Be Wary of Listings for Strange-Looking Books

Series book format collectors look for variants to collect.  I fall into that group, and my attention is drawn to listings for books that have unusual bindings.  I have spotted a number of AI photos that could easily trick an unwitting collector.  

Click or tap the images to view them at a higher resolution.

The above photo is alluring, since the spines look like a new format.  Closer examination reveals AI hallmarks throughout the image (wrong titles, distorted cover art, and other oddities).

When I first spotted the above listing photo, I thought that the books were library editions.  Enlargement of the photo revealed that AI was used to enhance the edges of the books.  Book buyers just want an accurate depiction of the offered books.  We don't need special effects!

Recently, this image was posted on Facebook.

The book had been purchased, and it had not arrived.  The buyer asked about the cover art.  

The image is quite convincing, especially with the wear patterns seen along the bottom and right edges.  It looks like a real book.  I didn't think it could be, but it still took me a few minutes to home in on the telltale signs of AI output.

Nancy's left hand has six fingers altogether.  The marionette has extra strings that are just dangling.  Nancy's head has an outline along the top, as if it were cut out of another image.  This is definitely AI.  I am mystified by the seller's actions.  My best guess is that they used AI to create an image, unaware that AI hallucinated a new cover art for the book.  

From now on, we must all be very careful, especially because the online marketplaces are encouraging the use of AI to create listings.  Yes, eBay has no problem with it.  They are just happy to collect the listing fees from sellers.

eBay's listing form now defaults to AI, and sellers have to toggle the option off so that their listings aren't automatically created by AI.  That is where we are at now.

Since photos can no longer be trusted like they once were, I am very wary of listings that are for truly rare books or collectibles.  I am especially wary of listings that feature never-before-seen cover art.  I have come close to missing out on neat purchases because I took time to make sure that the listings weren't some kind of trick.  Here are some examples from recent years.

I saw this Hardy Boys book on eBay in early 2020.

I spent around 10 minutes trying to figure out what the book was before I finally purchased it.  I still wasn't sure when I purchased the book, but I was curious.  It turned out not to be a library binding but most likely a one-of-a-kind binding assembled at Kingsport Press during a bookbinding class.  Read more here:

The Library Edition That Wasn't

Earlier this summer, I saw a listing for a bulk lot of Grosset & Dunlap bookmarks featuring Nancy Drew on one side and Hardy Boys on the other.  The seller estimated that around 50 bookmarks were in the shrink-wrap.  

I considered the listing for a while.  I was pretty sure that the bookmarks were actual Grosset & Dunlap bookmarks, but I still hesitated.  With the bookmarks shrink-wrapped, they most likely were real.  I ended up purchasing the lot, because I wanted to have at least one bookmark.

I still haven't removed the shrink-wrap, because I have had other concerns during the last couple months.  I have examined the stack of bookmarks as best I can, and I believe that I have 100 bookmarks.  Not too bad.  

I also want to point out the age of the bookmarks.  The Hardy Boys bookmark says that the Hardy Boys have been "America's favorite detecting duo for over sixty years!"  Since the bookmark doesn't say "over seventy years," then we can assume that these bookmarks were produced between 1987 and 1997.  

I was a bit skeptical when I saw this photo of a bulk lot offered by an eBay seller.

Devil's Paw had the Mickey Mouse Club promo wrapper.  That wrapper is extremely scarce and has been reproduced by collectors.  The price for the listing was too low, considering that the wrapper was present.  Also, the wrapper was on the wrong book.  The main reason I hesitated is that the listing had already been up longer than I would have expected it to last without being purchased.  Since I am not a Hardy Boys expert, I worried that the wrapper had an obvious telltale sign that it was a copy.

Please read this post for information about reproduction dust jackets and the Nancy Drew promotional wrapper: Identifying Whether a Dust Jacket is a Reproduction.

I tried to figure out if the wrapper was real but couldn't even find photos online.  I've read past discussions about the wrapper, but those discussions likely occurred in the defunct Yahoo! Groups.  I went ahead and purchased the lot, figuring that I could sell the books for enough to cover my cost even if the wrapper was a reproduction.  

I am now fairly certain that it is real, since it doesn't glow under a black light.  Modern paper glows, so the wrapper is printed on vintage paper.  If the wrapper is a copy, then it is a vintage copy of an original.  More likely, it's the original.

The below photo shows a black light at the bottom.  A piece of modern white paper is underneath the jacket and wrapper.  The paper is glowing while the jacket and wrapper are not.

Collectors can easily purchase reproductions unwittingly, and not due to any fraud by the seller.  Unfortunately, reproductions created or purchased by collectors years ago are now appearing in the marketplace.  The sellers might have purchased the reproductions at an estate sale and have no idea that they are selling cheap copies.  All of us must remain vigilant in order to avoid purchasing reproductions.

I could give other examples, but these are sufficient.  I crave variants and scarce items, but I also try to avoid being tricked.

Bad Packers Don't Care + Recently Damaged Comic Books

The first part of this post was written in March 2019 and was not published until now.  I also have added a story about a recent package that I mailed that resulted in damaged contents.

Periodically, collectors post photos of bad packaging online.  Sometimes, the books arrive fine without damage.  This usually results in at least one person making a comment like, "What's the problem?  The books arrived fine."

That kind of response is curious.  I have seen it rather often on message boards frequented primarily by sellers.  I have also seen it quoted as a response given by a seller when a buyer has contacted the seller to complain about bad packaging.  The seller further annoys the buyer by making that kind of response.

When someone makes this kind of reply in a message thread, I assume that they are a seller who packs badly.  They take the view that as long as the books arrive okay most of the time, then there is not a problem.  This is why contacting these sellers to complain about the packaging is not going to help. They won't change, because they don't care.

I also think it's a bit rude for a seller who doesn't care to butt into a message thread about badly packaged books and make a statement in disagreement.  A few months back [back from March 2019], it happened in a thread in one of the Facebook groups.  This one person seemed to want to dispute whether the package really arrived damaged or whether it had been opened for inspection, possibly by customs.  Sigh.

The package was a media mail package, which is used by United States sellers to send to United States buyers.  It didn't go through customs.  The package also wasn't opened for inspection since the postage service always stamps those packages with a message stating that the package was opened.

It's just really strange how some people don't want to believe that packages ever arrive damaged.  

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December 22, 2021:  A buyer contacted me last week about some comic books he purchased from me.  They arrived damaged with the lower corner of the comics bent.  It was significant, and this kind of damage completely devalues the comics.    

The package was international and went to the United Kingdom.  The comics were bagged and boarded.  I wrapped the stack of 12 comics in plastic and mailed them inside of a 12" x 9" x 3" sturdy Uline box with padding.  I was perplexed when the buyer contacted me, so I asked for additional information.

The box was not damaged.  The buyer said that it looked like one side of the box might have been very slightly dented inwards but that the box didn't look damaged.  The box had not been opened by customs, and the comics were still wrapped in the stretch wrap.

I was having trouble wrapping my mind around how the comics were damaged while the outer box was fine.  I really pondered this.  Finally, I realized that the comics did not have enough support with the backing boards.  The stack of comics was heavy enough that it was likely to shift inside the package while the package got thrown around.  The stack must have shifted up against the side of the box.  The box was probably thrown hard where a flat edge hit a surface straight on so as not to be dented inwards.  The corner of the stack of comics probably hit against that side of the box, and the corners were damaged.

I can see where I went wrong.  The comics probably would have been okay if mailed to a United States address via priority mail.  I did not pack well enough for international, and I did not even necessarily pack well enough for domestic.

I should have placed heavy cardboard (perhaps even a double layer) on the bottom of the stack to support the comics.  I also should have placed heavy cardboard on the top of the stack as well.  Furthermore, I should have made certain that the stack of comics could move not at all within the box.  I think that I didn't use enough paper to pad the stack of comics.  This was definitely my fault.  

Yes, the international postal system was rough with the package, but better packing could have prevented the damage.  Therefore, I fully refunded the buyer's purchase.  I apologized and remarked that while I was refunding the purchase that I could not truly make it right.  The comics were to be a Christmas present, and there was no time left for the buyer to purchase a replacement that would arrive on time.

Some of you might think I was scammed, since the outer box was not damaged.  No, I can read people pretty well.  I know when someone is pulling something and when they are telling the truth.  I was provided pictures of the comics, and they were definitely damaged.  This person was genuinely regretful and disappointed about the damage since it was to be a present.  When they first contacted me, they said that the comics should have been secured better inside the box and that they would not have purchased the comics if they had known how they would be packed.  The buyer made no demands in that initial message or at any point.  I asked for more information, and then I refunded the purchase with my apologies.  I remain quite chagrined about it.  

Another lot of comics sold a few days later to somebody else, this time in Texas.  These comics didn't have the backing boards, and I didn't have any on hand.  I was very paranoid when packing them and spent a lot of time on that package.  I had double cardboard on the bottom and cardboard on the top.  I also cut the cardboard large enough to be able to fold it down over the sides.  I did everything I could to make the comics immobile inside the cardboard.  I used lots of packing paper to get the enclosed stack of comics to where it was quite unlikely to move around.

That package was delivered two days ago.  I haven't heard from the buyer, so the comics are probably fine.

Removing Smoke Odor from Books

This post consists of some of my past Facebook posts on what I did to remove or reduce smoke odors from books.  Each date links to the original Facebook post, where comments can be read.

August 18, 2018

These Hardy Boys books arrived in the mail today.  They were priced very cheap, in fact way too cheap.  When I saw the listing, I assumed that there was a catch, because the price was illogical.  The seller mentioned no flaws, but I knew that there had to be something wrong with the books.  Since the books were so cheap, they were worth purchasing if even flawed.  The books were actually cheaper than if I had found them in a local thrift store.  I couldn't lose.

Now I know what was wrong.  The books smell strongly of smoke, the kind of smoke that comes from a burning structure.  They have been in a fire.  I was mystified to smell such a strong odor yet not see soot on the books.  Finally, I discovered that Crooked Arrow has a charred area at the top.  

As I sit here with the books four feet away, I can smell a faint odor of smoke.  I am going to find somewhere to place these books fanned open.

August 19, 2018

I placed the smoky Hardy Boys books (see post from yesterday for details) on shelves in the garage along with household items.  They will be okay there for now, and I don't want them near other books.  I had the garage door open for a while today to air it out.

Last night, the smoke odor had spread to over half of the garage.  I could smell the books from at least six feet away.  Now, I have to get within 12 to 15 inches of the books to smell the odor.  This means that the smoke odor has already lessened, but the books do still smell just as bad up close.  The odor should continue to lessen, especially if I continue to expose the books to fresh air periodically.

August 20, 2018

Smelly Book Update:  I had the garage door open for an hour today with a fan pulling in fresh air.  I previously reported that I could smell the smoke from six feet away on Saturday.  Yesterday I could smell the smoke from 12 to 15 inches away.  Today I have to get within two inches of a book to smell the smoke.  The books still smell bad, but the intensity of the odor has reduced greatly in just two days.

September 30, 2018

Smelly Book Update #2:  You might recall some smelly books that came into my possession in August.  The books had been in a fire.  They are still in the garage, still fanned open on shelves.  Some of the books no longer have any odor.  Others still have an odor, but the odor has decreased by 90%.

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These last two posts are about another set of books that smelled of cigarettes.  

June 26, 2019

I purchased a bulk lot of Nancy Drew books in order to acquire some extra Wanderer books.  I have an international buyer who is seeking them.  The books are in really nice shape, but they smell strongly of cigarettes. 😩 Why do sellers not disclose odors in books? 😡 Over time, cigarette odor does fade, but I need to expedite the process.  

I have heard of wrapping each book in newspaper.  Supposedly, the odor goes away in a few days.  We shall see.  I am quite skeptical, but I am willing to give it a try.  I have wrapped the books.  There are some flashlight editions that came with these books that I did not show in my picture. I am not trying to get rid of the odor in those, so I will be able to compare their odor to the wrapped books in a few days and see if anything has changed.

June 30, 2019

Cigarette Odor Update: Four days ago, I posted about some books that smelled of cigarette smoke. I wanted to get the odor reduced quickly so I wrapped the books in newspaper. Someone who used this method said that the odor goes away in four days. It's been four days, so I checked one book.

Flying Saucer Mystery is one of the books I wrapped in newspaper.  Red Gate Farm was not wrapped in newspaper, which means that I can compare the odor.  The odor in Flying Saucer Mystery has reduced by around 75%.  Flying Saucer Mystery smells overall okay, although it needs to go back in the newspaper a bit longer.  Red Gate Farm smells strongly of cigarette smoke since I did nothing to it. Yuck.

Conclusion: Wrapping books in newspaper does reduce cigarette odor quickly.

A Brief Update to "An Unexpected Wet Package"

Original post:  "An Unexpected Wet Package"

I finally took the time to place the water damaged Nancy Drew books in the book press.  I wanted to wait a couple of days to make certain that the books were completely dry, but a couple of days became nearly two weeks.

First, I had to extract the forgotten fanzine from the book press.  

I purchased this issue of The Mystery & Adventure Series Review quite a few months ago, probably sometime in 2019.  It was mailed in an envelope without being enclosed in plastic.  That's what most people do with what they mail.  The envelope arrived in the rain, so the issue was wet and damaged.  I dried it with the hair dryer, then I placed it in the book press.  I forgot about it.

You can see the wrinkled part on the upper left part of the back cover.  The front cover was not damaged at all.  Pages 32 through 56 had varying degrees of water damage.  I don't have a "before" photo, but the issue definitely did not lay flat after it was first dried.  It is better now.

You can see some of the slight waviness of the pages that were affected.  The pages are wrinkled, but they lay pretty flat, except when the issue is held loosely like I did to take the above photo.

The Nancy Drew books are now in the book press.  

I will try to remember to check on them in around a month and will update.  If I forget, then some months from now I will update when I finally remember the books.

This is probably the only post you will get for the next week.  I am uninterested in writing posts, except for ones like this.  

P.S. I still hate the new Blogger interface, as I mentioned a week ago.  This post took me at least five minutes longer because of the problems I encountered while writing it.  No wait... the entire post is indented.  Why?!  How did that happen?!

P.P.S.  That took 10 minutes.  I couldn't get the indent to go away using the features provided by Blogger.  I had to copy the text into WordPad to strip it of the HTML code.  I deleted everything from the post.  I pasted it back in after I preselected that I wanted my text to be left-justified.  I then added the photos again.  Thanks, Blogger, for wasting my time.

This blog may just go on a hiatus until fall break.  This isn't fun.

An Unexpected Wet Package

Late this evening, I found a wet package on my porch.  I didn't even know what was in it, since I wasn't supposed to get anything from FedEx.  Regardless, a wet package is never good, since my packages usually contain books.  It should be noted that my porch is dry, and it hasn't rained in days.  The package did not get wet here.

The darker brown lines are where the box was wet.  I opened the package to find some Nancy Drew softcover books that I purchased from the United Kingdom.  Ah.  I didn't expect my UK shipment to come via FedEx from California.

Well, this is unfortunate.  I have had international packages arrive wet before.  It's very disappointing, since international shipments contain difficult to find international editions.  I hate it when the books arrive damaged.

One corner of the box was pretty wet inside, and the stack of books in that corner was also wet.  The books seen in the center of the below photo with the outside page edges facing out are the wet books.  The wetness can be seen at the top corners.

The books have dark spots on the wet areas that might be mildew.  That's just splendid.  I believe that these books had been wet for a while.  Is it asking too much for packages not to be dropped in water?  I suppose it is.  This would not have been a problem if the books had been wrapped in plastic.  Always wrap books in plastic before mailing them.  This situation shows why.

I immediately took the books that were wet and dried them with a hair dryer.  It took around 15 minutes.  The books are not completely dry, but at least the wetness isn't still festering like it was.  The below photo shows the wet books after I got them mostly dry with the hair dryer.

The books will be placed in front of a fan to finish drying.  I will then place them in a book press to flatten them somewhat, since the pages are now wavy.  The pages will not go back to the way they were before, but I can make them better than they are now.

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On September 22, 2020, I wrote about placing the books in the book press.

A Brief Update to "An Unexpected Wet Package"

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April 29, 2021 Update:

As I thought would happen, I forgot about the books and left them in the book press all these months.  Actually, I have seen them several times in recent months but didn't feel like removing the books.  I finally did so tonight. 

The books were not kept in the same order as the group picture seen in the above photos.  I looked at the second photo and tried to rearrange the books as best I could in what I thought was the correct order by using the stains seen on the outside page edges.  The first six books from the left are probably in the same order.  Three of the last four books might not be in the same order since I couldn't tell the difference between them.

The books are more flat than they were.  They are still damaged, but they are now in better shape than they were when placed in the book press.  Also, the books have no odor since I dried them with a hair dryer immediately after I opened the package back in September.

Two Purchases: One Lucky and One Unlucky

In December, I purchased a bulk lot of Nancy Drew books with dust jackets from the 1940s from an eBay seller.  This was a risky transaction, since the seller had some neutral and negative feedback that indicated poor shipping and inaccurate descriptions.  This was one of those times when I decided to take a calculated risk.  Around a week later, the seller listed a bulk lot of general series books from the 1940s with dust jackets.  I thought long and hard before making that purchase, because I wasn't sure whether the first purchase would turn out okay.

Around a week after the second purchase, the first purchase arrived.  This was a very lucky transaction.

The above picture shows exactly what I saw when I opened the package.  There was no padding inside the package with the books.  Somehow, the package must have stayed upright the entire time it was in transit, and it was never tossed around.  None of the dust jackets were damaged in the slightest.  It's unbelievable.

I concluded that the books from the second purchase would probably get damaged.  After all, I considered it highly unlikely that a second package would receive the same gentle treatment as the first package.  So I waited, and the weeks began to pass.  Since the second package was overdue, I felt certain that those jackets were doomed.  As my wait approached one month, I lost hope that the second purchase would ever arrive and initiated an eBay claim for an item not received.  I did not bother to contact the seller, since recent feedback indicated that the seller never responds to messages that complain about problems.  I knew that I was on my own with this seller.

The package finally arrived today, four weeks and one day after it was mailed, and two days after I initiated the claim.

The package looked rough, so I knew the jackets would be damaged.  I was right.

I pulled the books out of the box.  The next photo shows the jacket pieces in the bottom of the box.

But then what is that dark object?

It's something made from metal that is curved and has holes along one side.  Sellers like this one have a habit of putting trash and assorted objects inside packages.  Don't they realize that a heavy piece of metal adds to their postage cost?  I guess not.

I also received some comic books that were not part of the bulk lot.

Okay.  Well, I don't want them, and I don't want the random piece of metal.

Here are the assorted jacket pieces. 

I put them in a sandwich bag.  I will reunite the larger pieces and some of the smaller ones with the proper dust jackets when I put the jackets in mylar covers.  Some pieces will be too small to save.  Some of the smallest ones are still on the carpet, and sadly, they will get vacuumed up.

Here is the seller's picture of the books.

This is what they look like now.

The Penny Parker jackets were mostly destroyed.  I do have some of the Penny Parker jacket pieces in the sandwich bag, but some pieces appear to be missing.  Those pieces may have fallen out of the package, since the seams of the package had holes in them.

My second purchase from this seller was definitely disappointing, and it makes the first purchase that much luckier.

A Purchase Not as Described

I usually do not purchase books when I see signs of water damage, but in a moment of weakness, I chose to take a risk on a lot of Hardy Boys books. I saw visible water stains on the dust jackets. This was the only photo provided by the seller.

I have seen many books in good condition with similar water stains to the jackets. Since the seller's description stated that the pages were in very good condition, I figured that the books were fine. That was my mistake.

The books arrived. I discovered that the entire stack of books was stuck together except for one place where the stack had come apart. The books smelled strongly of mold and mildew and had that grimy, seemingly moist texture to the outside that books with severe water damage always have. The next photo shows the damage from where the stack had separated.

I often keep books when not exactly as described, but this case was too significantly not as described for me to consider keeping the books.  I was quite disgusted and annoyed.  How can a seller think it okay to sell a stack of books that is stuck together and not mention that rather significant problem? 

I immediately asked to return the books, despite the fact that the seller's terms indicated no returns.  I happen to know that eBay sellers who don't offer returns actually do offer returns.  They just don't know it.  By this I mean that eBay will make the seller accept a return when an item is significantly not as described.

I was pleasantly surprised when the seller immediately accepted the return.  I had to get the books packed again, and the seller's packaging was too skimpy for me to be able to use it after having cut it open.  I found a box.  I kept the seller's packaging around the books and placed it all inside the box.  I got it sealed and ready to send.

I then got to thinking about how I was pretty sure I had just packed seven books.  However, the seller's picture showed eight books.  Hmm.  I pulled the books back out of the package and checked the situation.  There were seven books.  I looked around, making sure I hadn't somehow laid one book on a table or in an odd location.  I couldn't find an eighth book.  This concerned me, since there were supposed to be eight books.  If I had received eight books, then I had to make certain that all eight books were returned to the seller.

I investigated the packaging.  The seller's packaging consisted of a large white plastic envelope that had been wrapped tightly around the books with lots of tape on it.  At first I thought that an eighth book would have fit inside and that I needed to look around some more.

I weighed the package, finding that it weighed 4 pounds, 7 ounces.  I looked at the seller's address label.  The seller paid for postage for 3 pounds.  So the seller defrauded the post office.  I guess that makes sense, considering that the books were not as described.

I then checked the package again.  I had to pull tight to get the shipping label to come together where I had cut open the package, so I concluded that an eighth book could not have fit inside the package.

I packed the seven books up again and sent them back to the seller.  I have now received my refund.

I find it interesting that the seller did not disclose the severe water damage, did not send all eight books, and even defrauded the post office.  I consider myself fortunate that I got out of this one without taking a loss, aside from the time lost while messing with the return.

Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express Confusion

Several years back, the United States Postal Service rebranded Express Mail as Priority Mail Express.  The names are too similar, and inexperienced sellers can easily confuse the two services. Inexperienced sellers are the ones most likely to rely on post office supplies for mailing packages, and they are most likely to choose Priority Mail. Those pesky Priority Mail Express supplies are displayed right next to the Priority Mail supplies.  I actually wonder if the USPS wanted the confusion so that they could charge postage due on lots of Priority Mail packages sent accidentally with Priority Mail Express envelopes.

Priority Mail Express is a one-day service.  Postage cost is $25-$35 for the first pound, and the price depends upon whether a flat rate or non-flat rate envelope is used.  It is a very expensive service, and it is a very costly error to get caught accidentally using a Priority Mail Express envelope or box for another class of mail.  This is a Priority Mail Express envelope.

Priority Mail is a two- to three-day service and costs $6.65 and up, depending upon weight and whether a flat rate envelope is used.  This is a Priority Mail envelope.

I had to pick this package up at the post office since it arrived postage due.

The seller was inexperienced, and she probably had no idea that Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express are different services.  She paid $6.65 for a Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope.  She used a non-flat rate Priority Mail Express envelope.  For the envelope the seller used, the postage cost should have been $34.60.  I was charged $27.95, which is the difference between $6.65 and $34.90.

To say that this made me unhappy would be an understatement.

The book was not even quite worth what I originally paid, but it ended up costing $27.95 more on top of the original amount.  This is totally unacceptable.

I have mixed feelings in that I am upset both with the seller and with the postal service.

I did send the seller a message informing her of the problem.

"The package arrived with postage due of $27.95, so I had to pay $27.95 to pick up the package. A Priority Mail Express envelope was used to mail the book, and the postage paid was for regular Priority Mail. Since the Priority Mail Express envelope was used, the post office assessed the postage due at the much higher Priority Mail Express rate.

I attached a photo showing the package and the receipt for the $27.95 payment to the post office. I expect a refund of $27.95 on my order, since this was an unexpected extra charge. Thank you in advance, Jennifer"

The seller did not respond.  I waited two days.

Two days later, I sent this message.

"I sent you a message two days ago informing you that the package arrived postage due of $27.95 due to the misuse of a Priority Mail Express envelope. Please refer to the image sent in that message. Due to the error, I had to pay an additional $27.95.

I should have refused the package, causing it to be returned to you. I decided to pay the postage due since it would save you an additional loss. If I had refused the package, you would have had to pay the $27.95 postage due in order to take possession of the package. You would then have had to pay shipping again to send the package to me a second time.

I understand that this is a really bad situation, but on eBay, the seller is the one who must take responsibility when this type of mistake occurs.

Jennifer"

Finally, the seller responded.  "I m gonna take this to the post office and see why this happened and also contact eBay cuz this was purchased with their postage in very very sorry"

I knew from the response that she wasn't going to refund me.  I had already explained the problem, so having the seller put it on eBay and the post office told me all I needed to know.

Unfortunately, buyers have no recourse when packages arrive postage because eBay buyer protection only covers non-receipt of purchases and purchases that are significantly not as described.  Postage due is neither situation.  All a buyer can do is appeal to the seller and hope for the best.

I waited 10 days, just to give the seller a last chance.  I then left her the following neutral feedback.

"Paid postage due $27.95 due to misuse Express mail envelope; no refund given"

I didn't give a negative feedback simply because I feel that the seller made a mistake, albeit a very bad one.  The USPS is also partly to blame because of the confusing names of its services, and I do think they may have caused the confusion on purpose so that they could assess postage due on lots of packages. 

A neutral feedback is enough to get buyers' attention, so at least I have placed a warning in the seller's feedback.  The seller is selling Nancy Drew books on eBay, so make sure you check feedback before bidding or making a purchase.

A Wet International Package

I went to the post office to pick up a package that had arrived yesterday.  As soon as I saw the package, I knew that the books were likely damaged.  I could tell that the top of the package had been wet.

Once I had the package in hand, I could feel the dampness on the outside.  When I arrived home, I opened the package.  Water had soaked through the package.  The below picture shows the inside of the box right after I removed the books.

Since photos often make it harder to see what is obvious in person, compare the above picture to the below picture, which shows the box a few hours later after it had partially dried.

Now for the books.  At first, they looked fine.

However, the seller had not wrapped bubble wrap around the bottom or top edges of the books, which meant I had a problem.  Once I extracted the books, I discovered that three of the four books were partially wet.

The above picture shows that the book in the lower right was wet along the top of the front cover.  That book was damaged the most.

The below picture shows that the books in the upper right and lower left were each wet along the bottom edge of the back cover.

The pages of the those three books were also damp towards the outer edges.

The following book did not get touched by moisture at all, as far as I can tell.

This is unbelievably fortunate, since I purchased the four books just to get the above book.  The other three books are duplicates of books I already have.  While I am not happy that three books arrived wet, I am very happy that the book I needed was spared from the damage.  So this isn't all bad.

The three books that arrived wet are now in front of a fan.  The pages are now dry, but the inner portion of the boards probably still holds moisture.  I hope that I can get the boards dried out completely before mold or mildew sets in.

Unfortunately, the boards have already warped slightly as they dry.  Books are never the same after moisture exposure.  At least these books did not get completely wet, so the damage will most likely not be that bad, so long as the books don't mold or mildew.

I am concerned that I picked up the package 24 hours after it arrived, which means that the books were wet for more than 24 hours.  That's not good.

This situation serves as another example of why sellers should completely wrap books in plastic before mailing them.  Packages do get wet sometimes, and once books get wet, they are permanently damaged.

I am not going to tell the seller about the damage.  We have a language barrier, and besides, I did receive the books.  The one I wanted is fine.  When I purchase books internationally, it is with the understanding that much can go wrong and that I am willing to take the risk.

I purchase a lot of books internationally, and the transactions from outside North America always have a greater risk.  Transactions with Canada are of no higher risk than domestic transactions via media mail.  When the packages come from overseas, much more can go wrong.  I have had at least three international transactions from Europe that went missing and never arrived, and I have had several damaged packages over the years.

I will sell the three books that are extras, and I will not price them cheap, even with the damage.  These books were not inexpensive.  I have found that many collectors do not know how expensive it is to import international editions.  Prospective buyers have often asked me to lower my prices for the international editions.  It's quite common for international editions to cost $15 to $25 each after international postage is added to the initial cost.  That's why sellers of international editions do not usually offer them at low prices.

eBay's Largest Collection Part 2

eBay's Largest Collection Part 1

Finally, the first two packages arrived on Monday, February 29, but alas, they contained just Nancy Drew books.  Unsurprisingly, they were not packed well.  Both of the following photos show exactly what I saw when I opened the packages.

All books in the first package were fine.  Several books were damaged in the second package, one of them badly.  The second package looked like it had been rolled around and tossed around.  The seams were split and retaped, which worried me since I didn't know whether any books were missing.  I needed to receive all of the packages from the transaction before I would know if any books were lost.

Since I hadn't received any Hardy Boys Digest books yet, I had to purchase even more of them in local stores.  I received the tracking numbers for the reshipment of the six packages that had been returned to the seller, and those packages were finally on the way.

Three of the six packages arrived on Monday, March 7.  Most of the Hardy Boys Digest books were in these three packages.  Yay!  At this point, my stress level went down greatly.  Here are those three packages, and in each case, what I have pictured is exactly what I saw when I opened the box.

The next two packages arrived on Tuesday, March 8.  The contents completed the set of Hardy Boys Digests, so I had now received the books that were most important to me.

One package remained.  I needed it before I would know whether any books had gone missing and before I could figure out how to divide up my total cost between all of the books.  That package was delayed until Friday, March 11 when it finally arrived.

The shipping label had been torn, which had caused the delay.

I later realized that I was very fortunate, because if the label had been ripped off completely, I would have never received that box.  The seller didn't put a packing slip inside, so the shipping label was the only identifier for the package.

This is what I received altogether for a grand total of 684 books.

Nancy Drew #1-90, 92-175, Sleuth Book, Ghost Stories
Hardy Boys #1-190, Detective Handbook, Ghost Stories
Nancy Drew On Campus #1-25
ND/HB Supermysteries #1-36
2 Hardy Boys/Tom Swift Ultra Thrillers
Hardy Boys Casefiles #1-127
Nancy Drew Files #1-124
ND/HB Super Sleuths 1 and 2

The box that contained the lower-numbered Nancy Drew Digests was the box that had split seams which had been taped, so I believe that Nancy Drew #91 fell out of that box during shipment.  I am very fortunate that I lost only one book out of the entire lot.  One book is of little concern, especially since I received all of the books that were important.  Here are pictures of the books put in order by number.

The seller told me that these books were an inheritance, so this was someone's complete set of modern Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books.  The Nancy Drew hardcover set is primarily books with double oval endpapers from the 1980s, but the Hardy Boys set is from the early to middle 1970s.  Some of the Hardy Boys books have the first revised text, and Twisted Claw has the Nancy Drew list on the back cover.

Except for some of the early Wanderer Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, all of the softcover books are first printings.  Nearly all of the softcover books are in excellent condition with almost no wear.  I assume that the collector purchased every single softcover book new when released, which is why all are first printings. 

It took exactly four weeks from the day I won the auction for me to receive all of the books.  The experience was stressful, but I felt confident that the seller had been honest, which helped me through my long wait.

Even though stressful, the purchase was definitely worth it.

The purchase netted me the complete set of Hardy Boys Digests plus the complete set of Hardy Boys Casefiles, should I decide to read them.

I had sold my sets of Super Mystery books and On Campus books years ago when I decided not to read them.  I am keeping the sets from this purchase for now just in case.

I had purchased a set of flashlight edition Hardy Boys books so that I could read the revised text books in January.  It was another case of needing books fast, and the flashlight edition books fulfilled that purchase.  I swapped out 25 flashlight editions with the matte picture covers from this lot.

I upgraded nearly my entire set of Nancy Drew Files books, since nearly every single book from this lot was in better shape than the copies in my set.  I estimate that around 110 Files were upgraded.  I also upgraded around 30 of the Nancy Drew Digests. 

I would never have considered purchasing this lot if not for the complete set of Hardy Boys Digests that were included.  The set of Hardy Boys Casefiles made the lot even more desirable.  I knew that I would keep the Super Mystery books and On Campus books just in case, but I did not expect to keep any other books from the lot.  This turned out much better than expected, since I will be keeping around approximately 485 out of the 684 books.  That's pretty impressive.  This was a very successful and satisfying purchase.