\n
This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t my normal blogging fare, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m annoyed and who else should share in my annoyance but you, a random reader?<\/p>\n
Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little conversation I had with a seller on Amazon.com. This guy had listed his book as being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Like New.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It seemed cheap, and the book was fairly old, so I asked the seller whether it really was like new.<\/p>\n
Response:<\/p>\n
weeklyrob:<\/p>\n
The book is Listed “Like New” Not “as NEW”<\/p>\n
Do not forget that the book is almost 30 years old. It is good value as compared to the other listed collectible books. Text is clean back cover has minor \u00c2\u00a0nail like scratch. No DJ.<\/p>\n
Ari<\/p>\n
My response:<\/p>\n
Thanks for your response. I don’t know the difference between “as new” and “like new.”<\/p>\n
The fact that it’s so old is what made me wonder whether it was really like new.<\/p>\n
Thanks again,<\/p>\n
weeklyrob<\/p>\n
I was obviously too understated. What I meant was, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no fucking difference between like new and as new. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re claiming that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, well, you know, LIKE NEW! And it isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like new, so you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a liar.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
But I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t say it that way. I said it my way, with all sorts of sneering sarcasm in my head that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to make it to the page.<\/p>\n
[People sometimes think that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a prickly kind of person. Imagine if they actually got that I was being prickly three times as much as they notice.]<\/p>\n
His response:<\/p>\n
weeklyrob:<\/p>\n
As new means NEW.<\/p>\n
A collectible book can not be listed as new.<\/p>\n
If the covers, hinges, text is in pristine but not as a 2006, NEW book is listed as “Like New” book. Just compare the other two books listed on Amazon and you will see the value.<\/p>\n
If you are not totally satisfied you can return the book. For some reason the book is well kept.<\/p>\n
Ari<\/p>\n
My response:<\/p>\n
I don’t really know what you’re playing at. I was trying to be polite, but I<\/p>\n
think that either you really don’t know how to list a book, or something<\/p>\n
worse.<\/p>\n
Amazon.com says this about a “Like New” book:<\/p>\n
“<\/span>Like New: An apparently unread copy in perfect condition. Dust cover is <\/span><\/p>\n intact; pages are clean and are not marred by notes or folds of any kind.<\/p>\n Suitable for presenting as a gift.<\/span>“<\/span><\/p>\n Since your book is missing the dust cover, and it has a scratch on the<\/p>\n cover, it is NOT in perfect condition. Since you also mention that I should<\/p>\n remember that it’s 30 years old, it makes me wonder even more. “Like New”<\/p>\n means that it’s just like it’s new. It doesn’t mean that it’s held up really<\/p>\n well for being so old.<\/p>\n I won’t even argue the idea that “Like New” and “As New” mean different<\/p>\n things, but please note that to the vast majority of buyers and sellers,<\/p>\n there’s no difference whatsoever.<\/p>\n Please change the misleading listing. I’ll buy it elsewhere.<\/p>\n Thanks,<\/p>\n weeklyrob<\/p>\n I never expected a response from him. But he sent one. In a weird sort of way, I respect that he bothered:<\/p>\n Have a nice day.<\/p>\n And I did. But I never checked whether he changed the listing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t my normal blogging fare, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m annoyed and who else should share in my annoyance but you, a random reader? Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a little conversation I had with a seller on Amazon.com. This guy had listed his book as being \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Like New.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d It seemed cheap, and the book was fairly old, so I asked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","category-languagelit","category-miscellany"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyrob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyrob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyrob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyrob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyrob.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyrob.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyrob.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyrob.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyrob.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}