Finding out the accurate cover of a used book

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JTB.SDG

Puritan Board Junior
I've already spent way too much time trying to do this, to no avail. In particular I'm searching on ebay for The Bible Speaks Today series. They have three different kinds of covers but for the life of me I cannot figure out which cover is being sold if they aren't giving an image or are giving only a stock image. There is a really old looking edition that I'm not a fan of, as well as a more attractive newer looking edition but even when I google (1984 or 1989 etc) I can't figure out if they're selling the older or newer looking cover, even if I search for the ISBN! Help!
 
Yeah, I know what you mean, I went through that trying to get my Dune series to have that 70s look. I buy from abebooks, and sometimes they will specify the actual publication year. Also, look for "user supplied images".
But, it is not fool-proof.
 
I've already spent way too much time trying to do this, to no avail. In particular I'm searching on ebay for The Bible Speaks Today series. They have three different kinds of covers but for the life of me I cannot figure out which cover is being sold if they aren't giving an image or are giving only a stock image. There is a really old looking edition that I'm not a fan of, as well as a more attractive newer looking edition but even when I google (1984 or 1989 etc) I can't figure out if they're selling the older or newer looking cover, even if I search for the ISBN! Help!
With high volume sellers like Thrift Books, you're going to have a hard time. If it is someone smaller, maybe you can get them to upload a picture. But if they are using stock images to begin with, I'm guessing that is probably not going to happen. (Usually I'll have someone do that if I want an additional picture beyond what they've already uploaded.) Sometimes Amazon helps, but sometimes they also have inaccurate information, especially if it is an older book that they've never stocked where the listing was added by a third party seller.

With Bookfinder, you should generally be able to see what edition is being sold. If you click on the ISBN, it will show the cover if it isn't something really obscure. That's not always right. I think they are pulling that from Amazon and/or Good Reads, which is owned by Amazon, as is Bookfinder. But it usually is correct. (I'm not familiar with the series you're referring to.) In your case with international shipping (presuming that's what you're doing) it is more high risk to be sure.
 
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