Elusive Helion & History Press Hardbacks?

[Guest]

13 hours ago, Wayne Harris said:

Stemming the Tide hardback

 

      A pain in the backside in selling books online is the presence of "relisters". Most individual booksellers  only list on one or two systems. Relisters go through listings on one system and whack them onto another system that the original bookseller does not list on-at a multiple of the original price. It is quite common when British or European booksellers may be on ABE and usually Amazon.co.uk-and the relisters "gouge" the listings and shove them on another system-usually Amazon.com.   Hence, the ludicrous prices-as well as vague descriptions- "may have library markings"...      The only real copy of Stemming the Tide seems to be from Revival Books, who are a Lancashire based  clearer of bulk books, usually branch library junk from local authorities.  The other listings appear to be relistings of what is probably this copy.

   Not only do relisters discredit normal booksellers with ludicrous prices and vague description-as they have not seen the books they are offering, then customers are often disappointed-even if the original lister has described the book properly. Also, delivery times are all over the place as the relister is ordering from another and this takes time. I try to avoid them and wonder how they continue to trade- they want books sent direct to their customer and give the  end customer's address. How this is allowed I do not know-as if I give an address different to that on my plastic card, the transaction would void. But morality is a flexible concept when money is involved and Amazon and Abe seem to allow it.

    Notable relisters to be avoided unless you like losing your money and going without the book are  Mersea Books in England, listing on Amazon (previously thought to be Southend Books and Videos- carries no stock at all but has pictures of large,full warehouses but appears to be a semi-detached somewhere in East Anglia. Ergode Books in Texas is another- a sole trader who has refined his technique for rip-off by often asking what seem to be reasonable prices. -  delivery and actually getting the book are very problematic.  Ergode is an old acquaintance of the Better Business Bureau in the States.

     One small tip to save a few bob hither and thither is to look at different listings for the same book-    Alibris can often be good. ABE use a mailing grid for default postage that makes books from the US appear expensive, as the US Mail (Lovingly known as "US Snail") has virtually abandoned any pretence of single book parcels surface rate. Alibris collect from the bookseller and consoildate to get across the Atlantic- often the saving in postage can be more than the cost of the book!! It's the .system of madness that is the world shipping system. 

[Nick Thornicroft]

21 hours ago, Wayne Harris said:

Nick, I actually have one of your titles in my ‘to read’ stack, Dauntless Courage on The Somme, looking forward to reading it.

 

Thanks Wayne! Hope you enjoy reading it.

 

Nick

[Wayne Harris]

 A pain in the backside in selling books online is the presence of "relisters". Most individual booksellers  only list on one or two systems. Relisters go through listings on one system and whack them onto another system that the original bookseller does not list on-at a multiple of the original price. It is quite common when British or European booksellers may be on ABE and usually Amazon.co.uk-and the relisters "gouge" the listings and shove them on another system-usually Amazon.com.   Hence, the ludicrous prices-as well as vague descriptions- "may have library markings"...      The only real copy of Stemming the Tide seems to be from Revival Books, who are a Lancashire based  clearer of bulk books, usually branch library junk from local authorities.  The other listings appear to be relistings of what is probably this copy.

   Not only do relisters discredit normal booksellers with ludicrous prices and vague description-as they have not seen the books they are offering, then customers are often disappointed-even if the original lister has described the book properly. Also, delivery times are all over the place as the relister is ordering from another and this takes time. I try to avoid them and wonder how they continue to trade- they want books sent direct to their customer and give the  end customer's address. How this is allowed I do not know-as if I give an address different to that on my plastic card, the transaction would void. But morality is a flexible concept when money is involved and Amazon and Abe seem to allow it.

    Notable relisters to be avoided unless you like losing your money and going without the book are  Mersea Books in England, listing on Amazon (previously thought to be Southend Books and Videos- carries no stock at all but has pictures of large,full warehouses but appears to be a semi-detached somewhere in East Anglia. Ergode Books in Texas is another- a sole trader who has refined his technique for rip-off by often asking what seem to be reasonable prices. -  delivery and actually getting the book are very problematic.  Ergode is an old acquaintance of the Better Business Bureau in the States.

     One small tip to save a few bob hither and thither is to look at different listings for the same book-    Alibris can often be good. ABE use a mailing grid for default postage that makes books from the US appear expensive, as the US Mail (Lovingly known as "US Snail") has virtually abandoned any pretence of single book parcels surface rate. Alibris collect from the bookseller and consoildate to get across the Atlantic- often the saving in postage can be more than the cost of the book!! It's the .system of madness that is the world shipping system. 

Many thanks for this, and although this is extremely frustrating it makes much sense as to why they try and sell at these ridiculous prices.

 

I have now found a VG Hardcover copy of Stemming the Tide from the USA (via eBAY) at about £34 including postage. I got the Other Side Volume 1 hardcover for £49.29 from Amazon marketplace, which arrived to day in excellent condition - I was expecting such a thick book! I also got Volume 2 from Dagwoods via Amazon for £21.81 inc. postage. I'm pretty pleased with these, and happy with what I paid. Now looking forward to Other Side of The Wire Vol 3