Sorry, just venting my spleen after having a book order canceled by the seller. Found a copy of a scarce book at an unbelievable price on the net, and after a week the seller decides to cancel the transaction (probably just dawned on them that they are sitting on a gem). Anybody else had a similar experience? So b*g**r, b*g**r, b*g**r, b*g**r, b*g**r, ad infinitum Don't feel any better but at least I'm sharing my misery
I ordered a book, probably from the same site, and the dealer rang me up to tell me he would not sell me the book via this site; it would have to be a private transaction as he thought the fees charged by that site were too high. Why put your book on the site then, was the obvious reply? He couldn't really give me an asnwer but must say I resented being 'blackmailed' in this fashion. He cancelled the order as 'item sold' and I complained to said site, who did very little as I expected. Hmm....
Hi Kyt, I had a similar occurrence - by a seller listed by AbeBooks to whom I sent an e-mail cc the seller. The book was shipped the next day with letters of apology from both parties! Cheers, Gerry
:sign_what: Book fairies? Never heard They prowl the remaindered/unsold stock shops & charity shops buying up everything decent and then try to sell it on eBay or in their horrid little shops for stupid prices. I hold them responsible for charity shops recently working under the strange assumption that so many old (pre 1980) books are surely worth at least a tenner. Funny how the ones that still shift books for £3 maximum have turnover whereas the optimists stock never seems to move... I 'ates 'em.
They prowl the remaindered/unsold stock shops & charity shops buying up everything decent and then try to sell it on eBay or in their horrid little shops for stupid prices. I hold them responsible for charity shops recently working under the strange assumption that so many old (pre 1980) books are surely worth at least a tenner. Funny how the ones that still shift books for £3 maximum have turnover whereas the optimists stock never seems to move... I 'ates 'em. I was walking past a charity shop in my town the other week, when I noticed a Rifle Brigade Chronicle from 195x in the shop window. I stopped and had a look, I laughed and walk off when I saw the price, they were asking for a stupid amount. Yes, we all like a bargain, but that was just taking the p**s, can you honestly see someone spending £70 on a battered book in a charity shop, I think not!!!
I recently read that a lot of charity shops have been overpricing LPs. They've been looking on the internet to find out what the appropriate price is but then asking the value of a perfect copy for a scratched one. Perhaps they're doing the same thing with books.
It really is getting harder to find a "bargain". I know I'm getting old when I hark back to the "good old days". I spent most of my early teens snapping up books in second hand bookshops for 50p to a quid. But alas I find that I'm having to forgive my parents for another misdemeanor - they chucked most of the books out when I went off to uni, and then left home!!! :wow: One of these days I'm going to sneak back home and chuck out all their old photos as revenge :icon-mrgreenbandit:
Can thoroughly recommend all the second-hand bookshops in Glasgow's West End. And this lot as a close second-http://www.UKBookworld.com
But alas I find that I'm having to forgive my parents for another misdemeanor - they chucked most of the books out when I went off to uni, and then left home!!! :wow: Burn the heretics!!!!! :mad111: My wife knows better.......
Burn the heretics!!!!! :mad111: My wife knows better....... my parents thought I was going through a phase - thought I'd settle down to be a good boy as a doctor, married, lots of kids, etc. :p I do wonder why they ask me to visit only when it's late and all the neighbours have gone to bed
The modern culture regard books, be they old or new, as just another profit making solution. Don't waste your time reading son, get a real job! Even Lichfield Library has few books and nearly all fiction, the WW2 section is covered in dust, endless EU migrants staring at computer screens and school kids hooked into their ipods. I must say I've had no problems getting the books I want to read from abebooks etc but I've not bought one for a couple of months, things do change I suppose.
That is wrong to cancel a sale like that. It seems that anything that is old, or appears to be old, gets a big price slapped on it by antique shops, 2nd hand shops etc. I find the same thing with vintage trucks. A derelict truck is worth little as to make it worth something you have to spend a lot of money on it to get it there. However, when some people get it in their heads that it's an antique, they seem to think it's worth a lot of money. Granted some things are but... I have an excellent bookshop, Guildford Book Exchange, just around the corner from me. The military section can be hit and miss sometimes with a good "haul" being bought at time but then nothing worth getting on the next trip. A local chain bookstore had a 50% off everything sale last July, the kind of sale you dream about. We spent $300! Cheers Andy
I am lucky in being able to find good used books. The local library holds a sale every six months, and asks people to donate books that they no longer want. I picked up several good ones for between 50 cents to two dollars each, including a US first edition of Tolkien's "The Silmarillion" for $2. There is a used bookstore at Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport that carries a treasure trove of books covering both world wars, and a few others besides. I found the memoirs of Soviet Marshal Zhukov for someone searching for Russian war histories which cost $12 (about 7 quid at today's rates) in mint condition. This guy isn't cheap but all his books are in good to wonderful condition, otherwise they are priced cheaply. I bought a four-volume set of Napoleon Bonaparte's memoirs, written by his private secretary at his dictation, published 1889 in good condition from there for $38. Wrong war I know, but I use it to illustrate a point. The airport is twenty minutes away.
