Is this an inadequate performance?
Dear booksellers,
yesterday a customer started a return, with the following justification:
" Performance or quality not adequate : The corner of the dust jacket has been cut off by the seller."
When he contacted me, he asked to have a refund of 90% of the price, because the price tag was missing. In his opinion, a price cut means that he had received a recycled second-hand gift. He wanted to buy it, in order to make a gift.
I replied that I had cut the price tag, because the book was 22 years old, therefore the price tag was no longer valid.
I added that, if the book had been a recycled gift, he would have found a dedication inside, but there was none.
One hour later, he opened the return of the book.
The irony is that, if the book had had still the price tag, he probably would have cut it!
Was my performance in this case non adequate or was the customer super fussy?
Thank you for your professional opinion.
Guy
17 replies
Seller_FQHkqHJI5SqTh
Surely as a bookseller you mentioned in the description that the jacket is price clipped.
Granted it doesn't mean your buyer would have read the description.
Seller_19xPhE8YgkmxW
Hello GUY_S_BOOKS,
Whether the D. J. has a price or not or if it has been removed is very important to some customers. The lack can mean a Book Club Jacket married to the book or the removal can mean a rermaindered copy...
If you were selling the book as NEW (and not as 'As New') I think you were wrong to clip the price.
And yes, some customers will argue that the original price should hold 20 years later, but in my experience they're looking to negotiate a price reduction and don't really believe that inflation can be ignored...
All Best
Brian
Seller_mxez2L8QjE6WW
This raises quite a few questions. 1) was the book sold as 'new' i.e. it came direct from the publisher/distributor. 2) did you state that it was a 1st edition or a reprint (which it must be if it is 'new' & 22 years old). 3) why do you think it is necessary to clip the price from the dust jacket? To some people the original price is an important element of the book & sellers should always state if the jacket (or anywhere where the price has been printed) has been clipped.
Seller_MT8rt0A2OpbCx
I am not a book seller, or collector (I think I might have read one once), but IMHO if something is sold as new, it should be as manufactured with nothing cut off or changed. If there is a price printed, that would be what I expect to pay. If it says 5'11d, I might accept a price of 30p. If it was advertised as collectable, that would be hugely different.
Seller_AlYpsVHv0gj21
I'm afraid to say that I think you have made a big mistake. The condition of the dustjacket has always been an important issue for many bookbuyers. In my opinion any damage (and price clipping certainly counts as damage) must be reported in the condition of the book. You only have to glance through some of the adverts by other booksellers to see how many times the phrases "dustjacket corner clipped" or "not price clipped" come up to see how important it is.
Seller_AlYpsVHv0gj21
I should have read some of the later comments before making my post
I'm afraid that in my opinion you have made a further mistake in describing a book with a clipped dustjacket as "NEW". As for describing a 22 year old book as "New" I am very doubtful. There were many debates on this subject on the old forum and opinions were divided. I always say that it is very difficult to say when a book is no longer "NEW" but 22 years is stretching it too far. It used to be that you could put comments in the condition box for "NEW" books then about 7 or 8 years ago Amazon said you could no longer do this. I was told by an Amazon person that "NEW" was quite clear and that if you needed to add any comment then it could not be "NEW".
