IngramSpark Reviews 1,600

Terrible company. Impossible to contact anyone. Live chat does not work 'at the moment'. Ha ha. They do not reply to support emails. Their CONTACTs page has no active links.
I cannot get fully into my account - just a bit, but not enough to change things.
AVOID at all costs.

UPDATE: September 1st. Still no response despite trying the link below.

The difference between what I sent and what they printed and the way they did not take responsibility. I am looking for another option.

Ingram's website portal for self-published authors surprisingly fails on basic levels: information I entered and confirmed in one area does not populate in others; more, fundamental publication and printing and shipping information does report real-time, so it confuses. Ingram may have tried to improve the platform's responsiveness, but final proof to delivery continues to frustrate --and undermine, costing me and my work in the marketplace. Hoping for more. Now.

The customer service is so bad that it undermines their entire premise.

I emailed Customer Service on May 8th 2025 - THREE MONTHS AGO - asking them to clarify their refund policy for "Share and Sell" links, which were recently rolled out in the UK. These links generated by Ingram, designed for embedding in an email or website, enable readers to purchase my book directly from Ingram Spark (who prints and delivers it). The thing is: under UK law, online consumers have a right to return goods for a refund within 14 days of receipt. And yet Ingram Spark's Share and Sell policy asserts that all Share and Sell book sales are non-refundable. There is an obvious conflict between the law and Ingram's position, and my message to Customer Services asked them to explain how their policy could possibly be compatible with UK law.

I did not receive any response for 3 months. Today I received a cut-and-paste reply that was about Ingram's refund policy for booksellers (not Share and Sell customers, ie. direct-to-consumer sales). The email contained language ("according to Reddit") that strongly implied it had been written by AI after crawling pages on the internet.

I have decided not to use Share and Sell links to distribute my books directly to readers. This is solely on the basis that Ingram's customer service is so diabolically awful that there is a high chance readers buying my book that way would have a terrible experience. It also appears their statutory rights under UK law would be violated by the no-refund policy. I don't want to be associated with that.

Ingram Spark have a lot of work to do before they can rationally be considered a trustworthy direct-to-reader distributor. Their niche seems to be supplying to booksellers, and my take is: they should stick to that. Anything involving satisfying and competent interaction with humans is not in this company's playbook.

Update at August 5th 2025: A response from Ingram Spark continues to assert a refund policy for Share and Sell sales that is a violation of UK law under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA). To those unfamiliar with the law: refund or replace for defective goods sold online is NOT at Ingram's discretion - it is required under the law. Ingram's notice at point of sale suggesting refund/replace for defectively printed books is at "their discretion" is therefore illegal under the CRA.

Ingram Spark's customer service is essentially email-based only, and the response time is very slow (2-3 days on average). The self-publishing aspect is the worst I've experienced so far. I uploaded my pdf files according to their published specs, received a status pending; waited 1 week for update (it never came), then sent an email (waited 3 days for response) and was notified that edits were required. I made the required edits, received a meta-data "all clear, no errors" notice from their portal, then 1.5 weeks later, received an error message via email with no customer service contact option to discuss the problem. I've scheduled an "Ingram Spark Connect" phone session via the online portal...for an additional $25.00. Will see how it goes...

I have tried to get a change made and they ignore my emails and their chat is not available for days. I have never dealt with such poor customer service. Non-existent customer service is what it is.

I had an account for 1-2 years and books said ‘ processing’. I asked why & they said they will look into it and moments later my account was closed! I followed the rules & the books if there was an issue the ask me & I will fix it. I write bdsm books. Ingramspark allows it so why was my account randomly closed without talking to me so I can improve?

I am a first-time author of an autobiography.

Ingram Spark wasn't my first consideration; however, my book length made it the only option possible.

I really had no trouble reading and carefully re-reading their guide to format my interior file.

I was brand-new to cover design; however, via online research and a YouTube or two, I was able to use PhotoShop for the very first time, and I successfully created my book cover using their template. Admittedly, I did the absolute minimum for my cover (simply title, author - but with a slight flair... & no design features at all + no flap info).

My very first submission didn't appear to go through; however, a reply within two days gave me the suggestion to re-submit after carefully re-checking my file particulars. I did so and, within a minute, both interior and cover files were accepted.

It went into print and 16 days later, it went for shipping (I submitted after 3:00 pm on a Thursday; it was ready to be shipped the second Saturday afterward).

Although I chose the least expensive and supposedly un-trackable / un-traceable shipping method possible, my author copy arrived ten days after the printing completed and 8 days after shipping commenced, so it was a total of 26 days after submission that I received my order (yesterday). I might add that having been provided with a tracking number right from the start, on their website, I was able to know 3.5 hours prior to delivery that it was coming that day (yesterday) and I raced home to successfully be present for the carrier's arrival.

Although I chose the cheaper paper quality, the bleed-through wasn't noticeable unless one looked for it. I managed to arrive at a perfect typeface, font size, spacing and margins. I made the mistake of not alternating the location of my page numbering, but with my margins set the way there were, it wasn't really any problem. The four black-and-white photos I included turned out fine, too.

All-in-all, I have nothing but praise for the whole process, especially as I am a prolific writer but not one who's gone through this process previously (going from a WORD document to submitting both interior and cover files). I didn't find it too onerous to read all of their instructions and follow them. I am quite satisfied. I even got responses to my queries (two of them) within two days, both times.

If I had a single issue it would be the cost of shipping, which doesn't appear to me to be within their control, I don't think. And I don't even know how much shipping things costs, frankly, so it's a fairly lame complaint for me to even mention, frankly.

So, despite some issues which I note online where shipping and quality appeared to some other people as being less than desirable, I have NO complaints at all, whatsoever.

Thank you: INGRAM SPARK!

I think the developers and owners of this website might be under the impression that the USA is the only country on Earth.

Although the account setup page generously provides a list of countries—including the United Kingdom—the required postcode field stubbornly refuses to accept anything but the American format. Unfortunately for me (and the rest of the world), not every postcode fits neatly into the American post code rules

Additionally, for a company of this size and reputation, you'd expect accessible customer support. Yet, all that's offered is a generic help wiki that unsurprisingly doesn't cover this specific issue. So here I am, on Trustpilot, hoping someone might finally take notice. That is, of course, assuming they'd still like me (and others outside the US) to publish through their service.

This used to be a good business where authors could make money (I have been a customer for over 10 years); however, over the last few years, it has slowly morphed into nothing more than a printing network that wants you to send books to bookstores- for a loss (you can go into debt if the bookstore doesn't sell them. This is an antiquated practice dating from WWII - a time when print-on-demand publishing (which is more expensive!) didn't even exist and there was a major war. Is this justified today? POD printing is so much more expensive than traditional printing, and no one is bombing the book stores, so it is unwarranted and exploitative. This problem is much worse than you think, and I will explain it in detail. The main business that stocks your books is Amazon - Amazon orders your books at a huge discount and then destroys them or ships them back (in some locations, you are forced to select the 'destroy' option), and you pay for all the unsold copies, the postage, and the printing. Here's the kicker: You can publish through Amazon for significantly less cost. Amazon only prints books when they sell, so you can't be driven into debt. In other words, Amazon is taking advantage of all IngramSpark customers, and they let them do it to drive up your printing costs. In other words, if you print through IngramSpark, you are not only exploited by IngramSpark, but also Amazon. Isn't book returns a wonderful practice? What inspired me to write this was the order of 30 books from a prestigious politician, and encountering the equally vile customer service, wherein they don't bother to answer you in time to make orders, again leaving the customers to hemorrhage money. One only needs to read the 'canned comments on this page....which are exactly the same....to see that the customer service is non-existent unless you pay for that too. And then there is the latest scam...pay hundreds of dollars to have your book advertised on a Facebook page, when for the same amount of money, you could build your own page and run it yourself!

I sent their so-called support team an email query on 27th June to an important publishing question that I need clarification on. By yesterday, I had not received a reply so I re-sent it, pointing out it had gone into a black hole. Today I got a fob off reply today telling me that they 'knew I had reached out' but they were busy and I should look at their article selection on their misnamed help centre - the one that contains misleading, inaccurate or irrelevant information. I rang the customer service telephone number to speak to someone and got an automated voice telling me to send an email. Why? It will be ignored.

Two months ago, following similar atrocious experiences of the so-called customer service team, I was told by a manager that they knew their customer support service was below par. She said they were addressing the problems and I would see improvements. I haven't noticed any yet ....

No doubt there will be a fob off response... And here it is!

Worst company I've ever used in my life. You can't make an account without endless upselling ads that require you to enter your email multiple times. As someone familiar with business who has retired, and wanting to write a book. I know unethical business practices when I see them. Find another PoD book printing company that is more serious or you'll regret deeply using this service. Every unethical business practice you can think of combined into one. BUYER BEWARE!!!

I have published four books that have sold for double the price of KDP and Amazon in many cases. KDP terminated my account in December 2024 but continued to sell my books for personal gain. I tried Ingram Spark, thinking they could be more "honest". It was naïve on my part. Within hours of publication, the book was back in Amazon's hands and was cancelled by the account to avoid being available to other retailers. Ingram Spark is another KDP subsidiary or a good ally in exploiting the work of others.
All the royalties received are £ 6.24 from KDP.

If you don't want your writing career to end before it even begins, and you end up doing volunteer work, stay away from these two corporations.

My book was distributed to IngramSpark's retailers and sold at an excessively high price for their own benefit, with metadata alterations. Therefore, think carefully before approaching this publisher.

They do not regret; all responses to our reviews are meaningless, as they continue to exploit our work.

IngramSpark has always had an excellent reputation in the publishing industry so I truly wanted to engage with them again, after representing me before. But it took me six months, yes, six months to upload three titles. I would think Ingram would be interested in supporting authors, but in truth they restrict them by offering old technology and non user friendly service.

Harli helped me navigate the process with patience and expertise.

Customer service is terrible, although they're quite efficient at taking your money. An over hyped distribution network is what they'll give you. Apart from that, if you want to make it work, you have to do everything. The print was promised to be high quality, mine was dodgy and with streaks through the pages. I stopped marketing my book because of these problems, just to be socked a huge fee for a year where I had given up on them. They usually take ages to respond, and their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.
(Then they follow up with a corporate style non-apology apology, smooth).

I would say that the customer service for this company is some of the worst I've ever had. Each time I sent a request for help, it took several weeks for a reply, and that was after several emails from me to them. When the book was printed, several pages that we didn't want were added, which threw the order for our pages all out of order. The other issue was not having a phone number to reach someone who could help. I am very disappointed with this experience and company. I would hope that they would at least refund my credit card for the cost of the sample book.

Terrible service. No one to call, no live chat, then their written response time is multiple days. Just awful service.

I published my book on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Ingram Spark. Amazon was by far the easiest, although print quality was terrible. Barnes and Noble was OK, but once you hit publish, everything else is a nightmare if you want to make changes. Ingram Spark was the worst. Although the print quality is beautiful, I had everything set up perfectly, placed orders, and then discovered that some random Customer Service rep went back and tried to make changes to my book even though I had closed all support tickets! Now I am stuck again waiting for the book to be made available for sale, after advertising that it was ready!
This issue was corrected the following day I appreciate Ingram Spark's reply, but it is their standard "Canned" reply to almost everyone. It does not address what caused the issue in the first place or steps they have taken to address this. My suggestion to them would be to include a support ticket page, similar to the comment section under my jobs on PS Print, where clients can both close and open tickets.

Response I received from cs when asking why an extra 15% discount was coming from my royalties.
Long story short: a retailer can sell the book at whatever discount they want and it comes from your profit not theirs.

Additionally this was a single book I uploaded to test the service. I bought both copy’s that sold in different locations to test quality, I paid full retail price at the reseller.

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Thank you for responding, to answer your question.

I would like to let you know that the price you provide is a recommended retail price and not necessarily the actual list price. We allow our customers to recommend a retail price when setting up a title, as this price is used by our Distribution Partners as a base price to decide the final list price at which the product will be sold at.

I can confirm that your book is being distributed with a wholesale discount of 40% as shown below:

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When you submit the recommended retail price to our partners, their systems then take multiple factors, such as but not limited to, profitability, sales, prices of other sellers, and prices on other platforms. The system continuously monitors the profitability of the product even after a final list price is decided.

Amazon is choosing to list your book at a lower price with the additional "15%" to encourage its customers to purchase your book.

Regardless of any selling price listed by Amazon or other suppliers, the Publisher Compensation will remain the same and be based on the selling price set up on your IngramSpark account.

The customers buying the book on Amazon are receiving the discount, as that is the retail price Amazon is choosing to list the book for.
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