Trouble with abebooks(slightly OT)

Dear Fellow lovers of sf, pulpdom, and collecting in general:
Lately I've had a LOT of disappointing interactions with
abebooks.com; ordering books that were listed and having the order
confirmed, only to find (sometimes days later) that the book was
already sold and I have to start all over.
Is this a function of abebooks' purchase by amazon.com, or have I
just been unlucky? Anyone else having problems?
Curious,
CC

Abebooks died a long time ago.....just forget about them and order from a
more reliable source.

"Chuck C." wrote in message
...
Dear Fellow lovers of sf, pulpdom, and collecting in general:
Lately I've had a LOT of disappointing interactions with
abebooks.com; ordering books that were listed and having the order
confirmed, only to find (sometimes days later) that the book was
already sold and I have to start all over.
Is this a function of abebooks' purchase by amazon.com, or have I
just been unlucky? Anyone else having problems?
Curious,
CC

"Chuck C." wrote in message
...
Dear Fellow lovers of sf, pulpdom, and collecting in general:
Lately I've had a LOT of disappointing interactions with
abebooks.com; ordering books that were listed and having the order
confirmed, only to find (sometimes days later) that the book was
already sold and I have to start all over.
Is this a function of abebooks' purchase by amazon.com, or have I
just been unlucky? Anyone else having problems?
Curious,
CC

There have always been booksellers on ABE who have had poor fulfillment
rates. Contrary to the other post, ABE has not died. And, in my
experience, is still more reliable than Amazon and (of course) Ebay. I
suspect you have simply been unlucky.

On Sep 19, 5:51*am, "Andycat" wrote:
"Chuck C." wrote in message

...

Dear Fellow lovers of sf, pulpdom, and collecting in general:
* Lately I've had a LOT of disappointing interactions with
abebooks.com; ordering books that were listed and having the order
confirmed, only to find (sometimes days later) that the book was
already sold and I have to start all over.
* Is this a function of abebooks' purchase by amazon.com, or have I
just been unlucky? Anyone else having problems?

Part of the problem is that too many of the large venues
let people list books they don't have. As far as I am
concerned that is a practice which should be banned.
Listing a book for sale SHOULD mean that the lister has
possession of the book, but, unfortunately, that is not
always the case. If, within a couple of minutes, you
can't put your hand on that book you are listing, then
you should not be listing it.

* Curious,
* CC

There have always been booksellers on ABE who have had poor fulfillment
rates.

I suspect that most of them are selling books they don't
have in their possession.

*Contrary to the other post, ABE has not died. *And, in my
experience, is still more reliable than Amazon and (of course) Ebay. *I
suspect you have simply been unlucky.

All things considered, ABE is still the most informational
bookselling venue around because it has more professional
sellers. I know some dealers who SELL on Amazon, but
use ABE listings as valuable information sources, since
many of its listings are far more descriptive than those on
the other big venues (not to mention ABE'S great search
engine).

Re Amazon: By the way, one reason I haven't had problems
buying on Amazon is that unless a lister has not sold a
few dozen books and has a customer satisfaction rating
of 98 percent or over, I am very hesitant to deal with
them at all I am all for Amazon's practice of letting
anyone with a credit card call themselves a book-
seller because that puts more books on the market.
On the other hand, while some people like
to grouse about dishonest or unintelligent sellers,
they themselves act like untelligent BUYERS, which
is often the real reason they are griping. They
don't pay enough attention to satisfaction ratings,
and they don't stop and ask themselves if a listing
looks like a seller-wannabe knows anything about
books.

[Memo from the upstairs office]