The "power of feedback" also results in a kind of customer blackmail. It is absolutely impossible to set realistic transaction rules unless you are willing to be violated by negative feedback if the customer is not happy. We have had customers who kept books for months, then wanted to return them, as though we were some kind of lending library. There isn't any way to say "no" to such a customer, unless you are willing to accept negative feedback posted prominently on your Amazon home page.
Since anybody purchasing from you can post feedback, it is obviously easy to create fake feedback at any time. Your competition can also post bad feedback to your site by purchasing any inexpensive item. Although there are Amazon rules about this sort of thing, I have no sense that they are enforced by the company.
Amazon also has a "score" for feedback. You can rate a transaction from one to five, one being the "lowest" score and five the "highest," or most favorable, score. More than once a few of our customers have written "great transaction" in the comments field and then picked "1" rather than "5" because they did not understand this counter-intuitive scale.
Some of these problems could be ameliorated by Amazon themselves. For example, I do not think that customers should be able to post any kind of feedback at all if the book is not available and if a refund is made immediately. I do not think that any transaction arbitrated by Amazon in some way (for example through their A-Z guarantee) should be rated, especially if Amazon finds that the seller is not at fault. We had a customer, for example, who wanted a refund without returning the book, claimed an A-Z refund and posted negative feedback when we insisted on the return of our merchandise. Even when Amazon ruled she was not entitled to a refund, they refused to delete the feedback from our site.
One of the most startling issues related to Amazon feedback is the way in which the overall rating is computed. Amazon only scores transactions which receive feedback, and does not include the much larger number of other transactions which receive no feedback at all. They must have read Darrell Huff, How to Lie with Statistics, a classic on manipulating opinion based on skewed mathematical information. For example, if you sell 100 books and only 2 customers give feedback, one of which is negative, you will receive a 50% negative feedback rating and 2 1/2 stars out of 5 next to your store name -- this despite the fact that in reality only 1% of your customers rated you negatively, out of the total number of transactions completed -- and that one customer could have purchased a book for $3.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
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Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
