Originally posted by ehrentitle
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A quick cautionary tale concerning buying books through Abebooks, Genossen. I was among those who ordered this book within minutes of seeing Trevor's original post. My order was supposedly processed and shipped the next day (4/20). However, three full weeks later, it still hasn't shown up.
When I saw what Kevin paid for his book, I became curious, as it's the same price I had paid for mine. After checking with him, I found out that both of us had inadvertently ordered from the same vendor - he through Amazon, and I through Abebooks.
I queried the vendor to see just how many copies of this book they actually had on hand. The reply was "one", and that the single copy was shipped to me, on 4/20.
I then told them about Kevin's Amazon purchase, and asked them to make sense of the situation for me.
Today, they told me that their records show two orders to have been processed and shipped, but that they couldn't tell for sure if there had been two copies or one in their inventory (my order confirmation actually came with an inventory number, which I presume was unique, but I didn't press them over this). Therefore, either an employee made a mistake and entered two orders for the same book without realizing it, or the post office mishandled my order. Either way, they issued me a refund.
I've bought shelves full of books through Abebooks and Amazon over the years; this is the first time I've run into this kind of problem. I've also noticed that many used book sellers now list the same book(s) on both Abebooks and Amazon, and that there is a delay between the time an order is placed and the time the relevant listing is removed. It seems entirely possible that multiple orders could be placed for the same book before the listings are taken down. The question is: if two orders came in simultaneously for the same book, one through Amazon, one through Abebooks, which one is more likely to be filled? Based on this single experience, I am inclined to go with Amazon exclusively for my future purchases.
In retrospect, if Kevin hadn't mentioned his purchase on the board, I'd have nothing but my word to back me up when I tell the vendor that I've not received the book. Then again, if it wasn't for this board, I wouldn't have known about the book to begin with.
Just thought that I'd contribute this data point to our continued quest for collective knowledge...
cheers,
Gene T
I did not know this site... It's true that I am still more Pariser than Berliner... Thanks again.
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