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Do what's right. If PBS contacts you (and I doubt they would for 3 in a month), you can take photos of the books.

I have had the same concerns. LeAnn. I too have offered to send PBS pictures of the books I received to show their unpostableness, but they didn't want to see the pictures. If anyone sends them pictures, they just delete the emails with those pictures.

Well, no one except TPTB knows how many books marked "RWAP" is "too many". But if you are resolving the issues between the senders and you satisfactorily to both parties, that is what PBS is interested in. So, if the other members are refunding the credit and thus "admitting" the wrong, I really don't think you need to worry about it, no matter how many you mark. Even if they are not all resolved, you say that you are also offering pictures to the other members, so I think that is another thing that would be in your favor.

Quite honestly, I wouldn't worry about it at all.

Mark all the RWAP books you receive as RWAP. I am sure if PBS notices a trend upward across all the membership, they will figure out how to prevent it as much as possible.  Maybe better notification when posting books, maybe some kind of pop-up before mailing, who knows?

As far as having a RC, take the forum advice with a grain of salt. Most of the people who use PBS have never posted a single topic on the forums ... the forum posters are a very small group out of the overall membership. As long as your RC is as polite as possible, I think you will have far fewer problems with it than reading the forums would lead you to believe.

I think most people just deal with RCs at face value and don't worry about them overmuch. I know that I receive a fair amount of requests with RCs and If I can understand what the person wants, and my book fits it, I send it, and if not, I don't. Most people do the same.  There are a few people who are out there rejecting all RCs for some reason, but they are certainly a very small minority of the membership.

I also wanted to add ... I have seen some people posting recently about suddenly receiving a lot of RWAP books. I myself, have not, I have a very active shelf and I also order many books a month, and I have not noticed any decline in quality. Just this week, I have received 10 books, and all of them were of extremely postable condition, with one paperback looking brand new. So, while there are certainly problem swaps out there ... there is a far greater number that are just fine!

I think as long as you are working it out between you and the sender they really are not going to care how many you have. they are only going to step in in serious looking sitations because they just don't have the time to deal with the small potatoes.

What Sara said (I seem to say that alot, lol)

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I got so many RWP's over the summer, I worried about this myself.  It was a bizarre rash of everything from underlining to boogers.  My only consolation, I told myself, was that I had never sent out an unpostable, never had one book marked RWP.  I hoped my exemplery record in that area would counter all the RWP's I was marking. 

I've had two RWAP in less than a week.  One of these books was just released a couple of weeks ago so I'm pretty sure there was only one reader.  Boy was she rough on that book!  Broken spine, looked worse than some paperbacks I've received that were 20 years old.  It really bothers me that people post books that are clearly not in postable condition.  I do, however, think that we should always mark them RWAP if they are.  It's the only way to weed out those who don't follow the postability guidelines.

Okay, sorry... newbie... but what is RWAP? What does it mean?

Thanks!

Krista- Received with a problem

That makes sense! Thanks Colleen!

I'd like to remind folks - although forum readers probably don't need reminding - that if you have an unpostable book, you can always post it in the Book Bazaar as a "free with order from shelf." 

I've had a couple of books that had some minor but unpostable damage and I've been able to quickly find a home for them that way. No boogers, though!

Also, Leann, you don't have to mail the book back to the sender.  If you want to do that, the sender should give you an additional credit, or pay for your postage in some other way.

Julie said: It was a bizarre rash of everything from underlining to boogers.

I have this image stuck in my mind now, lol, and the "rash" is part of it!!

I wonder if the new "golden book rule" (ugh!) guidelines have anything to do with the rash (eww!) of bad books? Maybe they're less effective than the old ones.

Judging from both my experience and from what I've seen on the boards, something is definitely up.  Could it be with more and more new members this is the inevitable result?