posted on January 24, 2001 01:20:37 PM new
Wow. And here I am just spending 100 to 200 bucks a month at half.com because I want the book for the subject matter and it can't be found elsewhere, or it's newer and cheaper than buying it new.
I suspect there are lots like me. Don't care about the binding. Don't care about hardback versus paperback. Am not a "book" collector as much as I am an "information" collector. If the information is there, that's all I care about.
posted on January 24, 2001 02:03:30 PM new
Half.com never was a "garage start-up" as it was developed by financial techie wizard Josh Kopelmann who already had made a name for himself and was able to secure funding for Half, right from the get go.
However, for over half a year Half has had the gargantuan, the mighTy, the uncrushable, unstoppable eBay behind it, and plenty of registered Half.com users presumed that the database would improve in accuracy.
Simply because YOU and I purchase books, frequently, which are held together with rubberbands, as neither of us care about book condition, does NOT justify in this day & age, the Digital 21st Century of having an inaccurate, mediocre, secondary database for our customers to browse through.
PLENTY of times, when I've been trying to locate books for offline, private RL customers, it is mandatory that I surf over to bn.com to find out ACCURATE DETAILED information about a Half.com entry.
I have simply assumed they were swamped.
I did NOT --- it would NEVER have occcured to me that they did not immediately hire EXPERTS to advise them.
It is obvious that they do NOT care, and I do NOT choose to have a slew of unhappy customers, because HALF has inaccurately described any given title.
It NEVER never never never would have occured to me that they thought things are just fine, and that they NEVER on their own ever considered placing the name of the producer of the book, THE PUBLISHER on the book description page, AND obviously, they have NEVER, not even once spoken to any librarian or any bookseller, or that would have occured LOOOOOOOONNNg ago.
I am SICK of mediocrity, particularly when that mediocrity has the financial backing of the Great, the gargantuan, the mighty uncrushable, unstoppable eBay.
And that some stupid, uneducated, minimum wage grunge ex-bookstore clerk needs to enlighten these gawd awful arrogant Net Billionaires that the EMPEROR'S NAKED STATUS IS GLARINGLY APPARENT is simply deeeeeeeeeZgusting.
PleeeeZ do not feel that I am *yellling* at you --- I am simply disgusted with Half, and have in my email storage a whole number of absolutely I-N-S-I-P-I-D email replies, whose only saving grace is that when I've retrieved them and shared them with dh, he uP and rotflol so loud, that even I had to see the *humor* in this stooooooopid situation.
In closing, I frankly RARELY care what condition books are in for my own personal reading library; however, if I am selling an item I intend to HONESTLY describe it, which is kinda difficult when I have to use their meagre description field to insert at times the actual publisher, the CORRECT ISBN, or the CORRECT title, or the CORRECT edition, or the CORRECT publishing date.
AND I SHOULD BE HAPPY THAT THEY HAVE INSERTED 100,OOO MORE ENTRIES IN THE BOOKS CATAGORY??
How difficult is it to be M=E=T=I=C=I=L=O=U=S when you have the brains and braun and $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ of the great, the mighty, the uncrushable, un$toppable, invincible eBay behind you?
I noticed another post you made elsewhere about Half. LOL!!!
Ya know, abacaxi, I find it disheartening that so much online, in reality, *online* means that it is sloppy, mediocre and slipshod, when the digital technology should be able to do the diametric opposite, and bring a meticulous superiority to things, not mediocrity.
posted on January 24, 2001 09:09:53 PM new
I am absolutely hooTing with laughter at the idea that PowellsBooks with its MAMMOTH website is listing books for sale at Half.com.
I originally posted briefly about this in the wrong thread, so thought I'd bring my words on over here where they were sposed to be posted:
```````````
LOL, you guys, LOLOL!!!!!!
omigawd!
guess whaT?
LOL
PowellsBooks is now listing at Half.com with 500+ books, and a 5.0 rating from thus far 12 sales.
posted on January 24, 2001 09:28:08 PM new
Radh, that jogged my memory when you mentioned Powell's.
I subscribe to a trade publication for independent publishers and bookstores, and I remember seeing an article about a year back where large independent bookstores with websites were interviewed re: the pros and cons of being online. I distinctly remember Powell's manager of online services discussing their store's website as being a community success, but a financial failure. He talked about having to change his plan for the site, because people were coming to it for different reasons than he had originally anticipated---they came for the information rather than to purchase. Customers were logging on to the Powell's site to get stuff like hours of operation, books available, upcoming booksignings, etc. Apparently they were doing their *buying* in the brick and mortar Powell's store, or somewhere else entirely.
So if that's still true (and it seems likely that it is, with e-commerce in the toilet these days) then Powell's is probably trying Half.com out to see if it's any more lucrative than their own website proved to be. (Hey, when you hire a manager of online services, you better believe they want to see him earn his salary!---unfortunately I doubt he'll earn his keep with Half.com sales, unless theirs are far better than mine....)
posted on January 24, 2001 09:55:28 PM new
I've seen Powells several times on the PBS News Hour --- whenever they mention amazon.NOTcom and its burn rate and NO profit, then they say, "...and then there's Powells, which is one of the very few Internet Bookselling Sites which turns a profit."
I absolutely HOWLED when I saw them, and ya know what?
MAYBE ---- SINCE ONLY MONEY TALKS TO ALL THESE STINKING SHODDY NET BILLIONAIRES WHO LIKE TO FOIST MEDIOCRE """""SERVICES"""""" UPON US, AND THEN HAVE THE GALL IN THEIR STINKING WEALTH TO WRITE ARROGANT DEEEEZ-GUSTING EMAILS TO DIGITAL PEONS, MAYBE....
Maybe we should do a letter writing campaign to Powells.
They LOVE books!!
They ADORE literature!!!!!!
But since they also are a reputable bookstore, maybe they could ask Meg Whitman to pleeeeeeeeZ get the database corrected, and have several email addies where we can send ISBNs we need listed.
posted on January 24, 2001 10:05:44 PM new
brighid868: ya know, I have NOT been treated so disdainfully in email since waY waY back when a buncha vulture capitalists, ya know, nouveau riche white men who salivate about things like minimum wage slaves who don't speak english -- several months after eBay's IPO, when the site grew by millions of users, eBay hired TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES to staff customer service.
I don't know how many months, but it was not long, and I one day received SUCH A VILE NASTY EMAIL that it was MONTHS before I'd open up another eBay email, unless it was from a staff person I was sure I knew.
I simply deleted the rest.
I am l-i-v-i-d with some of the emails I've collected from Half, and their only redeeming feature is that they are sooooo extreme, that dh gets a kick outta them.
PIERRE OMIDYAR & JEFF SKOLL WERE THE FIRST AND LAST INDIVIDUALS TO KNOW THAT TO SUCCEED ON THE NET, YOUR GOAL IS TO PROVIDE SERVICES TO NETIZENS, and I hope the work they did EVENTUALLY becomes par for the course, traditional on the Net.
It'll take years.
These rich jerks can do what ever they want, and they will just get richer.
Yesterday, on another messageboard, I read that one Half.com seller received an order for a book, which was specified to be shipped Priority Mail.
After returning from the USPS, where s/he'd spent over $8 to send the heavy hardcover, s/he came home and TURNED OFF the Priority Mail option at Half.com.
(That $8 gets reimbursed the 15th of next month.)
I do not wanna turn off PriorityMail, as it seems that plenty $10+ booksales receive the instructions to ship PM.
However, I really hope that NONE of the hardcovers I've listed which Half has INCORRECTLY IDENTIFIED AS PAPERBACKS, AND THUS GIVES YA $1.75 FOR POSTAGE
I *pray* that no one orders those HEAVY TOMES and requests Priority Mail, which indeed will require a similar expenditure of $8+.
Next month that seller will be reimbursed, what is it, $2.25 for Media Mail, but what is the actual amount they give back for PM shipments of hardcovers, vs. paperbacks?
posted on January 25, 2001 09:53:10 AM new
r & a - Thank you for sharing these thoughts, experiences, knowledge, and ramblings.
Another irritating flaw in half.com SOP is that typically the "SALE" messages identify books only by title and isbn. So not only is the publication info missing, but we don't even get the author. Who would file novels by title? Often necessary to go look up by isbn to id author to find a book.
We've seen plenty of postings here about flaws in their DB, put almost no cases of corrections made (the condescending reply is as far as it goes). "sloppy, mediocre and slipshod" for books seems to satisfy them, tooo busy working on how to conquer that next market (e.g. used panties).
posted on January 25, 2001 10:38:58 AM new
Good morning, figmente! There is actally a MISSPELLED title, for which I have listed several copies for sale, and [b]I have written to Half.com AT LEAST half a dozen times to PLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEzzzzzz correct the spelling, as I know that NO ONE is gonna find this book, who actually wants it.
The specific book happens to be published by a NICHE press, whose books are collected by a certain segment of the population.
Therefore, there is a MARKET for the book, it is SELLABLE.
Stating that the book is SELLABLE, that there is a MARKET for same, does NOT mean that the title is popular!!!!!!!
It means, that IF the damned title were spelled correctly, that I could SELL the book, which lists at over $45, and which I have priced REASONABLY.
I have not *merely* notified Half about this misspelled title on at least SIX OCCASIONS, but I first notified them at least FOUR-FIVE months ago.
In my last email, I stated that I obviously cannot sell this expensive title if NO ONE can FIND it, as the title is MISSPELLED in the miserable Half.com database; and furthermore, collectors of that specific publisher will NEVER know that the book is by that publisher.
The w-h-o-l-e thing is CRAZEE and slipshod, and I for one, am damned sick and tired of SLIPSHOD SLOPPINESS.
We Half sellers comprise a CAPTIVE LABORING AUDIENCE who is not receiving S-E-R-V-I-C-E - what has become the NORM, imo, in cyberspace.
PhewwwwwwiE!
I had a miserable customer """service""" person WHO KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT BOOKS, mind you --- have the GALL to advise me to list this title for auction at eBay where there are book collectors!!
LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!
stupid!
AND: arrogant!
SINCE when does some cs rep WITH NO EXPERIENCE IN THE BOOK WORLD tell a seller who has held a copy of 90%++ of EVERY single title that Half has in their current data base in their hands.......
DO YOU REALIZE THAT MILLIONS OF COPIES OF BOOKS HAVE PASSED THROUGH MY HANDS.
DO YOU REALIZE THAT ONE OF THE REASONS THAT I DO NOT BUY MANY BOOKS FOR RE-SALE IS THAT I HAVE ON INNUMERABLE OCCASIONS *DUSTED* THE NON-SELLERS, and thus I know that they do NOT have a market, are NOT *sellable*?
I am L-I-V-I-D, and I now have to some how compose a CALM message to several public messagegroups to NOTIFY them about some info made clear to me by Half?
I am n-o-t in a *nice* mood, and I tell you, that Benchmark Capital is VERY werrie l-u-c-k-y that this olde biddee does not live in San Jose, or those nouveau riche white boyz would be subject to a LECTURE like they have NEVER ever before e-x-p-e-r-i-e-n-c-e-d!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just guess what I found out at the Q&A Board this morning??
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Someone who has bought LOTS and LOTS of books on Half, has just come across their first "problem" seller.
Turns out a book she bought, NEVER arrived.
AND, now..... she gets a notification from Half that the book on her wish-list is now listed.
Well..... it is the SAME book by the SAME seller, who has DOUBLED THE PRICE.
By reading the feedback, you learn this has happened repetitively, and when she wrote to Half customer """service""" she was told they will do NOTHING until the feedback of the seller decreases to a 3.
What wunnerfuL news, heY?
Isn't that just a stellar advertisement for BUYING books at Half.
AND........ no one in control will care.
WHY?
Because eBay is UNSTOPPABLE, UNCRUSHABLE!
eBay is invincible!
And so, just so long as eBay beats Street expectations, which mind you, they WILL, then there is NO reason for any eBayCompany to provide more than SLIPSHOD SERVICE.
abacaxi: I have taken a look at the books which you have for sale at one account at Half.com -- i dunno if you have other accounts, but I was able to locate one.
I'd like to mention that in terms of your Chilton manuals --- I have NO idea how you got them input into the Half system, as I have about a dozen which I was unable to find at Half, in order to list.
So........what I am saying is that if I encountered difficulty finding the entries for the used Chiltons that I've packed away --- is it not possible that potential customers would have encountered the same?
Did you check to see if your non-fiction titles are being picked up by the search engine over at http://www.bookfinder.com ?
Lately, when I've been researching books, I haven't noticed any entries at bookfinder for Half sellers .... so I do hope that they still do index them.
In so far as the non-fiction titles I saw in your list, I would NOT donate them - you see, they are SO specific in their orientation, that a market does exist for them - maybe not this week, nor even next month --- but such specific information comprising a book makes it the type of volume that used bookstores allow into their inventory and to sit on the shelves - where they may be dusted weekly for years, before the person who is looking precisely for them comes in to purchase same.
Such a book is NOT *popular* - but it is sellable. A market exists SOMEWHERE for it.
I just looked at the titles, and didn't open anything up to learn HOW MANY oter copies are listed by other Half sellers, but you see, as the Half.com database continues to get indexed by more and more search engines -- it is specifically NON-fiction ""monographs"" that have a PERENNIAL market.
posted on January 27, 2001 04:23:07 AM new
RADH -
I deleted my stock and cancelled the account. I've HAD IT with half.com and their idiocy. From now on, it's going to be eBay or the charity bin. At least eBay lets me control shipping and give accurate descriptions.
The Chiltons actually had a ISBN number in their database. I listed a bunch of auto manuals on eBay and had some SPIRITED bidding for them ... the key is that if they are from the maker of the car and a SHOP manual it's OK to be battered and greasy, they will sell. They were leftovers from a research project on technical illustration methods.
I have other manuals that halfwit.com has no ISBN number for, and has NOT had for months. I think they update the DB once a year or so.
As for "rare" books ... I buy them, not sell them. And you can't really half.com them because most rare books don't have ISBNs.
posted on January 27, 2001 08:50:53 AM new
abacaxi: what an interesting post -- I will have much to say in response, if & when my thoughts on same are ever collected.
I will briefly mention that I'd like to share a sentence out of an email I received:
"We have added over 100,000 new entriesto the catalog in the last few months."
I foresee the time when EVERY single bound book, pamphlet, and magazine are entered CORRECTLY and described in detail into ONE DATABASE on the Internet.
This, to me, is an OBVIOUS conclusion.
WHY?
Because technology, by its intrinsic nature is meant to SERVE me, a liddle widdle human bean, and NOT vice versa. (SP?)
posted on January 27, 2001 08:53:24 AM new
abacaxi: I am sooooooo appallingly s-l-o-w this morning, that I'd actually thought you'd found another book-listing venue, and I actually almost typed in go-to: http://www.halfwit.com
posted on January 28, 2001 09:09:57 AM new
Several sellers have mentioned difficulty finding the Half.com entry, so that they can LIST their book.
Here is what I instructed someone in another messagethread who's trying to locate a specific book.
I am curious if anyone else has ANY tips or tricks to locating specific titles at Half.
Here's a cut & paste of the other post:
```````````````````
Have you tried looking at Half.com?
If you did not find it by the EXACT title, then try using a KEYWORD Search there, with "Oklahoma City bombing"
Also, are you aware that when you search at Half.com, that if you use the word, "and" - that typically the Half-Search will not retrieve the title, even though it is in their database.
Replace "and" with: & and the search might be successful.
MANY people also research books online by going to http://www.bookfinder.com - however, their "upgrades" and so-called "improvements" have made book-research a time-consuming task, as you have to click QUITE a few webpages to get to actual books, and book sellers are listing the EXACT SAME BOOK under a whole variety of versions of the title -- there is NO consistency, LOL.
At http://www.half.com it is absolutely mandatory that you search carefully to locate ALL copies of the book you are interested in.
Therefore, you must NOT take your first results as accurate -- there might be MANY more copies available under duplicate entries, misspelled titles and/or other extraneous errors.
IF I need a book for a customer, I will search under:
1) TITLE
2) VARIANTS of TITLE
3) AUTHOR'S Last name
4) Author's LAST and FIRST name
5) Author's LAST name with FIRST-Letter Initial
6) Author's LAST name with first and middle INITIALS
7) SUBJECT KEYWORD
8) ISBN
THEN....... IF I am not tooooooo bored and disgusted to continue, I will open EVERY entry, be it called:
"book"
"hardcover"
"paperback textbook"
"softcover"
REALIZE that I will ONLY do the above for certain EXPENSIVE items, as it OBVIOUSLY is a better use of my time & energy to find the book OFFLINE in a 3-D bookstore, where I can even examine the item and make sure it is not damaged or starting to self-destruct through foxing.
ALSO =====> Be VERY careful if your title has a SEMI-COLON in it.
When : appears in the title of the book, sometimes the : appears in the database at Half, sometimes NOT, and sometimes BOTH versions are input.
Technology was supposed to SIMPLIFY things, lolololololol!
