for specific types of orders: Amazon.com (regular), Amazon.com (Marketplace).
Procedures for receiving and credits.

General guidelines:

• All state, USM, and campus procurement card regulations must be followed.

• All library and Acquisitions procedures must also be followed (violation of internal procedure is also considered an audit exception).

• For firm orders, vendor database printouts, and purchase orders must be signed by the Acquisitions Librarian, the the Head of Technical Services, or the Library Director. Under no circumstances can someone else authorize or sign VISA orders--any request to place unauthorized or improperly authorized orders must be refused.

• For standing orders (with Proquest), invoices must be signed by the Acquisitions Librarian, the the Head of Technical Services, or the Library Director.

• All usual documentation (as required in Acquisitions procedures) must be present, accurate, and complete. For firm orders, this must always include a purchase order, and a BRF when it can be printed. For standing orders (with Proquest), this must include an invoice.

• The top of each VISA log must be filled out with the following information:

  1. Month billing cycle: The date of the last day of the billing cycle

  2. Fiscal year: Fiscal year

  3. Dept. name: Library

  4. Cardholder name: Name

  5. VISA: Last 4 digits

  6. Chartstring: 7110110

• The Reallocation chartstring column should be filled out just once on each VISA log and lined down the column: 1111 10225 041 7110110

• The VISA log needs to be taken to the Collection Management Librarian to sign on approximately a weekly basis (if there are transactions that need to be signed). If the Collection Management Librarian is out for more than a week, the VISA log can be taken to the Library Director to be signed. All transactions should be signed off on before the end-of-the month reconciliation is done.

Amazon.com (regular)

Ordering

1. Remove any Amazon Marketplace orders. These must be placed separately using a different procedures.

2. Check the order: It must include:

   • A signed vendor database printout for each item being ordered.

   • One signed purchase order and two unsigned purchase orders for each item being ordered.

   • A BRF for each item being ordered when it can be printed.

3. Go to Amazon.com.

4. Find the items to be ordered. For each item, confirm that the ASIN on the Amazon record selected matches the ASIN on the printout, then add it to the cart.

5. Once everything is in the cart, proceed to check-out, then input your password to log-in (The first time, you'll have to create an account, and the steps described below will not occur exactly as described because your information is not yet in Amazon. If you already have a personal Amazon account, this needs to be a separate account, and you need to be absolutely certain to set this up in manner that explicitly distinguishes the two).

6. Select the library shipping address, and chose a shipping method:

   • For rush orders, select "I want my items faster. Ship them as they become available."

   • For everything else, select "Group my items into as few shipments as possible."

7. When your VISA information comes up, click continue, then print the "Review and Submit Order" screen.

8. Submit the order, then when "Thank you for your order" appears, click "Track the status of this order."

9. A full listing of all the orders on your account comes up. The one on the top will be the order you just submitted. Click "View or Change Order," then print 2 copies of this.

10. Enter the transaction on your VISA log:

    • Order date column:

      • Assign a personal VISA transaction number. Use the month followed by a dash and the number of the transaction for the month. For example, the 6th order placed on your VISA card in September would have the transaction number 9-6.

      • If it's a rush, write an "R" near the transaction number.

      • Write the date.

    • Vendor contact:

      • Write the vendor name, in this case, Amazon.

      • Write the Amazon order number.

    • Item's:

      • Write what formats you ordered, eg., "DVD", or "DVD-BOOKS" or "DVD-CD."

      • Write the number of items on the order.

      • Write the title of the shortest title in the order.

    • Total: Write the total amount.

    • Proper documentation enclosed: Write "web".

11. Fill out a Vendor Contact Sheet for the transaction:

    • Write your VISA transaction number above the header.

    • Fill in the order date.

    • Fill in the name of the person taking the order with the last 7 digits of the Amazon order number.

    • Write the total price under the Amazon order number.

    • Sign the form.

12. Fill out a manilla folder tab for the order:

    • line 1:

      • Vendor name

      • VISA

      • Transaction number

    • line 2:

      • 7110710 (this is the end of our university account number)

      • The fiscal year (eg. FY06/07)

      • The amazon order number

      • Your initials

    • line 3:

      • The vendor code.

    • highlight:

      • yellow for VISA

      • pink if it's a rush order

13. Take the orders apart and put the log and file documentation together:

    • The following goes in the VISA log, stapled together:

      • A printout of the Amazon "Review Order" screen.

      • The signed purchase orders.

    • The following goes in the folder:

      • The printout of the Amazon "Review and Place Order" screen.

      • A printout of the Amazon "Review Order" screen.

      • For each order, a PO with all of the documentation stapled to the back, with the third PO and any flags paperclipped to the front.

Amazon.com (Marketplace)

Follow the regular Amazon.com procedure EXCEPT:

• All Amazon Marketplace orders need to be placed separately (except in the rare instance when two or more items are coming from the same Marketplace vendor, in which case they should be grouped).

• After you find the items to be ordered, and confirm that ASIN, you then need to click the "New and Used" link. Identify the exact copy that has been authorized and add it to your cart.

• The order will not appear in "Track the status of this order," so don't go there to get a printout. Instead, stop and wait.

• Within an hour you should receive two e-mails from Amazon regarding the order. You can finish everything else once you have these.

• One e-mail will be from "Amazon.com Payment" with the subject line "Your Amazon Marketplace Purchase." Print 2 copies of this. This will serve as your receipt.

• The other e-mail will be from "Auto-confirm" with the subject line "Your order with Amazon." Print 1 copy of this.

• Put the e-mail address of the Marketplace vendor on both the log and folder, under the order # on both.

• Put all of the printout in the folder.

Receiving (firm orders)*

IMPORTANT NOTE: In June, all of your transactions have to be entered in Aleph before end-of-year close-out, even if the items have NOT been received.Please check and insure that this has been done.

• Following physical receiving, A & R places items in the designated area in Acquisitions.

• Acquisitions staff and/or students receive the materials online, processing as usual.

• Following receiving, materials are given to cataloging as usual. All documentation (invoices, packing slips, purchase orders, etc.) is distributed to the procurement card holder who placed the order based on the initials given on the file. The procurement card holder who placed the order completes the VISA transaction as follows:

  1. Confirm that the invoice or packing slip indicates "Paid via VISA" or shows a $0 balance. This serves as a receipt.

  2. Confirm that all of the P.O.'s show an 'R' and a date.

  3. Confirm that the number of items received matches the number of items recorded in the transaction on the VISA log. If not, see Michelle and we'll work the procedure out with Alla.

  4. Confirm that the price matches the log. Correct the log if the prices are slightly different. If amount charged varies substantially from the amount expected, see Michelle.

  5. In the "Date received Initials Column" on the VISA log, transcribe the date and initials given on the Goods & Services stamp on the invoice or packing slip.

  6. If you have an invoice or packing slip that can serve as an invoice (marked paid by VISA or showing a zero balance), check mark the "Proper Documentation Enclosed" column. If not, a separate receipt needs to be obtained.

  7. Pull the order from the VISA log and attach the invoice to the back. If the invoice can't serve as a receipt, obtain a separate receipt and attach it when received (and then check the Proper Documentation Enclosed column).

  8. Pull the invoice up in Aleph and change the status to "R."

  9. If the transactions is complete, write "closed" on the folder.

  10. Give Alla the invoice and the folder.

*For standing orders (with Proquest), there are no orders online thus no P.O.'s or online receiving, begin with step 6.

Credits

• Fill out a "Card payment of vendor invoice form as follows:

  1. Write "Credit" on the top of the form.

  2. Write the original log tansaction number under that.

  3. Fill in the date, and the vendor name.

  4. Fill in the address with the word "web."

  5. In the name of the contact person, write the order number.

  6. In the invoice number, write the Aleph invoice # for the credit (the original invoice number plus CR)

  7. In the invoice date, write the invoice date.

  8. In the invoice total, write the credit amount in brackets and a CR next to it.

  9. Under total payment, write "Item not available."

  10. Sign and date the form.

  11. Write the vendor code somewhere on the form.

• On the VISA log:

  1. Find the transaction.

  2. In the item description column, write the reason for the credit.

  3. In the total cost column, write the amount of the credit in parenthesis.

  4. If the transaction is completed, in the "Date Received Column," write the date and your initials.

  5. If you have the invoice, check the "Proper documentation enclosed column."

• If the credit is due to a cancellation, gather documentation for the re-order to give to Michelle. This should include:

  1. The documentation of the cancellation.

  2. A copy of the PO.

  3. All the back-up paperwork.

Purchasing card documentation is to be retained for at least (5) years after the fiscal year end.