god dammit, i'm a moron (aka: getting burned by a bookstore) (1 Viewer)

jordan

lothario speedwagon
so, i went to a bookstore today and bought a first printing of mcsweeney's issue 3, hoping to get it signed by dave eggers, who was doing a book signing in the store at the time. the book was unpriced, so the guy priced it for me at $50, which is kind of high for that book, but i didn't mind, since i got it signed right away.

well, i got it home and realized that i didn't inspect it long enough, and it's not a first printing. so i call about returning it - the guy i talk to says that, since i got it signed, it's not in the same condition as when i bought it (?!), so i probably can't return it, although i can leave a voicemail for the rare book guy who sold it to me in the first place. i'm pissed at myself for not looking the book over carefully enough, but the guy clearly told me it was a first printing, and i was in a hurry to get the thing signed before eggers left, so i bought it on his word.

no real point to this story, i'm just mad about it and wanted to vent to the handful of book collectors here.
 
Well, that certainly sucks, but you won't really want to hear this: If you want it done right, do it yourself! My Dad drilled that so far into my brain that I can't even let my wife fill the dog dish. ;)

But, if the rare bookseller has any integrity, he'd take it back.
 
Yeah, I would think that someone has to make good on the deal. Is the rare book guy also the owner of the bookstore ? If not, play one against the other.

Somebody has to amend for the lie you were told.
That's just good business, right ?
 
Ouch. While I understand the technicality... you'd think a signature would be different than dropping something in the toilet or running it over with a bus (just for example). As someone who works with books and awful returns fairly often... If it was something as a signature, I would personally still take the return.

But then again, I'm fairly lenient.

Oh and you aren't a moron. I've made purchases like that and gotten the item home (or in the mail) and not been 100% happy with the description. But unless its a MAJOR purchase and a MAJOR discrepancy in description, I usually take the good and the bad and just keep it.
 
he didn't lie about it; he was just wrong. for those that are unfamiliar, we're talking about fairly unassuming white paperback books, and he was separating "firsts" from later printings, and he seemed to know what he was doing. i just think it's a "oh you're right, my mistake, i'll take it back" because he did misrepresent the product to me. we'll see if he calls me back tomorrow or if i can get a hold of him. i have a feeling he'll just offer me store credit.
 
I'm afraid I'm not familiar with McSweeneys... but I am now (thanks Wiki!) and am interested.

I did misread. Its a shame, but a simple mistake on the part of the seller... you'd think you could get something out of it...
 
Torches & rusty pikes! Storm the gate! There will be blood!!!!

Pretty lousy to hear it...although, it would make a funny short story, if ever you wanted to write it! Well, maybe when it's not so fresh...
 
well, i actually did get a hold of the guy who sold it to me, and he was cool about letting me return it... just the guy yesterday who hinted otherwise that had me all mad. i guess maybe we should either have the mods lock this thread or use it as the catch-all thread for shady bookseller practices.

speaking of which - who's got $800 i can borrow? there's a signed copy of "for whom the bell tows" on ebay right now, and i've decided i can't live with out it.
 
I'm going in for a loan next week. You can have the $800 as long as after you buy the book, you take it to a rare book store and try to get double. And get it on tape. Oh and there has to be nudity.

You know what, I may need to write up a contract...
 
in happier mcsweeney's news, i just reorganized my mcsweeney's shelf so all the issues are together... i'm missing 6 issues out of 31, but that includes the first 3, which are the most expensive. that's one of the other reasons i was bummed out that the copy of #3 i bought yesterday turned out to be a 2nd printing.

my goal someday is to assemble a full run of copies signed by eggers (the editor).

actually, i may sell the ones i have in order to get that hemingway. i heard the same seller is also offering "the owed man and the see."
 
I am selling a signed, numbered, limited edition of The Owed Man And The See that includes a vibrant acrylic painting by Hemingway. It is a presentation copy, and has a considerable amount of Hemingway's blood on the colophon.

Now I'm no scientist, but I think you can send a scraping of that blood to an outfit in Saskatchewan and they will send you the DNA sequence and a vial of synthesized human-like tissue that you can use to grow your own clone. So if you buy this book, you can re-grow Hemingway.

What you do with your Hemingway is up to you. But some ideas:
  • Keep him in a cage and force him to write for food, then you send the work out to big New York city publishers under your name.
  • Teach him to wash dishes and sweep floors - low cost live in help!
  • Chain him up in the yard to keep strangers and door to door salesmen away.
  • Lock him in the attic and charge people admission to your home to hear the "poltergeist" that lives in the ceiling.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. Your Hemingway is suitable for an almost limitless number of uses.

The price for this life-altering volume? Starting bid of $1250, with a BUY IT NOW price of a low, low $4999.99. It is up on the Yahoo Auctions site. I'm sure you can find it.
 

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