Buying used textbooks...mini-rant inside...

[Sue G in PA]

Okay, so if a textbook (not a workbook...a TEXTBOOK) is advertised as having "some pencil marks throughout", you expect some pencil marks throughout. No problem. Well, I can take circled problems, underlines, minor calculations, etc. What I don't expect is having to erase every.single.page, every.single.problem because every.single.problem has been worked out IN THE TEXTBOOK! :( This was a previously used ps text and so I'm wondering if the students realize the difference btwn TEXTbooks and WORKbooks! I just spent the last 1/2 hour erasing and I'm only 1/4 of the way through the book! If the blasted problems weren't all worked out and it was just problems circled and such, I wouldn't care. I'd leave it alone. Ugh. That's all. Minor rant. I.hate.erasing!

[Jennifer in MI]

Can you contact the seller and see if you can work something out? Seems like there was a miscommunication there somewhere!

[GreenKitty]

Seems a bit over the top for 'some pencil marks'. I wouldn't like it either!

[OhM]

We have the same problem here with a hardback grammar book - answers written right in the student text. DD & I curse the previous owner (not nice, but we do!) every time we scrub a lesson "clean". Several were actually in PEN! Aaargh!

I really should have worked something out w/the previous owner. Consider this a plea to all who are intending to sell the books later - don't work the problems in the textbook!!!

[GVA]

I'm to the point that I don't buy anything with marks inside now unless it says specifically something like -- "the first ten pages were done in pencil" or the "the first chapter has highlights but it is clean the rest of the way."

Several years ago I bought a college text that said "some highlighting" and almost the ENTIRE BOOK was highlighted. It was so distracting!

[Sue G in PA]

I would complain, but it was an expensive text for only $5. Get what you pay for, huh? I'm really wondering now if the time spent erasing and the frustration are worth it, KWIM? Thinking about paying more for a "clean" text next time!

[Tap, tap, tap]

I bought Veritas Workbooks that said "only a few pages" had been written on in pencil but otherwise "very good condition". Over 30% of the workbook was written on (somewhere around 80 pages!), some in pen and the maps marked with marker. This was only one of the problems I had with the auction. Oh well, I just don't waste my time now.

I tried to work out a resolution with her but she wouldn't respond and then she waited until the last day to ding me with a negative comment.


I figure that I will just buy new now, unless I can see it first.

Lesson learned!

I am jsut happy that I am not one the people who have paid for something and then never had it show up. Then you are left wondering if there was a mistake or if you were duped. At least we know we were duped! :(

[mcconnellboys]

I'd contact the seller and complain,

Regena

[Beth in Central TX]

The price doesn't matter to me. If the book (textbook, workbook, whatever) is advertised with some pencil marks, but there are marks on every page, then I would complain and get my money back.

I shop a lot on Amazon.com marketplace. Their website states that a book in "very good" condition does not contain any marks on the pages. Therefore, I only purchase books with a very good rating. If I get the book and it has marks in it, I contact the seller and get my money back including shipping so that I can purchase another book without the marks. I only buy from sellers with a 96% rating or higher. I've never had a seller with a high rating and a book that wasn't rated properly deny me a full refund.