just a selkie in the sea

(I also go by Liz)

avatar by @PotechiPon on twitter


Stress-testing used booksellers' databases to see if they accurately list whether they have both volumes of the two volume set I want, which shares an ISBN for hopefully obvious reasons.

I have ordered two two-volume sets. I have received 2x Volume 2 (both orders have been refunded so that's something).

Today I saw that the same seller as Volume 2 #1 had another listing for the two-volume set. Does this mean they found volume 1? After all, the customer service person said they'd request delisting since their inventory system can't reflect whether they have both volumes.

The response: "We do not have a way of knowing what Volume will be sent if you reorder the set." It's a two volume set, buds. That's how it's listed.1

Part of me really wants to just keep ordering sets until I randomly get a Volume 1, or even (miraculously) a full set. It's not like this is costing me any money, after all (and each attempt affords me some form of sick anticipation).


  1. I promise I understand what's going on here it's just absolutely ridiculous at the same time. (Adding books to their inventory database by ISBN will automatically show they have the set, because the database isn't robustly set up.)


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in reply to @JhoiraArtificer's post:

Good luck on your quest! I've sympathies as I've currently a white whale of a book I'm looking for (no longer in print) and thought I'd got lucky recently to have the seller say 'we've got [diff cover]', and have it turn out that they also meant [different translation] too XD