i'm new to the site.  wondering the average response time once u order a book from a member.  if i dont receive a response in a week is that normal or does it usually take longer? 

thanks - Patti

The system allows for a 5 day response and some members do take that long; however, the majority are accepted quicker.  If the first person does not respond, the request will roll over to the next member with the book.  If no one else has it, it will go onto your wishlist.  If you get some spare time, browse the Help Documents for some extra info. :)

It's really hard to give an average....in my experience, probably a day or two--but then, I don't order many books directly from the system anymore, mostly my wishlist does my PBS shopping these days.

If you order a book with a lot of copies in the system, it might cycle through two or three people before someone accepts because the people who posted those books--possibly more than a year ago--got tired of waiting and lef the site without deleting their bookshelves. Let your request cycle through them, as once they don't accept a couple of book requests, their account gets inactivated.

If it's been longer than five days, your book is on the second request--if you look at the date you requested it, you'll notice it changed automatically to the date it moved to the second person.

Patience is definitely a virtue here at PBS, which is something that if I remember right is in short supply when you first join. Hang in there, and welcome! :)

Cheryl

Also, some people, (like me) will always pick the latest "Mail by" date when I accept a request.

I usually plan to mail it days before then, but like to have the extra padding on the end in case something comes up and I can't make my P.O. trip like planned. So it may look like they won't mail for days, when they'll actually get it int the mail long before then.

thanks for all the information.  i'll be more patient..hahaha.  i broke my leg and i'm stuck in bed with nothing to do but check for my books!!  that is great how the system works and rolls over to next one, etc.

patti

I'm sorry that you're laid up.

That's pretty much guaranteed that all the books you want will be slow.

Somehow, PBS users know when you're most in need of a book and their speed is inverse to your need.

Oh Patti...I'm so sorry about your leg! Too bad you didn't find PBS before you were stuck at home. That way you would have more books that you would know what to do with like the rest of us. :)

I checked your WL to see if I had something on my TBR but no luck at the moment (I've had 3 or 4 of them though!)

What you will find is that many people have one day a week that they go to the post office, so they wait until they can pick that day as their mailing date before they accept a book request. 

I have found that most books I order are accepted within a day or two (sometimes three if a weekend is involved).  But, there are exceptions.  I recently had a book that went through four offers before the fifth accepted, printed and mailed the day they got the order.  I waited 3 weeks for someone to accept the offer and then git the book within 5 days of the order being accepted.

Welcome to PBS Patricia!  Hope you enjoy trading books here, and that you feel better soon