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I don't see any stories here that involve buying from the public so I'll share a few.
There haven't been any bad experiences recently so these will be either generic or abridged because my memory is abridged. I'm in books but I'm sure people in records and clothes have similar experiences.
First the dumpers. These are people who try to sell you a load of crap and then ask if they could leave the rejects at the counter while they get their car only to never be seen again. The real problem is that I only have about 75% accurate record of predicting who turn out to be one of these people.
The over describers. These people will call you to see if you are interested in what they have to sell. A reasonable thing to do. But when you tell me that your books are in great condition don't get upset when I reject water damaged 8 year thillers without jackets.
The desperate. Most people sell their books when they are moving, or cleaning house. Some are voracious readers who need to reduce their book spending as much as they can (Yay for them. They usually take trade credit). Sadly there are the others. The people who are selling their books to make rent, or worse, get a fix. These people keep yammering at you while you are examining the books, telling you how great/important or in what great condition it is in. Dude! It's in my hands and I've got ten years experience in the trade. If your desperate sales pitch is going to affect my evaluation at all it will be downward.
The thieves. Believe it or not people are constantly trying to sell us stolen books. And we can tell. When an unwashed punk junkie brings in 10 brand new $80.00 art books it's not hard to figure out that they are stolen. It's actually kind of fun. When this happens we take the books. When they object I offer to call the cops and let them resolve it. I've yet to be taken up on this. We then call around town to find where they were stolen from. Strangely the big boxes don't seem to mind being ripped off. When we call them they don't even offer to check their inventory for missing items. We hold them for a couple of weeks and then, Yay, free inventory.
The ones with subterranean taste. They will bring in boxes of true crime, romances and franchise fiction and be surprised when we don't buy any of it.
It's getting late, so I'll have to save specific stories for later.
There haven't been any bad experiences recently so these will be either generic or abridged because my memory is abridged. I'm in books but I'm sure people in records and clothes have similar experiences.
First the dumpers. These are people who try to sell you a load of crap and then ask if they could leave the rejects at the counter while they get their car only to never be seen again. The real problem is that I only have about 75% accurate record of predicting who turn out to be one of these people.
The over describers. These people will call you to see if you are interested in what they have to sell. A reasonable thing to do. But when you tell me that your books are in great condition don't get upset when I reject water damaged 8 year thillers without jackets.
The desperate. Most people sell their books when they are moving, or cleaning house. Some are voracious readers who need to reduce their book spending as much as they can (Yay for them. They usually take trade credit). Sadly there are the others. The people who are selling their books to make rent, or worse, get a fix. These people keep yammering at you while you are examining the books, telling you how great/important or in what great condition it is in. Dude! It's in my hands and I've got ten years experience in the trade. If your desperate sales pitch is going to affect my evaluation at all it will be downward.
The thieves. Believe it or not people are constantly trying to sell us stolen books. And we can tell. When an unwashed punk junkie brings in 10 brand new $80.00 art books it's not hard to figure out that they are stolen. It's actually kind of fun. When this happens we take the books. When they object I offer to call the cops and let them resolve it. I've yet to be taken up on this. We then call around town to find where they were stolen from. Strangely the big boxes don't seem to mind being ripped off. When we call them they don't even offer to check their inventory for missing items. We hold them for a couple of weeks and then, Yay, free inventory.
The ones with subterranean taste. They will bring in boxes of true crime, romances and franchise fiction and be surprised when we don't buy any of it.
It's getting late, so I'll have to save specific stories for later.
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