How can an American hire an Australian to scan a short Australian book?
August 10, 2019 3:56 PM Subscribe
I want to read an obscure little paperback that is only available in Australia. I'm in the U.S. Shipping the book will cost 55 AUD. Is that enough money to pay for a copy shop in Sydney to receive the book, cut the spine, run the pages through an automatic document feeder, and send me the images? And if so, how would I arrange that job?
just making sure you've already checked abebooks.com and betterworldbooks.com
posted by fingersandtoes at 4:22 PM on August 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by fingersandtoes at 4:22 PM on August 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
My googling suggests there are a number of these kinds of services in Australia, but maddeningly none of them seem to have prices on their sites. E.g. Microsystems, DatacomIT, Scan2Archive, Adelaide Scanning. I may have more suggestions if you can link to the book you're after.
(Source: Australian who likes books)
posted by Cheese Monster at 4:22 PM on August 10, 2019
(Source: Australian who likes books)
posted by Cheese Monster at 4:22 PM on August 10, 2019
Response by poster: Better World Books and Amazon are out of stock. AbeBooks is where I found it for 46 USD including shipping.
An Australian tipped me via MeMail: according to the Australian post office website, actual shipping cost to the U.S. is likely to be more like 17 AUD or 12 USD. So I'm going to try contacting some eBay sellers that have this book, and asking them to quote me for shipping to the U.S. Maybe they'll be willing to do it for something closer to cost.
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 4:32 PM on August 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
An Australian tipped me via MeMail: according to the Australian post office website, actual shipping cost to the U.S. is likely to be more like 17 AUD or 12 USD. So I'm going to try contacting some eBay sellers that have this book, and asking them to quote me for shipping to the U.S. Maybe they'll be willing to do it for something closer to cost.
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 4:32 PM on August 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
I have propositioned you by email...
posted by Thella at 5:07 PM on August 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Thella at 5:07 PM on August 10, 2019 [2 favorites]
the library system might be able to help - they have a copy service
posted by mirileh at 11:34 PM on August 10, 2019
posted by mirileh at 11:34 PM on August 10, 2019
Ask the seller to recalculate the postage, if you haven't already? Australian postage IS expensive, but also I think Abe lets sellers set defaults and they may have it set high if they mostly sell a lot of very heavy books.
posted by AnnaRat at 12:59 AM on August 11, 2019
posted by AnnaRat at 12:59 AM on August 11, 2019
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posted by penguin pie at 4:11 PM on August 10, 2019 [3 favorites]