the corner office

I'm in the market for some decent quality copies of Inspector Morse Omnibii. Not collectible quality, 'cause I'm going to read 'em and they're going to get banged around in my bag (and I'm tight), but I'm partial to hardbacks with dust covers. I don't know what byzantine system of kickbacks and rebates the postal system offers, but there are plenty of books in the Amazon MarketPlace going for bugger-all plus postage, to the point where the charity outfits flogging their books online are approaching as cheap as their high street equivalents.

That's not the cool part. The cool part is I've learned the hard way that a quick 'is this really a hardcover and does it still have the dust jacket?' question to the sellers is the best way to make sure you're getting what you want. And maybe if enough people ask then sellers will get off their butts and describe and categorise their books better. Actually, there's nothing cool about that. The cool part is I fire off a few emails at 10 o'clock at night and get answers back from two of the sellers in minutes.

What an awesome world we live in.