A MarketPlace of Ideas

I have attempted to buy 2 used books on Amazon so far and I have to say both experiences were bad enough to mark them as indicative of something wrong.  Amazon marketplace has a very low profit margin.  The big sellers trying to make a profit have to really push out the books.  Thus they try to spread their nets as far as possible.   A likely strategy to do this is to list books they think they can obtain quickly from locations other than their own local stock.   Of course this is a very difficult to work strategy that leads to the scenario of the incidents listed below.

Since originally writing this article I have sold a number of books on Amazon due to moving out of my condo.  I did not want to carry them to yet another location.  I shipped all my sales relatively soon after the customer clicked.  They all received the correct book.  This is why I could figure out the dynamics of the book sales on the Amazon.  The older books are a race to the bottom on pricing.  If you want to be the next to sell a book you need to list it at the lowest price for that book in the marketplace. Since I was moving I needed to sell. Everyday I had to log on and reduce the price of the book a little more to undercut the other seller or 2 that was trying to undercut me !  

Incident #1:  The seller kept saying they were going to ship and the item kept on NOT arriving.  I think they advertised something they did not have and then would not fess up.  I think Amazon issued a credit to me for this but I am not absolutely sure now as its been a while. 

Incident #2:  Amazon Seller ID = frugalmedia01   ( email= customerservice@frugalmedia.com  ) send the wrong book.  It had an invoice in the envelope with the book.  The invoice had the correct title on it yet they sent the wrong book.  The book as listed on Amazon was a cheapy and probably cost them more money to ship than they were paid so they sent a super THIN book that could be shipped for much less.  I think its a bait and switch scam.  Their scam is to list a desirable book for a very low price. Then ship a super light thin book of any title so they can ship it UNDER the cost allotted and paid to make their spread. 

Details on the book are summarized as follows:

Product Details

 At 4.41 pounds this was going to be a loser for them. Thus they did the switch. 

 I should have checked the rating of this seller before ordering.  At 95% favorable their rating is extremely bad for the American business idiom. This is the kind of rating you expect in Latin America on www.mercadolivre.com.br or the like.
Amazon requires you wait a significant amount of time before filing for a refund.  They are obviously hoping to some degree you forget about the item so they will get to keep the money.   But believe you me I want to make this persons life difficult so I’m filing for that refund the minute March 22 arrives.

Excerpted Arty: What 2 crocks told me over lunch.

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Antar says investors should do a better job “studying” financial reports, especially the footnotes and “risk factor” sections. “Notice that I used the word ’study’ and not ‘read’ since all information is not meant to be read like a novel, but meant to be analyzed like a project.”

He adds: “Criminals are scared of skeptics and cynics,” he says. “We are petrified when you verify our representations.”

Did he ever have remorse? “Never … We simply did not care about any one of our victims. We simply committed crime because we could.

“As criminals we built false walls of integrity around us,” he adds. “We walked old ladies across the street. We built wings to hospitals. We gave huge amounts of money to charity. We wanted you to trust us.

“Simply said … if you want to be an investor, you cannot accept information at face value. ‘Unexamined acceptance’ is the greatest cause of investor losses.”

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…… If you do not pay attention you might think the above passage could be applied to any facet of life.  Indeed it can.  Especially politics.   The politicians build themselves walls of integrity while doing it for the chilrun.  They are so phoney when they talk this way.  Yet they do it because you demand they do it.  That means you are phoney also.  Being a fake is the worst form of self parody.  None of the potential audiences are going to appreciate it.

The fact is there is absolutely no law against you giving it all away tomorrow.  If you find yourself agreeing when politicians say we need to give more then you are just looking for something to make you feel good about yourself.  There is no law against you giving it all away tomorrow.  Stop being only a hint of a person.  If you feel we need to give more.  Then give more yourself.  Lead by example.  And thus doing you will be a better person as you do not coerce others to give by demanding higher taxes.