Hugh Hollowell

If you are buying from (or selling to) someone on eBay with tons of feedback, there is no easy system in place to only see the negative feedback. If someone has 500 feedback but 10 negatives, I want to see what those negatives were. If they have trouble shipping in a timely manner, if they pack everything in a shopping bag, if they are going to ship me my book in a Count Chocula cereal box, I want to know about it.

That is why I use the feedback tool at Toolhaus. If you enter the seller ID of the eBayer in question, they will root out the bad feedback and put it all in one place, saving you from scrolling through pages and pages.

If you do not know books, you had better know your bookseller (Hugh Hollowell, with apologies to Warren Buffett)

In the Used Book marketplace, there have always been Antiquarians, Shysters, General Shops, Specialty Dealers, Hobbyists, Part-timers, and Crooks. These days, the problem is now we are all in the same room. You have a listing from the most excellent Heritage Bookshop sitting right next to MeeMaw’s Book Nook. Now, MeeMaw might be just as professional as Heritage or she may not, but that is precisely my point. You do not know.

So, how do you avoid being screwed over by a fraudulent bookseller? Continue reading »