Scam Listings

The late Stu
Home away from home

1 Aug, 2025
2025-8-1 6:34:03 AM UTC

This listing is a scam. The fraudster with the same books has already been taken down by Abe once this week (last time he was in Germany, now Wales...)

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The Return of the King by J.R.R Tolkien 1955...

32255597175

£796.17

Availability: Not Available

Check at Abebooks.com

SamwiseTheBrave
Just can't stay away

1 Aug, 2025
2025-8-1 4:07:24 PM UTC

The late Stu wrote:
This listing is a scam. The fraudster with the same books has already been taken down by Abe once this week (last time he was in Germany, now Wales...)

https://affiliates.abebooks.com/c/9724 ... 2255597175%2Fbd%5B%2Fq%5D

I definitely would have been fooled. 4-star seller and all

tomwa

1 Aug, 2025
2025-8-1 6:53:55 PM UTC

In case people don't realise, the star-seller rating on AbeBooks has nothing to do with customer reviews or quality of service, but do with the percentage of received orders that are fulfilled (and then not returned).

Every seller automatically starts on 4-stars. You move up to 5-stars when your order completion rate is above 96%.

The bands are:
96% and above - 5 stars
90 - 95% - 4 stars
85 - 89% = 3 stars
70 - 84% = 2 stars
0 - 69% - 1 star

As a result, there are plenty of reputable sellers with low star ratings, often because they have multiple sales channels (shop, own website, eBay) so cannot always keep their stock holdings completely up to date on ABE.

remy

1 Aug, 2025
2025-8-1 7:01:48 PM UTC

Also good to be a little extra cautious when it is a new seller on ABE

In this case:

"Sold by LlanEnt, Llanelli, CARMA, United Kingdom

AbeBooks Seller since July 25, 2025"

Also useful to check seller's other books for sale.

Yesterday, this seller had only 2 books listed - today only the ROTK.

The late Stu
Home away from home

1 Aug, 2025
2025-8-1 8:38:47 PM UTC

remy wrote:
Also good to be a little extra cautious when it is a new seller on ABE

In this case:

"Sold by LlanEnt, Llanelli, CARMA, United Kingdom

AbeBooks Seller since July 25, 2025"

Also useful to check seller's other books for sale.

Yesterday, this seller had only 2 books listed - today only the ROTK.

He had the same three books for sale from his last scam account (EkgarFinds) as well. The RotK, a Steinbeck and another one.

Mr. Underhill
Shirrif (Moderator)

1 Aug, 2025
2025-8-1 10:12:59 PM UTC

remy wrote:
Also good to be a little extra cautious when it is a new seller on ABE

In this case:

"Sold by LlanEnt, Llanelli, CARMA, United Kingdom

AbeBooks Seller since July 25, 2025"

Also useful to check seller's other books for sale.

Yesterday, this seller had only 2 books listed - today only the ROTK.

This goes for eBay dealers as well.

The late Stu
Home away from home

1 Aug, 2025
2025-8-1 11:37:46 PM UTC

The thing with these scammers is that they get the money from Abebooks at the end of each week by bank transfer, so they don't have to fulfil anything and they just transfer the money away, rinse and repeat with a new account.

Abe obviously make more money by not policing it very well (and just writing off the losses) than they lose by not policing it very well. Not surprising the seller fees are so high.

The late Stu
Home away from home

7 Aug, 2025 (edited)
2025-8-7 6:41:40 AM UTC

Not so much a scam as misleading and predatory.

This site uses affiliate links for which we may be compensated

J R R Tolkien Lord Of The Rings De Luxe 1969 First Edition

357106750956

Seller: kelcake764652

(11)

Buy-It-Now:

£2,000.00

Seller kelcake764652

The late Stu
Home away from home

13 Aug, 2025 (edited)
2025-8-13 9:44:53 AM UTC

This is a new scam (or someone in the book's history wanted to make it look real). Smearing ink onto the facsimile signature to give the impression it is real (to someone uninformed)

This site uses affiliate links for which we may be compensated

1970 J.R.R. Tolkien -The Hobbit Book with Maps plus signature- good condition.

388828379755

Seller: jakrahj_0

(104)

Buy-It-Now:

£1,500.00

tomwa

13 Aug, 2025
2025-8-13 11:04:41 PM UTC

The late Stu wrote:
This is a new scam (or someone in the book's history wanted to make it look real). Smearing ink onto the facsimile signature to give the impression it is real (to someone uninformed)

This site uses affiliate links for which we may be compensated

1970 J.R.R. Tolkien -The Hobbit Book with Maps plus signature- good condition.

388828379755

Seller: jakrahj_0

(104)

Buy-It-Now:
£1,500.00

The same seller did the same thing to another copy of the book too:

This site uses affiliate links for which we may be compensated

1969 7th The Hobbit-Signed / 1978 BCA The Silmarillion

388806251350

Seller: jakrahj_0

(104)

Ended Aug 11, 2025

This item ended more than 90 days ago

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