Restricting sales on eBay was AMC books on ebay..
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Restricting sales on eBay was AMC books on ebay..



I'm going to stick my oar in here regarding one aspect of this discussion with which I have a serious problem and it isn't the quality of the books.

I understand from another email that the author allegedly doesn't ship to Canada and in fact handed out a Negative on eBay to a Canadian who used a US address to purchase his book. People who use eBay Negatives to punish their sellers for some imagined insult need to be visited by some of the agents of a company of which I know. It's called "Two Guys in Suits".

I strongly object to such a provincial attitude by a seller particularly in view of the fact that AMC cars are Canadian as much as American. They were built in Canada for many years. Many Canadians appreciate that and consider them to be Canadian automobiles. Perhaps more people should check to see where their 'American Iron' was built. It might come as a great surprise that today more American cars are built out of the US than in it - and Ontario now builds more US cars than all of Michigan.

I appreciate the attitude of this forum which lets us debate the quality of goods offered for sale - and the conditions of their sale. It also reinforces an opinion I have about a certain class of seller which persists in sticking to "US Only" sales.

If our author isn't prepared to sell to a world market he should take his books off eBay and peddle them in a more bucolic fashion - possibly from the trunk of his car at flea markets. Sending a book to Alabama, Alberta or Albania doesn't require a different effort. Books leaving the US simply have to have a small green sticker attached to the package with a line of description and a price. Surely this isn't too much to ask when someone is ready with money in hand. It's especially puzzling as there are about as many people in Canada as in California. Would anyone sell something with a proviso that Californians are excluded?

Possibly he typifies a type of seller I've found more than once, who is afraid to expose himself in any way to his own government for fear that the 'revenoors' are going to come knocking. Rest assured, that filling out a stick-on form at the post office is not likely to send a tax inspector to pay a surprise visit. Maybe he's afraid that some dumb Canuck is going to try to send him funny money instead of the old long green.

I recently advised a "US Only" seller that an item he was selling (related to another of my hobbies) was hugely underpriced and inaccurately described. I told him, that as he was selling an item of great appeal to sellers in Europe, he should consider dropping his 'US Only' preference. He stopped the auction (which had a day to go) and re-listed as I suggested.

His final price was about 10 times what he expected and about 8 times what his bid price was prior to closing the auction. He was very grateful. His explanation for restricting serious money in his sales was that he 'knew' that it was 'too much trouble' dealing with foreigners. He has changed his tune now and his sales have never looked better. How many sellers realize that Europe is now larger in population and buying power than the US?

Moral: We live in a global village - not on isolated islands. Get with the program or get out of the way.

John

PS: Apologies to those who may feel maligned by my remarks. I try to 'tell it like it is'.

I'm all for knowledge and content.  Especially if you don't have to pay
$50->100 for it.
I think he is smart enough to teach me a few things and I don't begrudge him
his ideas or conclusions even if I may have some differences with them.

You might yet have to use your own sticky notes for tabs to find the thing
you want but I do that even for those well published indexed books.  He is
doing his thing the way he wants to do it and that's OK with me...  I'm glad
he has his friends and helpers in doing this.  Many are AMC List members or
have been over the years.  His way is good enough for me.
_____________________________________________________________________
Ralph Ausmann  -  Hillsboro, OR - Ol' Retro >
http://mysite.verizon.net/res79g4m/






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