Had such a weird interaction today. I’ve been trying to buy Road Dogs by Elmore Leonard. Book Grocer had it and have had it for ages, I finally took the plunge because I can pick it up from the warehouse when I’m in Melbourne. I put it in my cart, but before I decided to buy it, I did a quick check on google to see if I could get it cheaper anywhere and saw there was a signed copy on ebay. He’s one of my favourite writers and it’s pretty cheap but coming from the USA and the shipping was more than the book (go figure). I asked the guy if he’d consider shipping with someone else who might be cheaper (instead of ebay global or whatever it’s called) and he replied overnight not having a clue how to do that so I figure it’s not meant to be.

Go to bookgrocer and Road Dogs is gone. Not available. They must have sold it which is so highly coincidental that it gets sold on the day I finally decide to buy it. But you snooze you lose, right?

So I check on facebook marketplace and some guy in Balaclava has it and is selling it. So I message him today asking if it’s available.

He says yes.

I ask how much.

He says $7.

I figure bargain. I asked when is he free, I’ll be in Melbourne over the weekend.

He tells me when he’s free.

Great. I’ll grab the book.

Then he asks where I am coming from.

I tell him Bundoora.

He says it’s a bit far.

I said that’s fine, I’ll have a car.

He says ‘but if you factor in time and petrol, it will cost more than shipping which is $10.90.’

I got a bit annoyed because who cares so I said, don’t worry, I’ll get it elsewhere.

Dude talked himself out of a sale (though I figure he makes a couple of bucks on the shipping so his $7 turns into $10 maybe).