"Damaged" books update.

At least for any of you who are interested. My current publisher uses Bookmasters for distribution. I've since considered going this route myself with Never Ceese since Bookmasters has that clean line of distribution through all the major distributors therefore making it easy and a piece of cake to get into brick and mortar bookstores should that be what you're after.

*Please note I didn't say that every author should be looking to get into brick-and-mortar bookstores so please hold all comments that ask why any author would want to do this. Of course every author wants to do this. They simply want the playing field to be level and it isn't.*

Monday 5-3, I received 10 books I ordered from my publishers' distributor and found that 4 of those books were not new books at all and 3 were actually books signed and dated from B&N. I called and was told right away that I could keep the four "damaged" books (they're not damaged, they're just not new) and four more replacements would be sent out straight away with no cost to me.

No cost to me?

Really?

Too late. Those books already costs me. When those books came back from B&N my publisher/I paid. As per Bookmaster's policy my publisher paid to have the books shipped back to Bookmaster, they paid for administrative fees to handle the transaction and they had to give a full refund to B&N. I'm absolutely certain there are more fees associated but those are enough to make my point. Bookmasters is offering to let me keep the four books that are in good shape but NOT new (they refer to them as damaged.) They're sending me four NEW books at "no charge" to me.

My question? (There are several.)

Why are blatantly used (damaged) books (remember two had B&N autograph stickers on them) being put back into inventory and distributed as new or for that matter why are any books being returned from bookstores being sold as new? Perhaps the publisher can authorize this to happen, I don't know. However I have a very difficult time believing that a publisher would authorize signed and dated books to go out as new. Even if the publisher hopes to regain some of the money they've lost on those returned books, I don't see them authorizing them to go out as "new." I wouldn't if it were me.

So I'll keep the quite sellable (damaged) books which my publisher and I have already lost a lot of money on and wonder how these books ended up going out to a customer as "new" and I'll be happy that I'm getting four replacement books that just costs my publisher (and subsequently myself) even more money? If four NEW books are actually sent, my publisher will have to pay for that (which means I pay as well.) Unless of course Bookmasters just finds four returns "damaged" books that don't appear returned or (damaged) and send those to me?

Who knows?