How often do you get Used books not as described

[Emba]

If you order used books online, how often do you receive books that are clearly and significantly lower in condition than listed? Two books (out of 8 ) I’ve ordered in the last month have been clearly only “acceptable”, even though they were listed as “very good”. Now there is a fine line between “good” and “very good”, but dog eared covers, water damage, and broken spines are clearly far over the fine line.

Condition matters to me, and I choose what I’d be happy to read. So this is frustrating to me, because even though the companies have quickly issued refunds (at least, for the first of those 2, and for one previous incident. Just submitted refund request for the 2nd.) and it’s not a lot of trouble, I’m stuck with a copy that’s not what I wanted. They’re cheap enough that the companies haven’t wanted me to ship them back.

I’ve ordered used books off of the internet for years, but only had this happen for the first time within the last 6 months. Of course, I’ve ordered more, lately. Have I just been lucky till now?

[JIN MOUSA]

I'm at about 50/50 in the last couple of years on books being in the condition described, which is annoying. 

I'm picky about which used listing I click. I look for ones in Very Good or Like New condition, that specifically say there are no markings. Even with that, 50/50. 

[Emba]

Exactly! If I wanted an acceptable copy that’s what I’d order on purpose. But I choose the best possible condition that is in my price range.

[moonflower]

I buy used books on Ebay with good results.

[Corraleno]

I've ordered hundreds of used books over the past decade of homeschooling, and I've gotten most of DS's college books this year used from Amazon, and in all that time I've only gotten maybe 4-5 books that were not as described. I only order books in "Like New" or "Very Good" condition, I look for sellers with 98%+ positive reviews, and I read any negative reviews to see if they relate to condition (vs slow shipping or something). I will also pay a bit more if there is a detailed description of the actual book rather than just the usual boiler-plate (e.g. "slight scuffing to the cover, name inside front, a few dog-eared pages, but no writing or highlighting" vs "may contain some marks or highlighting..." etc.). Once I ordered a very expensive hardcover, intended as a gift, which was described as Like New and was perfect inside, but the cover had a ton of indentations and scuffing, so I returned it. I can recall 2 books that explicitly said no writing or highlighting, which actually did have writing or highlighting, and both of those were refunded. But other than that the only other issues I can think of were maybe a couple of paperbacks that were a little more beat up than expected. 

[Farrar]

Maybe about 5% of the time? Not that often. I do tell the story of the book I ordered that arrived obviously having been, at some point in its life, soaked in cat pee. And I once got a totally different book from the one I ordered. But usually, they're fine. It's totally worth the risk, I'd say.

[Arcadia]

Once when we bought a used book that was an Amazon rental textbook. We picked Used - Like New and the hardcover textbook came with a sticker that said Used - Good on the front and back cover. Amazon refunded the amount and paid for return shipping.

[elegantlion]

I generally buy used from Amazon and like other look for "like new" or "very good" condition. I've had a few not meet that criteria over the years. Amazon has stated condition description on the website somewhere. Anything "very good" is not supposed to have writing at all, whereas "good" condition can. I also check reviews on the seller and if there are conditions concerns noted, I skip that seller. If it doesn't meet stated conditions, you can contact Amazon. I've had them refund me as well. 

[moonflower]

I just find Ebay that slight bit cheaper.

I did buy one once that said good condition, might have some writing.

Boy, was that an understatement!  Some kid had had to read this book for school, clearly (it was I think one of the Dark is Rising sequence) and she'd annotated like every second sentence with the most redundant annoying annotations possible.  Like for example, if this were the quote:

“Go away," he said. "Go away. I wish you had never come here. I wish I had never heard of the Light and the Dark, and your damned old Merriman and his rhymes. If I had your golden harp now I would throw it in the sea. I am not a part of your stupid quest anymore, I don't care what happens to it. And Cafall was never a part of it either, or a part of your pretty pattern. He was my dog, and I loved him more than anything in the world, and now he is dead. Go away.” 

Every third word would have been underlined and there would be sentences written going up the sides of the page and at the top and bottom saying things like, "wishes he had not heard of light. if had harp would throw away.  not part of quest. doesn't care. cafall = cavall. was bran's favorite dog. liked cafall a lot.  now dead."

etc.  

made the book unreadable.  So now I do avoid anything that says there may be writing.

[Tap]

Most of the time we get books in better condition that I expect. It is rare that we get one that isn't as described in a negative way. Sellers are usually great about making it right. That is how they protect their ratings. 

Come to think about it, most of the time there is a problem, it is when they ship in a plain manilla folder and the book has creases from shipping. Could have looked great before they shipped, but since they did little to protect it, it gets bent in the bag or mail box. 

[cintinative]

Mostly it has been okay. I have had a few bad ones--one that was listed as very good but had a spine that was falling apart. I can only guess they mislabeled the book somehow. I also have had books with highlighting throughout.

I got a math book that had writing on every single page. I got a refund for that one. 

[KidsHappen]

I have the worst time with textbooks. I once ordered one that was supposed to be used-good condition (and I know what that means because I also sell books on Amazon) and I received a book that wasn't even acceptable. I notified the company and they sent me another book which was in even worse condition. So now I am very careful when ordering textbooks, i.e. I look for exact descriptions of that exact book from a highly positive seller. But as far as other books I look for a seller with say 97% positive  or higher ratings with a somewhat specific description and if it arrives in better condition that a new book I let my toddler play with for a few hours, then I am happy. I don't like writing or highlighting because it affects my ability to read the book but will tolerate creases, dog earring or wear. With these basic guidelines I would say I am satisfied 99% of the time.

[RootAnn]

Rarely do they come in worse condition. I've received 20% or so in better condition than described.

But about half the time when ordering a textbook, I get the wrong one - even if I've specifically contacted the seller to have them check the ISBN with what they listed it under. (This is almost always because of teacher editions or solution manuals, FWIW.) I'm assuming they don't actually check like I ask them to. So, when I get the wrong book, I email them a copy of their assurance that it is the right one since it is on that listing - with a picture of the wrong book they sent - and they have to refund me. Most of the time, they don't even want me to ship it back. I don't need all these extra copies - which is why I go to the trouble of contacting the seller to check before I order it & they ship it!!!!

[Emba]

Well, I have gotten a textbook that was a teachers edition when I needed the student book. That was a big pain to return.

i have gotten a few, especially homeschool textbooks, that were slightly worse than expected, but I didn’t fuss or try to get a refund because it may have been a pa-tay-to/pa-tah-to sort of thing and the price was decent.

But a casual glance could tell you these two most recent ones were not “very good”. And I hate reading a book with a broken spine.

I do prefer eBay if I can see the photo of the book. I’ll pay a little more for a book I can see is in good shape vs one with no photo that just claims to be in shape.

 

[Emba]

1 hour ago, Farrar said:

Maybe about 5% of the time? Not that often. I do tell the story of the book I ordered that arrived obviously having been, at some point in its life, soaked in cat pee. And I once got a totally different book from the one I ordered. But usually, they're fine. It's totally worth the risk, I'd say.

Oh, once on bookmooch, which in my mind I classify  differently than buying a book, I got a book that had been chewed by a mouse and had a mouse dropping wedged in the front cover.

[Junie]

I generally only buy used books on ebay and only if there is an actual photo of the exact books I am purchasing.  This gives me a chance to examine what Very Good, Good, and Acceptable mean to that seller.

[Zoo Keeper]

1 hour ago, RootAnn said:

….

But about half the time when ordering a textbook, I get the wrong one - even if I've specifically contacted the seller to have them check the ISBN with what they listed it under. (This is almost always because of teacher editions or solution manuals, FWIW.) I'm assuming they don't actually check like I ask them to. So, when I get the wrong book, I email them a copy of their assurance that it is the right one since it is on that listing - with a picture of the wrong book they sent - and they have to refund me. Most of the time, they don't even want me to ship it back. I don't need all these extra copies - which is why I go to the trouble of contacting the seller to check before I order it & they ship it!!!!

Ohhh, honey, I can sing that song too.   

I am currently telling myself NOT to hit that button and order an "Annotated Teacher's Edition" that I need because I *know* it has to be a typo. - Maybe someone is just copy and pasting listings from another seller.  But the price is sooo good!  Maybe it is the right one THIS time….  

Talk me down. ;)

I hate hunting the Holy Grail of teacher editions and solution manuals in used book land.  And I hate my husband's face when he says, "I thought we already had that book…"

[TheReader]

We've gotten a few that were a little worse -- ex: my son's gov't book right now. I'm sure we selected Good (that's my threshold), but this one has doodles in the margins, devil horns drawn on various politicians, highlighting, notes, etc. It doesn't affect his usage of the book, so we kept it, we didn't pay a ton, so it's fine. 

Once we got one that was so much worse that we returned it -- it was the accompanying workbook for gov't, and it was listed very specifically as having 2 pages missing, and stated what 2 pages they were. We felt we could deal with that, so ordered it. Week one, sure enough, his teacher assigned those pages. We got a friend to copy them and moved on. The next week, the assigned pages were also missing. Huh. I started flipping through at that point.....25% of the book was missing. I wrote an email, listing every single missing page contrasted with the "only 2 pages missing" listing, and they refunded us & apologized. 

Mostly we haven't had issues, though. Amazon, 98% positive or higher, and as often as possible "shipped/fulfilled by Amazon" just in case. 

[2_girls_mommy]

Really only twice in years of ordering online. Once I got a book that was very water damages and even had the word "Free" stamped across the front where someone had picked it up as a giveaway, then marked it good and received my money. I was so mad. I can't remember if took the time to get a refund or not. It was an extra, not something I needed. 

The next time I ordered a used SOTW 2 AG. and a large section of the student pages were missing, and it was marked good. I emailed them that how can a workbook missing half of the pages be good condition and they returned my money. 

But most of the time my books are pretty good. I am not super picky though. If we are only going to use a book once, I don't mind a beat up copy. If it is something I want to keep and use between kids, I want a like new copy to start with. 

[SKL]

Honestly, I can't remember getting any used books that were in poor quality compared to what was advertised.  I do try to buy from sellers with a very high satisfaction rating.

[Violet Crown]

Dh and I buy used books online all the time, but rarely books for homeschooling. The only time there's been an inaccuracy in condition involved a seller that turned out to be a homeschooling family. It was a blank timeline, listed as "like new," but arrived with all the Sonlight timeline stickers glued into it and lots of events written in. When I insisted on a refund, I was told to send the original back at my own expense. When I explained to them what I was actually going to do, the seller immediately refunded my money and explained that her kids handled the sales and it was their fault.

Edited March 1, 2019 by Violet Crown

[PeterPan]

I've ordered a ridiculous number of used books over the years and I've only had maybe 3 or 4 that were an issue. But really, I'm obsessive about who I order from. I read their reviews, look at their stats. Don't use new vendors unless you're willing to take a chance and try to get people with 97+% positive reviews. I look at the nature of any negatives to see if there's a trend or if those things will bug me.

[Negin]

I don't think I ever remember being disappointed with any used book and I order them quite often. 

[Lanny]

We have purchased dozens of used books (the vast majority are textbooks for DD) over the past 6+ years.  She became an "expert" on inspecting used books, when they arrived, so I could leave "feedback" for the Sellers. I can only remember one (1) textbook that was not in as good condition as described.  Many of the books have been in much better condition that described in the listing of the Seller.

One big surprise was when an Astronomy textbook arrived. It had been a Rental textbook in a Community College in Iowa and there were numerous things on the Paper Cover, announcing that it was a Rental textbook. But, when DD inspected it, she said that it was in almost perfect condition and she was very happy with it.

I did discover that sometimes I can buy the same textbook on eBay, possibly from the same Seller, for less $ than on Amazon.  I shifted to buying most of the books on eBay, for various reasons.

If the Seller is a large company, I just click to buy, but if it is an individual, I send them a message on the Marketplace (almost always that has been Amazon or eBay for me) to be sure they are there and not away on vacation or something, before I click to buy.

A couple of times, I ordered from ThriftBooks on eBay and they cancelled my orders because the item had been sold on another marketplace.  After that, I ordered directly from their web site and there were no problems.

A few years ago, one of my cousins wrote me that she buys tons of used books and is surprised at how many of them seem to be Brand New.  We had at least one experience like that.

[Guest]

For myself, a very small number of times. Once, I ordered a public library withdrawal copy and it was in pretty much deplorable condition. It made me decide not to do library withdrawals online ever again. 

Another time, I got a book through Paperbackswap which had been inadequately wrapped for shipping, resulting in a big torn corner of the cover. I kept the book, but notified the swapper that she needed to wrap more sturdily. It was just a cheap paperback novel, so nothing worth getting upset about, but I did want the swapper to know. 

I mostly only choose used if I’m not terribly particular about the condition. For college textbooks, I considered highlighting throughout a bonus, lol. I think buyers often did, too, if they were buying my highlighted books. 

[Kidlit]

Once I got a book  that was an ARC.  I went ahead and read it aloud to my girls, but because I had already read the book before, I know that the ARC was NOT the final version of the book. This is actually not permissible from the publisher. I was quite aggravated. 

Once I got a book that had been mangled in shipping.  ThriftBooks did give me a refund, even though it wasn’t their fault. 

[lailasmum]

Not very often. I had one that was full of writing that wasn't mentioned and one that had a ripped page. Mostly they are better than I'm expecting.