BTDT, unfortunately.  You can try to get your credit back from the sender by sending them a polite email, however, they are not under obligation to return it.  I have only had one instance where I noticed damage after I had marked a book received, PMed the sender, and got my credit back- however, the person was very rude about it and accused me of lying about the book's condition.  Since then, I have been much more meticulous about checking the condition of a book before marking it received.  Unfortunately, just flipping through a book is not adequate- as I found out a couple of weeks ago, when I discovered writing in a book that I ordered for my daughter and didn't see upon first inspection.  Frankly,  I'm not willing to risk getting into a conflict with the sender over it, so I have chalked it up to my own mistake of not checking the book well enough.  Bottom line is that once you have marked it received, there's no going back.  Sorry this happened to you, and so soon after joining, too, but you are certainly not alone.  I hope your future transactions go better.

Personally I would chalk it up as a lesson learned. I now go over books with a fine toothed comb before I even think about hitting that button.

I would chalk it up as a lesson learned. I've gotten a few books like that...prolly some that I know I should of marked RWAP, but in all honesty didn't want to mess with it. Usually with those books, I read then throw in my recyle bin. Or if I got one with a bit of writing it, I usually take it good to the local resale or trade it in at my used bookstore for credit.

Yep, one of those lessons learned the hard way. Like others have mentioned, I have learned to check through books very carefully before marking them received. Books I get might sit on my TBR for months (or years!) and since I wouldn't be opening it to read it til then, I know I should check when I get the book to make sure it's postable.

Cheryl

And occasionally there are those books that are just opened one too many times, and suddenly the pages begin falling out in chunks.  Case in point:  recently DH picked up an older used book for me, and I read it on several occasions with no problem.  Then I opened it again and -- wham -- the glue cracked and pages began dropping like flies.  Since it had been sitting next to my bed the entire time, I know nothing strange had happened to it.  It simply and suddenly reached the end of its life!

So, it is possible (although not probable) that when the book was sent it was okay.