These are the possibilities:

1. You submitted one request, and the first sender did not mark the book mailed, but did mail the book.

2. You submitted one request, and the first sender canceled it by mistake, but still mailed it.

3. You submitted two requests for the book, to two different senders

Scenario #1 (the most common scenario):

• You submit a request, which goes to Sender #1

• Sender #1 does not mark the book mailed before the deadline, but still mails the book.

• Then the request cancels and gets passed to Sender #2, who also sends the book.

• You end up with two copies.

  This situation (the requestor ending up with 2 copies of the book) is part of why marking a book mailed before the deadline is such an important part of the swapping process. 

  The bottom line here: always mark your books mailed, so you don't become Sender #1!

Scenario #2:

• You submit a request, which goes to Sender #1

• Sender #1 clicks on the transaction by mistake after (or before) Mailing the book.
• When she does that, the request cancels and gets passed to Sender #2, who also sends the book.

• You end up with two copies.

In both Scenarios #1 and #2: When you receive 2 copies for a book after submitting only one request, you are not obligated to give a credit for the extra (canceled) copy.  You are obligated to mark the properly sent copy received.

• When you mark the book received from the active transaction on your En Route to Me tab on your My Account page, Sender #2 will get credit. 

• Sender #2's transaction is the only active transaction for the book on your account page.
• The transaction with Sender #1 moved into your Transaction Archive when it was canceled, as a canceled transaction.

• You are not obligated to give a second credit for a canceled copy of a book when you submitted only one request
  • You are also not obligated to send the book back (although this is a nice thing to do if the sender is a new member).
  • You are obligated to mark the book received that is on your En Route to Me tab on My Account.

• If you do wish to give credit to Sender #1, you can mark that copy of the book received from the canceled transaction:
  • Go to  your Transaction Archive:
  • place your cursor over My Account in the toolbar at the top of the site
  • Click Transaction Archive in the menu that drops down
  • you can also click the link 'Transaction Archive" from the My Account page

• Scroll down to see the canceled transaction for this book.
  • Check the sender name and Details to be sure it is the correct transaction
  • There are sometimes several canceled transactions for one title
• Click on the transaction
• The usual Book Received screens will come up from there.
• When you mark a canceled book received, the credit is taken from your account and given to that sender.

• Again,  you do not have to mark the canceled copy received.
  • If you like, you may Post the extra copy of the book into the system for others to request.

Scenario #3:  If you requested a book from one sender, and then another copy from another sender, you must mark both copies received when you get them. *see the one exception to this below

• How this happens:

  • You order a book, and then submit another order for it.
  • You re-order a book that was declared lost in the Mail, and both copies arrive
    • Because "lost" can sometimes mean "delayed en route to you", we recommend not re-requesting a Lost book until it has been Lost at PBS for 2 weeks.
    • You must mark a "lost" book received when it arrives.  To do this:
      • Go to  your Transaction Archive:
  • place your cursor over My Account in the toolbar at the top of the site
  • Click Transaction Archive in the menu that drops down
  • you can also click the link 'Transaction Archive" from the My Account page
  • Scroll down to see the Lost transaction for this book.
    • Check the sender name and Details to be sure it is the correct transaction
    • There are sometimes several canceled transactions for one title
  • Click on the transaction
  • The usual Book Received screens will come up from there.
  • When you mark the copy received, the credit is taken from your account and given to that sender.
  • You order a Wish List book, and you are offered another version from your Wish List while the first version is still en route to you:
    • This is an individual choice: members will often request the second version, because they don't have the first one yet, and they want to be sure to get at least one copy of the book
    • If you do this, you must mark both copies received when they arrive; just repost the extra copy.
  • You request a book through both Box-O-Books and using a credit.
    • In this case, of course, you must mark both transactions received.
• *If the book was mailed late and had already been declared Lost at PBS before it was mailed (and you re-requested the book and got it from someone else), this is an exception:
  • If a sender wants to mail a book that has been declared Lost at PBS already she needs to contact you with a Personal Message asking you to confirm that you still want the book from her, and
  • You would need to have confirmed that you still wanted her copy of the book in a Personal Message in reply to hers before she mailed it.
  • If a sender sends a book this late without getting confirmation from you that you have not gotten another copy in the meantime, the sender has made the mistake here; in this case,  you are not obligated to mark the lost book received nor are you obligated to return the extra copy.