Online book e-commerce site AbeBooks has introduced a new ratings system that grades the sellers in its marketplace and not the books that are sold, reports Internet Retailer.

AbeBooks serves as a marketplace for dealers of rare and out-of-print books to list inventory that buyers can then access and purchase. The company has always maintained a back-end rating system of the retailers in its system, based on its ability to fulfill orders.

Come July, that same rating system will be made viewable to the public in order to give potential buyers a better idea of each seller's ability to deliver the books they list.

A one-star ranking means a seller has fulfilled 59 percent of all orders, two stars means 60 to 69 percent, three stars 70 to 84 percent, four stars 85 to 94 percent. Five stars means over 95 percent of orders have ultimately been fulfilled.

AbeBooks feels the move to make these numbers public will increase people's trust in the system, thereby increasing the likelihood they will use the service again on future quests for hard-to-find books.