Question: I bought a used book on Amazon and had an awful experience. I seem to remember the book was described as being in "very good" condition, but the book I received was in bad shape. How can I view the original book description?

ANSWER: Amazon doesn't make this easy, but it can be done. Here is how you can view seller descriptions for all your Marketplace transactions:

1. Go to the "Your Account" page. (The link is at the top right corner of any Amazon Web page.) On the right, the second box down is labeled "Your Auctions & zShops Account."

2. Click the "Auctions & zShops" link, and on the next page, third line down, is "Amazon.com Payments: View all recent purchases."

3. Click there, then choose the appropriate date range for the transaction, and you'll get a listing of your orders.

4. Locate the order and click on its "Listing ID" column. That will pull up the seller's description that was displayed when you purchased. Amazon calls calls it "Seller's Comments."

So if the seller made an honest mistake when listing, I am sure they would be happy to refund you at least 50 percent, since you didn't receive what was promised. So I'd give them the opportunity to do the right thing. If they don't apologize profusely and offer at least a partial refund, I'd leave negative feedback. This will warn other customers that, at best, the seller unreliable and won't correct mistakes.

See a real-time list of the most highly sought after used and collectible books.

Read more free articles on selling used books profitably online: http://www.weberbooks.com/selling/selling.htm

Steve Weber is author of "The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site" (ISBN 0977240606). Got a question for Steve? Send to: steve_weber@yahoo.com