Number 6 Posted August 9 Share Posted August 9 (edited) On 8/8/2024 at 4:47 AM, conservativeone said: Graham Holroyd has a price guide and condition section in that book but If you are a high grade condition freak you will be frustrated by his grading. As others have stated and my experience is the same there are always some dicey grades in any given order. I will forget about him-then the bug will hit and I notice his lisitings on ABE. See some nice high grade books in his inventory and wonder why I haven't ordered more from him-get the order and then I remember why I haven't ordered more from him! His inventory is vast -which probably prevents him from posting photos of covers-but I wish he would add more. Tried many book sellers on ABE-don't order unless they post a picture-more times than not the grading is terrible. Coming from comic collecting, the widespread practice of no pictures/stock photos in the book collecting hobby is really hard to wrap my head around. I mean, I get it, it's a byproduct of book collecting being largely mail order engaged in by both dealers and collectors who tend to be Luddites. And when you're talking about listing dozens of paperbacks every couple days that are priced $10 or less I totally get throwing it up without a picture. But so often I'm looking at books listed for hundreds or even thousands of dollars and no picture. Up until a few years ago I would cut this behavior some slack but considering that 1) everyone has a phone with a high-quality camera built in and 2) these guys are listing books online which means they have at least a remedial amount of tech savvy, I'm starting to get less patient with it. Sure you can ask for pictures but often times I either get ignored or get a huffy reply like they're really being put out. 'Can't you see I'm an ABAA seller with 5 stars on ABE?' My question is: what's more of a hassle? Taking a couple minutes to pop a cellphone pic and shoot it in an email? Or processing a return? There's a lot of chatter here about the possibility of book collecting being the next "thing" but there's going to have to be a serious shift in the dealing culture if it's going to attract a larger pool of buyers, I think. Edited August 9 by Number 6 jimjum12, Sarg, Point Five and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
