Book Condition w/ remainder marks

If a book is in fine condition except for a remainder mark, is the
condition downgraded to very good or good?

"John Warner" wrote in message
m...
If a book is in fine condition except for a remainder mark, is the
condition downgraded to very good or good?

My first inclination would be to drop the grade one level, but remainder
marks do vary in discreetness and location. Some are nearly unnoticeable,
being not much more than a dot, while others are very ugly. I would probably
say something like: "Very Good, reduced from Fine because of remainder mark"
Selling on the internet (which is all I do) offers the luxury of making
descriptions virtually any length, and I think such a statement would give
the buyer a clearer picture of the offering. Of course, nothing gives as
clear a picture as an actual picture, and if multiple photos are an option,
I would show the actual mark together with the text description.

Alice

"my-wings" wrote...
"John Warner" wrote...
If a book is in fine condition except for a remainder mark, is the
condition downgraded to very good or good?

My first inclination would be to drop the grade one level, but remainder
marks do vary in discreetness and location. Some are nearly unnoticeable,
being not much more than a dot, while others are very ugly. I would
probably
say something like: "Very Good, reduced from Fine because of remainder
mark"

I disagree. If the book is Fine, I'd describe it as Fine and note the
remainder mark. If you dropped the grade of a book for each tiny
imperfection, nearly every book would end up as a reading copy. And
remainder marks, as much as some people dislike them (including me, in most
cases), are rather benign imperfections, not relevant to the structural
integrity or overall "health" of the volume.

Grading is a matter of opinion and judgement, of course, but I don't think
that describing a Fine book as Very Good just because of a remainder mark
gives a potential buyer an accurate impression of the book as a whole.


--
Jon Meyers
[To reply,
lose your way.]

"Jon Meyers" wrote in message
...
"my-wings" wrote...
"John Warner" wrote...
If a book is in fine condition except for a remainder mark, is the
condition downgraded to very good or good?

My first inclination would be to drop the grade one level, but remainder
marks do vary in discreetness and location. Some are nearly
unnoticeable,
being not much more than a dot, while others are very ugly. I would
probably
say something like: "Very Good, reduced from Fine because of remainder
mark"

I disagree. If the book is Fine, I'd describe it as Fine and note the
remainder mark. If you dropped the grade of a book for each tiny
imperfection, nearly every book would end up as a reading copy. And
remainder marks, as much as some people dislike them (including me, in
most
cases), are rather benign imperfections, not relevant to the structural
integrity or overall "health" of the volume.

Grading is a matter of opinion and judgement, of course, but I don't think
that describing a Fine book as Very Good just because of a remainder mark
gives a potential buyer an accurate impression of the book as a whole.



I'm still fairly insecure in my grading, and my tendency is to grade low. I
probably err too much on the side of caution. I'll be interested to see what
others say on this topic.

Alice

Selling on the internet (which is all I do) offers the luxury of making
descriptions virtually any length...

Alice makes a good point here, but unfortunately there is at least one
exception: Amazon.com. They restrict the amount of space available for
describing a book. No doubt if they would increase the space that would allow
sellers on that site to provide more accurate descriptions and therefore better
customer service. I also have wondered about putting an "e-mail me for more
details" message in my desriptions, but that uses up space and I don't know if
a potential buyer would want to go to the extra trouble. This gets us to what
services such as Amazon.com can improve for their sellers as well as buyers.
Les

In article ,
"Jon Meyers" wrote:

I disagree. If the book is Fine, I'd describe it as Fine and note the
remainder mark. If you dropped the grade of a book for each tiny
imperfection, nearly every book would end up as a reading copy.

snip

Grading is a matter of opinion and judgement, of course, but I don't think
that describing a Fine book as Very Good just because of a remainder mark
gives a potential buyer an accurate impression of the book as a whole.


I agree with Jon on this one. While I'm quite fastidious in describing
condition, I'd feel Ok describing this as "remainer mark details else
Fine"

Scot Kamins
--
Collecting the Modern Library 1917-1970
Modern Library Collecting Website at:
http://www.dogeared.com

"John Warner" wrote in message
m...
If a book is in fine condition except for a remainder mark, is the
condition downgraded to very good or good?

My policy is to never sell my books as fine. I have sold thousands of
secondhand books on ebay, most of which other dealers would have described
as fine. The highest I rate is Very Good or Better. My reasoning behind this
is that even if the book is perfect in my house, by the time I pack the
thing up, and send it halfway round the world the chances of it still being
100% perfect is minimal.

http://www.stores.ebay.co.uk/aaaworldofbooks

Remainder marks can be minimized by the judicious and careful use of
bleach or sand paper. Just don't make the cure worse than the disease.

Art Layton
Stamford CT

On 15 Jan 2004 17:28:47 -0800, (John Warner)
wrote:

If a book is in fine condition except for a remainder mark, is the
condition downgraded to very good or good?


No. The remainder mark should be mentioned, thusly:

F/F with unobtrusive remainder stamp is common for this title.

F/F save for the hideous purple remainder speckling common to most
Doubleday titles of this period, when the company was run by by
blue-arsed baboons posessed of the same aesthetic sense common to a
tapeworm.

A really fine grade sandpaper works wonders.

Cheers,

John

In article ,
(Diane) wrote:

My policy is to never sell my books as fine. I have sold thousands of
secondhand books on ebay, most of which other dealers would have
described
as fine. The highest I rate is Very Good or Better.

FWIW we've pretty much stopped using the standard condition gradings on
eBay altogether (except in auction titles). I just describe the book
minutely.