Shipment of "The New Soldier" Mysteriously Disappears

October 14, 2004 | Granite

[granite]

Shipment of "The New Soldier" Mysteriously Disappears

I ordered two copies of the Kerry book on eBay and received this message from the vendor:

"We have very bad news. We work hard to obtain these books and our last shipment has been stolen in transit. We have filed with the local police and with UPS. We were hopeful and had been given some indication that UPS would be able to locate our books. They have informed us this morning that they cannot guarantee us when, or if, they will be able to get out books back. If they are recovered, we will relist them and notify you. I am so sorry. (Trust me, although the books were insured and we will recover our money, we have lost several thousand potential profit and inconvenienced our buyers.) We have worked very hard to maintain our 100% feedback and hope you will understand that this was out of our control. We apologize and hope you will not torch us on the feedback. Again, we are sorry. Your money will be refunded promptly. If you have any questions, please e-mail me at ---------. Thank you for your understanding, Greg "
 

[granite]

Does this pass the sniff test?

[HannaUSA]

Surely there were other books in that shipment.......what might those have been? I would ask:)

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

In a previous thread there was a link that had the book available in pdf. If you just want to read it try that.

[Stoat]

You can download this book free at a variety of places on the internet; here is one of them:

http://johnkerrythenewsoldier.blogspot.com/

[Gorzaloon]

Does this pass the sniff test?

UPS drivers are Teamsters.

Orders are orders.

[RightField]

Here's the link.

[George Smiley]

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

(Except for a couple of folks who are unworthy of mentioning by name.)

Hope you paid by credit card.

If this happened to me, I'd proactively send the card issuer a copy of the email and a dispute letter just in case the charge appears but the credit does not materialize.

[vannrox]

Good thing that this book has been republished on the Internet.

[granite]

I have read the book. This was my attempt to preserve a piece of history because the rumors abound that the Kerry campaign is buying these up and burning them (presumably from UPS drivers).

[Boundless]

> Does this pass the sniff test?

No, due to:

"I ordered two copies ..."

This is a very rare book, and any seller with multiple
copies is suspect. If their sales history shows that
they've sold even more copies, it's even more suspect.

Take steps to recover your payment, pronto.

> UPS drivers are Teamsters.
> Orders are orders.

Smart eBay sellers don't even make it apparent that the
parcel is an eBay item, much less what the contents are.

Finally NewSoldier investors - the value of this book is
apt to plumet on 03 Nov.

[5by5]

All the loanable copies disappeared from the Denver area libraries too.

Very interesting.

[granite]

Here is the original ad. I would assume from the description that they are already in his possession, then he says they are stolen before he received them.

 

We have obtained several copies of this book in one lot so we are selling them at a reduced price.  We are getting rid of them FAST!

Use Buy It Now Option to lock in your price and obtain the book now.  All books are the same, softcover, in very good shape with some edgewear.  Interior in great shape, no marks, tears, etc.

This book is a great historical item, no matter who wins the election, and could be a useful campaign tool for innovative campaign operatives.  E-mail me with any questions:

"We have very bad news. We work hard to obtain these books and our last shipment has been stolen in transit. We have filed with the local police and with UPS. We were hopeful and had been given some indication that UPS would be able to locate our books. They have informed us this morning that they cannot guarantee us when, or if, they will be able to get out books back. If they are recovered, we will relist them and notify you. I am so sorry. (Trust me, although the books were insured and we will recover our money, we have lost several thousand potential profit and inconvenienced our buyers.) We have worked very hard to maintain our 100% feedback and hope you will understand that this was out of our control. We apologize and hope you will not torch us on the feedback. Again, we are sorry. Your money will be refunded promptly. If you have any questions, please e-mail me at ---------. Thank you for your understanding, Greg "
 

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I've seen the online PDF version, and after having a good look I've come to the conclusion that all of the so-called firsthand accounts of atrocities were written by the same person. I'll wager that if you got a good forensic linguist to go over them he'd come to the same conclusion.

[Twinkie]

"UNFIT FOR COMMAND"?

[granite]

NOTE: I already received a full refund through paypal.

[beyondashadow]

If they are recovered, we will relist them and notify you.

Notice they didn't offer to send you the books if they turn up?

This probably means that the bid price didn't get high enough for the seller's liking. The books will "mysteriously" reappear and be listed in a new auction, and hopefully sell for more this time around.

This is a cop-out and an abuse of eBay's system. File a Non-Selling Seller report with eBay.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/non-selling-seller.html

Sellers are required to have the merchandise they sell, or else clearly list that they do not (some sellers drop-ship merchandise). If a seller continues this practice and recieves enough complaints, eBay will take action.

[kellynla]

No problem...if Brown doesn't find the book then
UPS just bought several copies of "The New Soldier"...

[Stoat]

I'm sure that you're correct. It would be entirely in keeping with Kerry's lifetime record of calculating deceit and intentional manipulation to not only publish a pack of smearing lies but to lie about the authroship of them as well.

[George Smiley]

THAT doesn't pass the smell test. especially the bit about having several copies.

Write him an email, telling him that you're sorry for his loss and that you feel his pain.

Then ask him to provide you with a copy of the credit memorandum which he issued to your account.

(More ammunition should your credit card get charged but not credited.)

And I won't ask who the seller is, but what is the positive/negative ratio on his feedback from buyers?

[Darth Hillary]

I've heard rumor the Kerry campaign is buying up all the copies that they can find. It's not un-imaginable that they would make the seller an offer he could't refuse.