PS: did people see that Pieter added one of the deluxe single slip-cased sets to his site? 2650 Euros.

Tapuvae wrote:
Yes thanks, I do have email communication through Ebay about all of this, including the cloth slip cases, so I have my fingers crossed. Wait until some of the winners get their various HOME editions that are price clipped. But to the point others have made, having now seen these earlier "deluxe" sets in person, well, not so impressive ;)

Yep, they certainly aren't anything to write home about (but equally none of the deluxe editions really ever have been) :) Of course, that's not the fault of the eBay seller (they can't be responsible for the merit or lack-of in the underlying product). All the eBay seller has to do is make sure they describe the condition and details fairly and accurately, and seems in this case they have not done that in one or more of the auctions you "won".

That seller's feedback has a lot of the same IDs pop up again and again - which may be indicative of legitimate repeat purchases . But I do wonder if an eBay name change changes that name in historic feedback (I suspect not). So is d***i (1565) actually the same ID as r***8 (1562)? Both provide feedback on lots of transactions, the latter just prior to the former.

It is easy to read things into the feedback that aren't there, unfortunately -- and it just creates confirmation bias.

Tapuvae wrote:
PS: did people see that Pieter added one of the deluxe single slip-cased sets to his site? 2650 Euros.

Those slipcases are very rare. HC created a handful of them as prototypes, but they didn't fit very well and HC gave them away years back to people who asked. That whole set was given away last year as part of a FaceBook contest for a big box of books if I remember rightly. It isn't a one-of-a-kind, but it is unusual. There was an all-in-one slipcase alongside 3 books with individual slipcases sold a few years back on eBay (for a lot less than that - 450 GBP all in).

https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/n ... =ASC&type=&mode=0&start=0

I always feel that "rare" does not correlate with "valuable". Is a rare slipcase worth 1300 pounds over the price of the individually slipcased books (which in themselves are not rare)? I'd personally say not, because the number of people in the world that actually care about that slipcase enough to want it to the tune of 1300 pounds will be tiny (or zero). Especially is it doesn't really fit well.

The job of a book dealer is to extract as much money as possible, so these high priced listings are to be expected.

Seller finally got back to me and is asking about the partial refund route, given how much it would cost me to mail the items back I may be ok with this (eh, not really). The question is, how much? This just stinks all around because in part I was willing to pay higher prices as the auction progressed because I thought the HOME 1 was the key piece. So that being worn kills it all, in a way. The fauc leather cases on LOTR and H just bookend the lousy experience.

Vol 1 - £266.00
Vol 2 - £252.22 (sealed)
Vol 3 - £203.26 (sealed)
H - £127.00 (sealed)
LOTR - £118.00 (sealed)

Tapuvae wrote:
Seller finally got back to me and is asking about the partial refund route, given how much it would cost me to mail the items back I may be ok with this (eh, not really). The question is, how much? This just stinks all around because in part I was willing to pay higher prices as the auction progressed because I thought the HOME 1 was the key piece. So that being worn kills it all, in a way. The fauc leather cases on LOTR and H just bookend the lousy experience.

Vol 1 - £266.00
Vol 2 - £252.22 (sealed)
Vol 3 - £203.26 (sealed)
H - £127.00 (sealed)
LOTR - £118.00 (sealed)

As I understand eBay policy, for any items that were SNAD (significantly not as described), it is for the seller to pay return postage and refund the purchase cost.

I've never ever returned anything on eBay, but in your situation, I'd just return HoME 1 and the Hobbit and LOTR as these were not as described (condition for HoME 1, slipcases for H and LOTR). You clearly don't want these books, so what is the point in buying them, even at a reduced price?

For anything that is just buyer remorse, I'd say that is your problem. The fact that you perhaps paid too much for Vol 2. and 3, I don't think you can really blame on the seller -- it is for you to wear. You chose to pay those prices, and I don't think you can sensibly put that down to "HoME 1" being the "key piece" as you put it. That makes no sense to me (just being honest). You just need to learn from the process and not be over-exuberant in your bidding in future auctions. Set a limit and stick to it!

As such, I wouldn't personally try and negotiate on the prices of the these two books as there is nothing wrong with them, other than the price being a bit higher than you might like, but a deal is a deal (unless there is evidence of wrongdoing by the seller).

I'd return the three books that are SNAD, end up perhaps 100-150 down on the best price you might have got for the two you are keeping, and write it off to experience.

Yeah this is my thinking. HOME 1 is a loss but HOME 2 and 3 are my problem I agree. I wouldn't have bid on any of these others if I had lost HOME 1, that's for sure, and I wouldn't have bid so high on HOME 1 if the item was shown as it is (opened and dirty). And just to note the whole concept off sealed books seems silly to me. My interest here is that these slip cases seem to soil when they touch air.