Buyer Confusion on Nancy Drew #27

I have decided that in some cases in which the seller is a knowledgeable, regular seller of series books that I am neither going to identify the seller nor link to the auction.

Nancy Drew RARE COMPLETE SET Vintage PC Books 1-38

The auction has the subtitle: ALL BLUE & WHITE ENDPAPERS Original Text & Cover Art

The subtitle appears to state that all of the books have the original text, which is not true for #1-4 and #6 in the picture cover format. Those titles were never printed with the original text in the picture cover format.

I do not believe that the seller intended to mislead buyers, since the seller would be risk a negative from the buyer. I am sure that the seller meant that all of the books that could possibly have the original text in the picture cover format have the original text in this auction.

Question: Hi, How many chapters are in volumes 1-34, twenty five or twenty?

Answer: Per the series-books.com webpage: "[extremely long quote saying that #1-4 and #6 with 25 chapters were never issued in PC format, etc., removed to keep this brief]" Any of the books in this set that were ever offered with 25 chapters/revised text are included, including the extremely rare #7. Those that were never printed in picture cover form with original text are early editions with blue endpapers. Hope this helps!

The seller did a great job of clarifying the situation by quoting my site. It is my opinion that that information should have been stated in the original description. The seller did improve the situation slightly upon relisting the auction by providing the above question and answer in the item description. Unfortunately, it did not help, possibly because the quote from my site was way too long and wordy.

Question: Hello, Can you please tell me if these books are the originals and not the revised editions? They would have 25 chapters, not 20. Thanks,

Answer: Please read the answer to the question at the bottom of the page. Some pcs were never available with original text. Ones that were are included in this set. Thank you!

The statement "Some pcs were never available with original text. Ones that were are included in this set" should have been placed at the beginning of the item description in the first place when the first auction was created. Not only that, but had the seller stated that #1-4, 6, and #35-38 have 20 chapters while #7 and #8-34 have 25 chapters at the beginning of the description, the questions never would have been asked.

I have strongly advocated that buyers need to educate themselves in order to avoid having to ask unnecessary questions. I also strongly believe that sellers need to clearly and concisely state the pertinent information at the very beginning of the item description so that they will not have to answer unnecessary questions. It saves everyone time.

A number of buyers are confused because of inadequate or unintentionally misleading information in descriptions. A big part of the problem is that many knowledgeable sellers, including me, tend to leave out important information. I learned my mistake when I began to get certain types of questions.

When I listed books, I assumed that my buyers realized that #1-4 and #6 never existed in the picture cover format with the original text. I also incorrectly assumed that buyers realized that #35 and up never had 25 chapters.

It is very important that all knowledgeable sellers help to educate buyers of Nancy Drew books. I cannot do this alone. The confused newbie buyers are not reading this blog.

I wrote a number of guides for series books that are posted on eBay through my account. These guides explain the important points to collecting series books. Until the new search, the guides displayed in the left sidebar of the search results pages, at least most of the time. Those links helped people learn about the books. I periodically received emails from people thanking me for the information or asking me for more information.

Since eBay has "improved" the search by removing the links to those guides, the buyers will no longer be reading them. The guides are still there, but eBay has the reviews and guides section hidden quite well. The easiest way to find them is through a Google search, so buyers will never see them again. I can get to them through my user ID, but otherwise, it is hard to find a way.

So again, help me out here. If you sell series books, clarify what you are selling. Tell your buyers what you mean when you state that the picture covers all contain the original text. Tell them that certain ones never had the original text. Do not assume that they know. I can assure you that many of the buyers are buying blindly and have never visited my website nor any other helpful website.

Something else to keep in mind is that buyers need to see in print on the screen that the books have 25 chapters. Telling the buyers that the books contain the original text is not enough. The buyers cannot be certain that a seller is knowledgeable. When a seller states that the books have the original 25 chapter texts, the buyer can be reassured that the books are indeed what they want, and the seller may get a higher price for the lot.