WWYD -- Just bought some musty books from FSOT Board

[Mama2Three]

I have always had good luck on the WTM FSOT Board, and I let my guard down and didn't ask enough questions. Mea culpa. But the last 2 shipments of books that I bought off of the For Sale Board from 2 different sellers smelled very musty -- like they had been stored in a damp basement for quite a while. The sellers did not describe the books, and I didn't ask -- but both sellers had positive feedback and the books were usual prices, $2ish for a Sonlight 1-2 paperback. In the last shipment, I suspect that a few of the books had a very strong musty smell, and it spread to the others during shipping so that they are all stinky now. The end result is that I have about 20 books that I don't want to have on my DC's book shelves because of the odor (and possible mold?).

 

My loss? Contact the seller and ask for refund? Then I would be out the return shipping. I've never left neg feedback and I won't this time either, but I'm tempted. I guess I'll need to be more careful going forward, but it's been nice not having to go through the third degree and still get good books.

 

Thoughts?

[RobynN]

I bought some smelly books through ebay before. I set them outside on a table opened in the hot sun. I did this for numerous days in the middle of summer - opening them to different pages and the smell slowly disappeared. It probably took a week but at least the books were usable. HTH

[mom2denj]

I bought some smelly books through ebay before. I set them outside on a table opened in the hot sun. I did this for numerous days in the middle of summer - opening them to different pages and the smell slowly disappeared. It probably took a week but at least the books were usable. HTH

 

I have had to do this also. It does take a few days out there, but the smell will go away.:) Good Luck

[melissel]

I bought some smelly books through ebay before. I set them outside on a table opened in the hot sun. I did this for numerous days in the middle of summer - opening them to different pages and the smell slowly disappeared. It probably took a week but at least the books were usable. HTH

 

I agree. I managed to salvage a huge lot of Brighter Vision sets this way when DD4 was a toddler. Apparently the eBay seller was a HEAVY smoker who never opened her windows :glare:

 

There are ways to get rid of the smell but you need to let the seller know. Maybe they didn't realize the books smelled so badly. If they are not polite about the situation then you need to post feedback to let other buyers know what is going on. That is the whole reason for the feedback system.

 

I agree with this too.

[Audrey]

I don't have any advice on whether to leave feedback or not, since I've never used the FSoT board.

 

However, we have discussed smelly books many times before on the board. Here is a link someone gave once that I saved. I've tried the various methods here and found the charcoal one to be the best, although all have worked.

 

http://www.ehow.com/how_2182454_musty-smell-out-books.html

[Mama2Three]

Thanks for the advice. I guess I never thought to search "smelly books" on this board. :lol: I'll try to air them out -- at least some of them should be ok. Some are obviously very old and might just need to go.

[hsmom3tn]

If I was the seller, I would want to know if there was a problem. I hope you can get rid of the smell. I've heard fabric softener sheets can be good for that.

[Lovedtodeath]

I vote for cat litter.