Rare Book Monthly
Articles - December - 2002 Issue
The Means of Book Trading That Dares Not Speak Its Name: eBay
Librarian X: “My bad experiences with using eBay include the following: receiving books in bad condition, receiving books that are not what I thought they would be. I once bought a Tibetan text. It was pretty and illustrated and was billed as an ancient text, supposedly 150 years old or more. When I bought it I knew it was a risk and indeed it turned out to be 15 years old at the outside. It was pretty but not what I wanted. So I gave it to a good friend (who actually likes it a lot and doesn’t care what it’s worth or how old it is.)”
Zubal: “You have to be careful about the descriptions of the books posted. Not that they’re necessarily dishonest, but many amateurs do not know how to describe books and condition correctly. I’d also buy nothing without seeing a picture of it. Another pet peeve of mine about eBay concerns the feedback [where buyers and sellers are meant to write up their experiences with each other and post them on the site]. Sometimes I get peeves, because I don’t do feedback. I just don’t have the time.”
Barlow: “It’s tough to judge the condition of books from a digital image. Also there are some flakes and cheats out there, although fewer than you’d think. I’ve encountered less than 10 in all my thousands of transactions. (Of course I keep a file of these, but it’s a very small file.) Other cons: Misdescriptions. You need to read the descriptions very carefully on eBay and see if it’s what you really want. Pictures help, although even pictures don’t always tell you what’s wrong with an item. Another huge problem are the people who are not intrinsically dishonest but who just don’t know how to describe an item, although some are intentionally misleading. One other thing I’d watch out for is anyone who starts their description with a disclaimer like ‘I don’t know anything about this, but…’ That’s a huge red flag.”
Barlow: “There is fraud on eBay, no question about it, but it appears mostly with more expensive items. That’s why most of the items I buy are generally inexpensive ($1000 maximum). If I were to spend $1000 or more on a book, I would definitely want to make sure that I could return it if I wasn’t happy with it. I’d want the right to return the item if it came in some state other than how it was described. I’d also probably want to know that the seller was an ABAA member. I might be tempted but not terribly willing to bid on a Baskerville Bible from someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.”
Barlow: “Another problem is that unlike professional dealers and auction houses a lot of people who sell on eBay don’t have the faintest idea of how to wrap and package books, so that sometimes even if the item wasn’t damaged when you bought it it is when you get it. There are lots of naïve people out there who believe if they write ‘Do not fold or bend’ on a package the post office will actually heed that warning. Writing this on the outside of a box is in no way the same as careful packaging.”
Dealer Y: “One of the major difficulties I’ve had with eBay is that the majority of people who sell on it are not dealers and thus don’t know the first thing about describing condition and/or properly packaging an item. When you buy from a dealer you know there’s a certain level of expectation of honor amongst dealers. You buy books ‘on approval’, meaning that you’ll be able to return something if you’re not happy with it. The same is not necessarily true on eBay. I’ve had things arrive that were absolutely not the same pieces as those described. I’ve had entire boxes of china I bought on eBay arrive chipped in literally thousands of pieces. And the person who sent them packed them improperly but insisted that it wasn’t his fault but the U.S. Post Office’s. This would never happen with a dealer. So now I actually email them instructions on how to package books or other items once I complete a transaction on eBay. This sounds petty but I find that it pays to be proactive as with books a great deal of their value is lost if they arrive damaged.”
