Bad otherwise good

my favorite is the one who attempting to sell a “collection” of the best of a certain very prolific writer on an auction site. This writer started in the 50s and still going strong and selling. Many of them are not related and/or from different series by this author. All recent vintage for they are still in by places like B&N selling cheap or first discard to Goodwill. The majority is new or like.

Yes indeed they are all firsts. So is almost every other book by that name and author. They are all the current ones. [None later than 1990]

All in Excellent Condition is the firm statement. Then the first line of the description of the books reads “This book has slight water stains and yellowing but otherwise excellent.” ok.. If this be excellent I hate to think what he or she thinks good and bad are.

Three months later he is 75 dollars cheaper on the books and they still aren't selling and still wildly overpriced btw.

Sounds like someone who doesn't care about books trying to sell someone like Nora Lofts (whose does have some obscure and collected books) or some other pop writer. A visit to eBay would educate people like that.

I was lucky in having been a used bookshop addict for a long time before going into business for myself. Aside from not caring about popular fiction I learned that it can easily pile up and up until you don't have room to put out anything else.

Book descriptions make folks do funny things. A guy I like and respect described something as “tear in spine, otherwise very fine.”

We've pretty much abandoned the catalog words and try to just describe the book. Most of our customers aren't collectors; just folks trying to find a book they want with some standards of minimally acceptable condition.

I use the traditional broad descriptions of book and dust jacket conditions (ie, poor, fair, good, very good, etc.) but make a point of detailed descriptions of flaws as well as a pretty strict interpretation of near fine, fine, as new. Good and very good seem to be the most troublesome. I often purchase books online for my classes (history, with long reading lists) and then price is an issue. If a cheap book is described as like new or very good but clearly does not meet that standard, I expect a discount or refund or else leave a negative rating on the transaction. I realize that this may be unnecessarily harsh but I like to think this provides feedback that will lead to better practices.
Steven