As a purchaser of books on the internet, you should be aware that some book sellers are not what they appear to be.  These sellers are sometimes referred to as phantom listers, spider listers or dropshippers (although there are many reputable dropshippers as I will explain). Phantom listers are usually companies that use specialized software to scan a book selling service, such as Half.com.  This software notes the books for sale and the asking price.  The phantom lister then uses their software to check prices for the same books on some other services, like JuuuungleBooooks or others.  When they determine they can make a profit, they will relist the book they found on Half.com over on the other service, such as JuuuungleBooooks.  They mark up the asking price (sometimes they mark it up a lot if it looks like there may be buyers).  They do not purchase the book yet.  If you buy this book from them through JuuuungleBooooks, they turn around and immediately order it from the seller on Half.com and have the Half.com seller send it directly to you.

This may not seem like a big deal, but some of the problems that phantom listers cause are:

1) You may not actually get your book since the phantom lister didn’t really have the book they sold you.  They gamble they can buy the book from someone else after you order it and buy it for a price less than what you are paying.  If the book they relisted is no longer available or if they can’t find another copy in the right price range, most will refund your money.  But that refund may not be easy to get and you may have wasted a lot of time and effort getting a refund.

2) The phantom lister cannot attest to the quality of the book they are selling since they never had possession of it.  Some will copy the description and condition from the listing of the seller who actually owns the book (not a particularly ethical practice) or they will just substitute some generic comment (like, "Fast shipping!").  This means you may receive a book that does not match the description of the book you purchased.

3) The phantom lister cannot make any claims about packaging or shipping since they won’t be doing that.  They never had possession of the book.  They may claim to ship from a single location, but in fact the book is shipped from wherever the true owner is located.  This may affect how long you have to wait for delivery.

4) Usually by looking at a seller’s feedback, you can tell if this is the kind of business you want to buy from, but in the case of the phantom lister the feedback score only tells half the story.  You don’t get to see the feedback of the seller who actually has possession of the book you are buying.  You may actually be buying from a seller you would not normally purchase from because of their bad feedback score.

5) The phantom lister has no business arrangements with the current owner of the book you are buying.  If they did, that might offer you, the buyer, some guarantee as to the quality of this transaction, but they don’t.  Their listings are generated by computer programs that are continually scanning the internet and looking for price differences where the phantom lister can make a profit.

6) At least some phantom listers seem to not be concerned about the level of service they provide their customers. If you look carefully at the feedback comments of a phantom lister you will see a large number of complaints about the kind of problems listed above.  In addition, you will likely see many complaints about how unresponsive the phantom lister was when there were problems.  The phantom lister’s business is typically based on automated buying and selling of large numbers of books, not customer service.

7)  Phantom listers actively seek to hide parts of the transaction from the buyer by often asking the current owner of the book to not include price or to not include a packing slip when they ship you the book.  The phantom lister doesn’t want you to know how much you could have bought the item for.  They don’t want you to know who actually owned the book you bought and they don’t want you to know which selling service had a better price.  Half.com requires sellers to include a packing slip with every shipment.

8) You could have gotten the same book cheaper somewhere else.  Phantom listers make their money by buying the book after you order it and then selling it to you for more.  Usually you could have bought the book somewhere else for the same price the phantom lister paid.  That is almost always less than what you paid.


Phantom listers make their money by selling to people who do not know the intricacies of the way they do business and the anonymity that selling on the internet offers.

I hope this discussion has made you more informed about potential problems with phantom listers.  If you’ve had satisfactory transactions with a phantom lister, good.  But remember, the good service, good packaging and fast shipping are the hard work of a seller you are not supposed to know exists.

The term “dropshipper” is sometimes used to refer to a phantom lister.  True dropshippers are hard working, ethical merchants who work very hard to ensure that they provide excellent products and quality customer service.  See the very informative set of four guides by Ebay seller Idonewald99 called “EBAY SELLING: DROPSHIPPING FOR SUCCESS” by using the guide search term “dropshipping”.

Even a very conscientious book seller will occasionally and unintentionally list a book they no longer have.  While they may just apologize and promptly refund the buyer’s money, sometimes a seller will purchase the book from another seller and have it sent to the original buyer.  This discussion is not about these sellers.  They do not make a business out of selling books they do not own.

If you are interested in knowing which book sellers may be phantom listers before you purchase a book, here are some suggestions.

1) Look at the feedback total.  If the number is very high (many thousands or hundreds of thousands), continue checking.  This may be a reputable, high volume seller, but it may be a phantom lister.

2) If the positive feedback score is not 99 or 100%, look at the actual feedback comments.  Even an excellent seller can have a less than perfect feedback score, especially if they don’t sell a lot of books.  But if you see a number of comments like “Never received my purchase”, “Condition was not as described”, “Would not respond to repeated attempts to resolve problem”, be careful.  Remember, positive comments about the packaging or shipping are not a reflection of the quality of the phantom lister, but the actual seller who sent you the book.  Comments about erroneous descriptions and bad communications do reflect the phantom lister.

3) Compare the number of positive feedback scores to the number of items the seller has listed in their store.  On Half.com you can do this by clicking on the seller’s name.  I’ve seen sellers with very good positive feedback scores and a total feedback number of a few hundred.  When you look at the seller’s store you find they have hundreds of thousands of books for sale.  Be careful of this seller.  If a phantom lister’s feedback score gets to be too bad, they may simply start doing business under a different name.

4) Look for comments and descriptions that indicate that someone looked at the book being offered for sale.  If you find a good description, that is not proof this is not a phantom lister since they sometimes copy the description from the actual book owner’s listing.  But if the comment is some generic statement like “Fast shipping”, be careful.

5) See where the book is being shipped from.  If the code is “ML” (on Half.com this means shipping is from multiple locations), be careful.  This is either a very big company or a phantom lister.  I suspect that some phantom listers show a state code for a shipping location instead of “ML” even though your book may be shipped from anywhere.  They do this to hide the fact that they are a phantom lister.

6) If you are not in a hurry, ask a question of the seller.  On Half.com, click on the seller’s positive feedback number (it is just under the seller’s name).  Once this window opens, there is a button to contact the seller.  Ask them a question about the item you want to buy or just ask them if they have physical possession of the book and can confirm that the condition and description in the listing are correct.  Then wait and see low long it takes to get a response.  When you get a response, make sure it sounds like a response from a person and not an automated response.  If you get a quick response from a person, that is a good sign.  They may still be a phantom lister, but at least you’ve got some indication they will respond if you have problems.

Other book selling services should have a way to contact their sellers.

7) Always check Half.com for the book you are interested in.  Compare the description, price and seller feedback against the book you found somewhere else.  I think you will often find the best price on Half.com.

Just to be clear, a person or company who finds a good deal, buys a book, takes possession of the book and then relists and resells it for a profit to someone else is not a phantom lister.  This is just good business and the heart of services such as Ebay and Half.com.  The problems with phantom listers most often stem from the fact that they didn't own the book when they listed it for sale and never had physical possession of the book.  That makes it impossible for them to make any claims about its condition, packaging or shipping which is bound to lead to problems.

This guide is not meant to imply that you should never buy a book from a phantom lister. It is not intended to question the business practices of any particular book selling service or any particular seller. You should weigh many factors before making a purchase, especially on the internet where it is easier for unscrupulous people to hide their bad business practices. This guide is written in the belief that an informed consumer can make better purchasing decisions and that is good for all of us.