We've noticed that you have been giving out a lot of credits to friends lately, and we are glad to see that you are enjoying your membership!   We wanted to let you know that effective Monday 8/16/2010, there will be a limit on member-to-member credit transfers of 50 credits per month.  This limit won't affect donations to Friends of PBS, nor PBS Market purchases. 

This limit is being implemented system wide.

We hope this information is helpful. Have a great day!

So, yeah - get credits while people have them.

Wow if anyone has spare credits to gift see me!

Well that's a good way to discourage trading books here at PBS.

Does this include sale of credits, as opposed to just giving credits?

Michael - the only way to sell credits is to use the Give Credits button and that is what is going to be limited so yes, a member will not be able to sell more than 50 credits in any given month.

Maybe they're doing this to try and raise the price of credits back up?  Less available = greater demand?

"Maybe they're doing this to try and raise the price of credits back up?  Less available = greater demand?"

Maybe.

"Well that's a good way to discourage trading books here at PBS."

Not necessarily.  I rarely ever post books anymore. I don't need many  books so would sell credits. With credits going as low as $2 now and a media mail book costing $2.38 to mail, I can't justify it.  I used to easily get $2.70 for a credit, and that was before the last media mail increase.

I sure hope it raises the price.  I started out 2 years ago selling all I got for $3 ea.  Less than 6 months later I was doing good to get $2.70 each.  I see credits for $2.25 all the time now, and haven't sold in any 2 months.  I just saw someone selling them for $2 each on the BB. 

If it raises the price of credits in the bazaar I think that is  a good thing, especially since the price of media mail is going to go up again soon.   

Speaking for those of us who can neither afford to mail enough books to amass credits to sell nor buy  credits at PBS price, rising prices are unwelcome, no matter who raises them.  Terry

I think it's fair for the site to do what they want. This will make me post less wled books which is all I post as I mail HC books and order mostly PB books I will lose in the deal when the cost of credits go up...but that is OK its fair though they are shooting themselves in the foot

Actually, since the value of a credit has tanked, I've downsized my bookshelf and have held off on posting WL books and offering deals.  I've only posted about selling credits here twice, but there is no way I'd sell them for the $2.00 rate I saw earlier today.

I think it's a good reasonable idea to get the prices of credits sold by member close to that of the actual ones PBS sells. I certainly don't want the site to go under! Although I don't know if the 50 credit transfer is the right answer. Maybe it will only be temporary. Getting a book here is the cheapest, because even buying a 1 cent book on Amazon has a $3.99 shipping. Excluding yard sales and thrift stores, this is the best place for books and the variety is amazing! I read a mystery and loved it so much I just got the next 5 books here! :) I'm so happy!

I have also found great new authors just by joining and using the web site.

I don't think it's unreasonable. I have only been a member a month and have found that most postage is around 2.50.  So I don't see how it will decrease the amount of trading done on the site.  If I want credits I list books on the wishlist and then most are PB, so I get the credit within the week.  And really I love books so I trade ones I've read for ones I want, if not I'll be a little old lady with books instead of cats.

08/13/10: Speaking for those of us who can neither afford to mail enough books to amass credits to sell nor buy  credits at PBS price, rising prices are unwelcome, no matter who raises them. 

08/14/10:  And for the record, I do agree that the book club has the right to implement whatever rules it wants, and  I do think $2/credit is too low an asking price. In my mind, the idea isn't to make a business out of selling credits. On the other hand, the PBS price (last time I bought) of $3.49 is more than I want to pay.  Maybe instead of limiting the number of credits that can be given/sold, a pricing range should be implemented.  A rise in postage costs will in and of itself limit my book trading.   Of course the bottom line is that none of us want the book club to stop.   T

Actually, if it's done to get the price of credits sold by members to go up, it's a good thing for the site. 

If I need credits, it's better for the site for me to post and mail (getting books in the system) instead of buying credits for $2.  Why post books at all if it's cheaper to buy the credits?

I'd much rather see a wider variety of books being posted and get them for the cost of postage (between $2.50 and $3.00) than buy $2 credits and have hardly anything to request.

I think it will be good for the site and encourage more trading.  I know personally send a lot less books out each month since the price of credits in teh bazaar plummeted.  People need to post books into the system to make it work. If so many people are buying super cheap credits in the bazaar-credits that were most likely earned by sending out DVDS and then transferriing the credits here  because they get more PBS credits-then that's less books getting posted into the system but more credits out there to use. 

I never sold credits to make a profit-just to cover the postage and maybe part of the cost of the used book.  Before the credit prices plummetted-I sent out 15-20 books a month that I bought just to post.  I would resell credits 2 or 3 times a year to recoup the postage.  Now I leave WL books at the thrift store unless I'm interested in reading them first.  I've also started sendign books out on a site where the requestor pays postage because I don't need credits here at the moment.  So I've gone from mailing out 30+ books a month to mailing 4 or 5-because I don't want to sell credits at below media mail rate and I have a nice WL credit cushion. 

I also think 50 credits a month is a good number.  Someoen who has a lot of credits built up can still sell off 50 a month-that's 600 credits a year.  I don't think that's all that restrictive to the average user.  But it's a discouragement to those who transfer credits from SWAPADVD at a rate of 2 for 3 and then sell them super cheap.  DVDS are cheapre to mail too so these people are making a profit.  They don't trade books on PBS they transfer the credits to get the extra ones and then sell the credits at a price to underccut those of us who are sending books out to earn them.

I'm not rich-in fact I'm a single mother with a limited budget. But I still think if you can't afford to mail out the occassional book to earn some credits then PBS might not be right for you.  The site needs  people to send out books to survive.

Maybe a better way would have been to limit the # of credits allowed to transfer between the trading sites.  Then the people who send out a lot of books because they have used book stores or just massive book collections-can still sell off more credits.  But the DVD credits aren't flooding in as much.

Thank you so much Mary L.!!!   When I first realized that people were able to swap credits between the sites, I thought that was not a good thing.  And I've been hoping PBS would come to the same conclusion.  There is a BIG difference in the cost of mailing CDs and books, so I feel that if you want/have CDs, go to the CD site.  If you want/have books, go to the book site, and as the saying goes,  "Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet."

I don't see the harm in people selling credits that they have obtained to other members for whatever price they choose. The people buying the credits are spending them here, ordering books from members that they might not be able to get otherwise. I've purchased credits from members twice, once when new and my eyes were bigger than my credit stock, and once later to take advantage of a couple of deals I didn't have enough credits for to still allow WL books that popped up. If someone has mailed out enough books/dvds/cds that they have extra and want to get $ for postage, gas, to buy more books or yes, even to get a hamburger, I don't see where the problem lies. Obtaining those credits is quite frankly work.

I buy a lot of books for my shelf ...I pretty much "wing it" on what I buy but end up with a lot of WL books. On top of that, I purchase tape, tyvek and bubble mailers. So far, I'm pretty even with what I send out and what I order, but with a TBR over 1K, that's got to slow down. I will then have "extra" credits. Should I then be forced to keep banking those credits, but continue spending my other money to stock my shelf, pay for gas and supplies and  postage? That wouldn't be fiscally responsible, and will result in me buying and listing far fewer books.

But it's a discouragement to those who transfer credits from SWAPADVD at a rate of 2 for 3 and then sell them super cheap.  DVDS are cheapre to mail too so these people are making a profit.  They don't trade books on PBS they transfer the credits to get the extra ones and then sell the credits at a price to underccut those of us who are sending books out to earn them.

Good point Mary.  Maybe that would be a better solution. 

I have built up credits- mostly from buying wl books at fol sales- books I do NOT read, but get only to post into the system.  I do take advantage of the multiple thread to do this with wl books,  but 75% of the books from my shelf are mailed as singles.  I like to sell credits to help defer the cost of buying those wl books I don't read, mailing materials and postage- but I feel that $2 a credit is like giving them away... and I would stop buying simply to post books if that was all I could get.  So I think that a credit limit is a good idea and Mary's idea would help even more.

You can still sell those credits at a rate of 50 per month!   No one ever suggested you couldn't sell your credits.  That isn't exactly having to bank them.

Buying from the kiosk at $3.45 per credit doesn't equate to more books generated in the system.  At least the sellers have mailed something out.

I don't think people who are actually  mailing out books to earn those credits should be penalized.  But really what encourages people to post books into the system if they can buy a credit in the BB for less than media mail postage? I myself have thought about not mailing any  more books out and just buying cheap credits.   But books need to be added to the system for it to keep working. And I don't mean the 800th copy of a John Grisham or a Nora Roberts book that someone then sends out on a deal.  I sent out 10-20 more books a month when I could sell my credits to cover the cost of postage and maybe the .25-75 that I might have spent on the book.  I can't afford to do that now. I don't need 100 credits built up here and I can't afford to sell them at a loss of .50-1.00 per credit.  So I leave those WL books at the thrift store.  I see Twilight Saga, Sookie Stackhouse and Outlander books in teh thrift stores all the time.  I leave them there.  It's not worth it for me to buy and post them.  I post just enough books here to cover my WL needs and then send my books out on another site where the requester pays the postage.  (I don't buy any books just to post there either).  I would love to send out more books on PBS.  But I can't spend my credits fast enough to make it worth accumulating a lot of credits.  I generally have 150+ WL books in my TBR at any given time adn then another 200 or so of not-WL but fast moving books. 

I read my heavily posted TBR books and donate them to the thrift store until I get some WL offers. THen I'll read and post a few WL books.

There's a cap on how many credits you can buy from PBS each month becasue they'd rather you mail books out to get credits and not buy credits.

ETA: I imagine that's also why the credits direct from PBS cost that much-to discourage people from just buying credits instead of posting books.