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price...

Posted: 04 Jun 2006, 11:45
by noddy13
Oh yes, forgot to add the pricing details for this one...

Enid Blyton - Island Of Adventure - 1/1 & D/J - 1944 -
£89.99 (starting bid)
£95.00 (buy now)
£7.50 (postage to me)

Potential Buyers Should Request Book Pictures

Posted: 04 Jun 2006, 12:17
by Secret7
Mollybob wrote:I recently listed some books on ebay, including a nice edition of The Wishing Chair Again. I was surprised to receive an email from a "potential" bidder in the Bahamas saying that they were interested in bidding on the book and please could I email them a scan (not a photo) of the whole dust jacket. This immediately aroused my suspicions, making me think that they just wanted to print out a scanned copy of the dust jacket for a book in their possession. I therefore replied that I do not have a scanner (true) and sent them two photos of the dust jacket, in two parts, with the flash showing up on the protective wrapper so that it could not be used for this purpose. Although the dust jacket was about as good as can be, suffice it to say they did not bid on the book!
It's sad how many books are being sold on ebay now with scanned/facsimile dust jackets.
"CAVEAT EMPTOR !" - Let the buyer beware (he alone is responsible if he is disappointed.)

Internet trade is risky, particularly as there are not as yet the same legal protections against fraud, that exist in the "real" world outside of cyberspace.

I cannot fault the potential buyer for requesting a picture (scan or photo) of the whole dust-jacket.

Sellers can be vulnerable but so can buyers. Buyers have just as much to lose, if not more, if the seller is dishonest.

I had an unfortunate experience with a bookdealer some years ago. I visited the bookdealer's website. I saw a picture of the front cover of the dust-jacket of a book I was interested in. As a matter of fact the book was featured on the website as the "Book of the Month" because of its supposed "excellent" condition.

The book and dust-jacket were described as FINE. I contacted the bookdealer and enquired about the condition just to be certain. I asked if the dust-jacket had any chips or pieces missing etc. I received every assurance that the dust-jacket and book were in pristine condition.

I purchased the book. When it arrived it was immediately clear that the dust-jacket's condition was not as "excellent" as the picture had suggested. There were significant pieces missing from the back of the dust-jacket - the parts NOT SHOWN in the picture!

I was unable to get a refund. I wish I had had the common sense to do what the potential E-bay buyer did in requesting a scan of the whole dust-jacket ! I would have saved myself a lot of money.

Based on my bad experience, I would advise anyone considering a purchase of a collectable book to request as detailed a picture/scan of the book and dust-jacket as they can. If the seller refuses then remember my experience and - CAVEAT EMPTOR !

Posted: 04 Jun 2006, 17:49
by Raci
Hi Secret7
I think Mollybob's point was that they did not actually want to see the cover they wanted to be able to get a print out of the cover to use as a fake cover on other books - a major prob on eBay!

I think mollybob did the right thing in sending out photo/s that could be used by potential buyers to see all the details but not by unscrupulous dealers wanting to con people (as you also found a problem with)

However I do agree with you it is necesary to ask sellers for a full pic before purchase.

Posted: 07 Jun 2006, 18:35
by Mollybob
Hi Secret7,
Just to clarify my position, I had no problem with the buyer requesting pictures - that is only natural. What I did find slightly strange was that they requested a single scan of the whole dust jacket - this made me think that they wanted to print it out and use it for a jacketless copy of the book already in their possession. When I mentioned the fact to someone else, they immediately jumped to the same conclusion. I'm afraid that my suspicions were aroused because the potential buyer had no feedback and was not a new member (unfortunately this combination is often associated with questionable behaviour on ebay) and I have seen so many books being sold on ebay recently with scanned dust jackets. It really is a big problem at the moment, which I did not wish to increase.

Of course, the request may have been completely genuine, and, as I think I made clear in my listing, I did send the potential bidder photographs of the dust jacket in two parts (for greater detail) so that they could in fact see that it was intact and in very good condition. However, these photographs could not be printed out and used for illicit purposes, as they were obvious photographs.

I completely agree with you on your point that if a bookseller refuses to send you pictures you should certainly beware.

Perhaps I have been lucky, but whenever I have complained to a bookseller (this has happened on both ebay and abebooks) I have always received a full refund. There is the possibility to make a direct complaint to ebay if something is significantly not as described, and I think you should be able to get a refund of up to £120, or £500 if you paid with Paypal and buyer protection is in place. I also think that you have the right to return any book purchased from a professional bookseller in the UK within a certain period of time (I think this is within your consumer rights), even if the book is purchased on the Internet. Does anyone else know if this is the case?

Re: Enid Blyton Material on Ebay

Posted: 10 Oct 2017, 18:42
by Lenoir
I wasn't sure if this warranted a new topic, but maybe it fits in here.
A friend of mine has some old H&S Famous Five books in very good condition with dust-wrappers (Soper).
I say "very good" because the wrappers are clear and bright, and only have minor tears at the edges.
He also has "The Children at Green Meadows."
He was wondering what they might be worth. I don't think any are first editions.

It's been a while since I bought something like this myself, so I had a look on ebay and saw some similar Fives books going for about £25. Seemed a bit high to me, but then they were also in good/very good condition.
However I saw another one going for about half of that, and some sellers asking much more.

Maybe I can suggest £20 to £25 each? Can anyone advise on this please?

Re: Enid Blyton Material on Ebay

Posted: 10 Oct 2017, 19:06
by Rob Houghton
All the Fives I'm selling in dust jackets in good condition to very good, I sell for two prices - just to keep it simple - none are first editions - £12 pre 1960 and £10 after 1960. 8)

Re: Enid Blyton Material on Ebay

Posted: 12 Oct 2017, 17:59
by Lenoir
Thanks. I'll rather go with that, sounds reasonable to me, but will also mention that prices seem to vary a lot.
I'm not sure he is actually going to sell them.