I started a thread recently about a book that I'd posted received, but MUCH later (once I actually started reading the book), I realized I'd been sent an unpostable book.  Based on the replies I got and other similar posts I've seen, this has happened to a lot of us.

I've now learned to do a better "once over" of a book I get before marking it received.  Can't judge a book by its cover and all that.  With that said...here is my question - Once you realize your "after the fact" book WAS unpostable, and of course there is no way to NOW mark it RWAP...Do you send a polite pm to the offending party to let them know that they really shouldn't have sent a book in that condition.  I've considered doing this but feel that it may spark a nasty string of pm's. 

On the other hand, I feel that sending a friendly reminder may help to protect all of us from future bad trades .

In either case, I won't ask for a credit.

What do you all think?

Cassandra

It depends on what made it unpostable.  if there is underlining or something similar that could have been missed especially if they didn't read the book I just let it go.  If it is water damage I will let them know.  I may or may not ask for my credit back, it depends on how bad the damage is and hopefuly it is minor if I didn't notice it right off the bat

I think after you mark it you should let it be.  Check it closely when you receive it, but I would feel it very strange to get (or send) a PM well after it had been marked.

I think if it is so minor you did not catch it when you got the book, let it go.

If I've already marked it R w/o a P, then I just forget it.  I figure if I didn't notice the problem when the book first arrived, then it's just as likely that the sender didn't notice it either (especially if it's a book they didn't actually read) .

I got burned exactly once doing this, and learned my lesson, so won't ever do that again.  The way I figure it is this: at some point, the receiver has to assume responsibility for the book that they received.  It makes the most sense for the cutoff point to be when they mark it received.  So before marking a book received, I make DARN sure that there are no problems with it.  Once I mark a book received, that is the point of no return, it is mine, for better or worse.  The system is set up to only deal with problem books before they are marked received, so I don't feel that I can expect to push the limits of the system beyond what they are designed for.  If I happened to notice damage after I've already marked a book received w/o a problem, then that's my bad, my loss.

I get the point about not necessarily wanting a credit back, but just notifying someone that a book they sent did not meet PBS guidelines so that they will know better next time, but I think this is risky.  Some people don't take kindly to even a politely-worded PM to that effect, and won't hesitate to let you know that.  You may be cursed at, called names, and/or accused of trying to scam them.  If you're willing to risk that, then go for it, but like I said, I learned my lesson the hard way and wont' be going there anymore.  I'm taking the preventative measures approach now, because in the end, it's just a book, and not worth the stress of making a big deal out of it.

Lesley

Thank you all for your help.  I'm going to let it go and move on to more important things (like tackling the mountain of books in my TBR pile!)  ;-)