17 Apr, 2012
2012-4-17 7:14:48 AM UTC
A copy just showed up on ABEbooks and was already gone before I got into my email..35 pounds was a good price and I'm just curious if any one here was the lucky one?
Dior
17 Apr, 2012
2012-4-17 2:51:23 PM UTC
No
It came up on my email at 3.35 am UK by 7 it had gone !
Regretably not to me !
nash nash
17 Apr, 2012
2012-4-17 8:35:58 PM UTC
No. And I'm not looking to buy it.
BH
17 Apr, 2012
2012-4-17 11:50:05 PM UTC
18 Apr, 2012
2012-4-18 1:44:24 AM UTC
The wants notice from ABE showed up in our e-mail sometime around 8:30 pm Eastern Time last night, though it's time-stamped 6:03 pm. I jumped at it, but it had already sold. Apparently there are a lot of factors that affect when these notices reach an individual's in-box, and delay can be significant.
We already have A Spring Harvest, just not in the dust-jacket. I paid 7 pounds and postage for the copy many years ago, having found it in the catalogue of a bookseller specializing in World War I poetry (those were the days!). For the Bibliography I described a fragmentary jacket from the Bodleian copy.
Wayne
18 Apr, 2012
2012-4-18 5:55:16 AM UTC
Maybe the lucky person will post a picture for interest of hte jacket?????
18 Apr, 2012
2012-4-18 9:33:34 PM UTC
18 Apr, 2012
2012-4-18 10:03:53 PM UTC
I tried to get this too as soon as I got the notification (obviously, no dice). My curiosity on how and when we were all notified is now piqued (I have had theories, but too little data to test). For those who have wants on ABE for this particular book, if you are willing can you forward me your email notification from ABE? I am interested in the ID assigned your want, how you defined your want, and the timestamps for creating and posting the want. Feel free to delete any other personal information, other wants, etc. I am not sure if the want ID number could be used by a third party somehow, so I don't suggest posting that on the forum (and I promise to delete it myself after I concatenate and share any patterns seen).
I am wondering if when the want is created, or how it was created (title? author? both? more complex match?) affects when the emails go out. Mine was timestamped 7:33 PM (or 10:30 PM Findegil's time, so 4 and a half hours after his email was sent, two hours after he received it).
A four-plus hour advantage seems like something worthy of understanding and leveraging for these ultra-uncommon titles...
20 Apr, 2012
2012-4-20 10:42:41 PM UTC
Simple answer: yes.
Some sellers on Abebooks are pretty old school. If they sell a book (including, perhaps, as in the case, a "reservation"), but don't remove the listing (either at all, or promptly), then someone may well proceed through the ABE checkout procedure, thinking they've bought the book. But if the seller no longer has the book, or has effectively sold the item (although in this case the other buyer hasn't paid for it), then... well, it's sold.
I've bought a few books on ABE only to be given a refund & told that the item had been sold at a convention, or some such story. Some sellers may be at these things for a long week. They'll take items with them, but in the meantime their listings remain active. There is always the possibility someone might purchase an already sold item.
In this case "reservation" perhaps rankles --but if they agreed on a sale (previous to your checkout), then I think that person is first in line. They may just have been paying privately; an arrangement both parties are quite entitled to enter into.
Bad luck tho'!
BH
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