Who Eats the Cost of Recovered Stolen Books? 1 1

[Bookery]

19 hours ago, VintageComics said:

I agree with the principle of dealing with reputable people to minimize risk.

This is the most important thing.  If the seller seems shady... they probably are.  I've turned down good stuff before just because there's that intangible bad feeling about it.  I've even gone far enough to go ahead and as they leave, jot down the license plate number just in case I ever get a call about the items.  But once in awhile someone gets pass the "warning sensors".  About 90% of the time, the thief is someone known to the original owner, which is why they are in a much better position to seek restitution than a third party can ever be.  I can think of four times off hand that items came to me stolen (or in some cases, supposedly stolen... even that gets murky).  In all cases it was someone known to the victim.  One was the next door neighbors, one was the contractor hired to work inside the home, one was the owner's son, and another was the owner's girlfriend... though he refused to press charges.  In a 5th case, there was a ring of professional thieves (they hit all of the local shops, plus chain stores, plus storage lockers).  I found out about them when one of the thieves stole the stolen merchandise from the other thieves and tried to sell it out from under them!