Is there any way to contact someone who has the book you have been waiting months for it to show up.  They see I cannot accept books from a smoking household due to allergies.  They say it does not meet conditions because they do not smoke but worry their dog might hurt the allergies.  Argh!  Dogs are not a problem, I have 2.  But they did not ask me, they just said it did not meet requirements.  I am so bummed.

 There is no way for some one to contact you with a question about your conditions until they accept the book.  unfortunately you won't be able to re-request this book.  If I were you I would simply edit your conditions to say, "Please no books from a smoking home." don't even mention allergies or anything else.  People tend to be really cautious about conditions and decline if they have even the slightest doubt about their book. 

I used to say "no books from smoking home please" and still got a couple from smoking homes.  So I added the allergy which did stop the smoking home issue.  I guess I need to really spell it out.  Allergies - no smoking, no mold.  Dog, cat, dust OK.

Yup, you do need to get that specific.  For the sender and the requester, the communitcation between the 2 should be very clear.  No lost credits, no allergy attacks........

Could you add, as I do, the "Please PM first clause"?? 

Kimberly~ So in order to pm the request you accept the request and then pm the person?  And then if they say "no" they (or you) go ahead and hit the cancel button?  I think that does sound like it would work.  But not with a WL book, right?

You can put in your RCs to PM you. If you do, you should put in it that you are Carol G. brat1 or a link to you so that they can contact you without accepting first. Without the contact info in your RC, you are more likely to get turned down on WL books because they don't want to go through the effort of accepting, contacting you, and cancelling reposting if you don't want it. A good portion of forum users have said they will automatically turn down any RC asking for a PM so you run the risk of getting a lot more turn downs due to conditions. You are probably better of stating in your PM that animals are OK.

I agree the more specific the better.  I usually accept books with conditions (assuming it meets the conditions), but I like the site to be as painless and simple as possible so if I have the slightest doubt I'll say no!  :)  (I will no longer list cookbooks or workbooks for the same reason--unless they are brand spanking new, it's just not worth the extra hassle and time to PM and wait for a reply, or worse forget to PM and then get chewed out for it and have a problem book on my record!!)  Because of that, I can't agree about asking people to PM you... just because I wouldn't do it, LOL!  ;)  But there are others who would and have success with this method, so if you want to be extra sure it's worth a shot.  :)  If your conditions are crystal it shouldn't be an issue though.  Your "smoking due to allergies" is probably just fine if you just add the (dogs and cats are OK) or something to that effect.  I understand what you mean without it, because my mom is allergic to cigarettes also... but that way there's no question for those who might not get that at first glance and not want to take the time or bother to really read it closely and think about it. 

Yes.  Put in your requestor Conditions to Please PM me, rather than "I will not accept" .  I am "fairly" sure that when the requestor condition box pops up on someone's screen, there is a PM button in the right hand corner BEFORE They have to click yes or no - the problem does come in with wishlist books.  For example, if they accept without PMing first, then you lose your place in line if the request is then canceled.  There really is nothing you can do about it.  As this is a "free swap" site, there is really no other way to accomodate those people who for medical or personal reasons need to have certain conditions. 

However, I HAVE lost my place in wishlist line for Requestor Conditions on a few occassions.  My solution is this.  I never use Auto-Request on my wishlists.  If there is a wishlist book that I have been waiting for, I  I PM the person BEFORE i submit my wishlist request and wait to hear back from them.  I Tell them that I have requestor conditions that will come up, but that I have been waiting in line a very long time, so either I tell them to A IGNORE my RC if I choose, OR I tell them to B. PLEASE do not accept the request if the book does not meet my conditions so that I do not lose my place in line.

How about that?

Actually PBS says this about adding "please PM me" to your conditions:

Remember, the sender will see exactly what you type! Choose your wording carefully: most senders err on the side of caution. A vague notation like "Nice books only" is not easily interpretable, and will probably result in a lot of your requests being declined.

• Asking the sender to "PM me if you are unsure" is not a good idea
• There is no mechanism for the sender to PM the requestor from a request without accepting it
• If you want the sender to communicate with you about the book, you should phrase this "If you are unsure whether or not your book meets these conditions, please ACCEPT this request and then send me a Personal Message about the book."
• Ideally, your conditions should be clear enough not to require Personal Message clarification.

Emily--

I've had the same problems, and have gotten around it by adding a notation to my RCs that says "dust or pet hair are fine" :-)

Cheers,

Catt

I won't accept a RC that says "PM me".

The few times I've bothered, I've gotten no response and found myself stuck.

And if I don't PM and the person is unhappy and says, "BUT YOU DIDN'T PM ME!" I would be really ticked off, because I obviously thought the book met the conditions but the requestor gets an automatic "out" by saying I didn't PM.

Please word it so I'll know whether it meets your conditions or not. I won't PM anybody about it.

I just include my screenname in my RC's and it's worked very well.  It's true you can't just say PM me because there's no button but if you include your name then it's not so tough.  Since adding my screenname I've only had two people reject my request, and to be honest neither would've had to if they had PM'd me (they cited reasons not present in my conditions). 

It bothers me that every single conversation about RC's involves at least a few people who are seemingly prejudiced against requesters with conditions.  There isn't a single truly valid argument against Swappers for utilizing a system tool.  One might as well say they won't swap with people who offer deals, or who post in the forums.  I understand there might be some people who use it as a way to complain and keep their credits, but there are bound to be bad swappers of all types.  I've seen my share of ridiculous conditions as well.  I still don't think that justifies writing off an entire swath of swappers.

Thank you for clarification.  I must have been mistaken about PMing first.  In either case, the suggestions about Pming the requestor before the book has been requested (for a wishlist book) should work, right?

However, I HAVE lost my place in wishlist line for Requestor Conditions on a few occassions.  My solution is this.  I never use Auto-Request on my wishlists.  If there is a wishlist book that I have been waiting for, I  I PM the person BEFORE i submit my wishlist request and wait to hear back from them.  I Tell them that I have requestor conditions that will come up, but that I have been waiting in line a very long time, so either I tell them to A IGNORE my RC if I choose, OR I tell them to B. PLEASE do not accept the request if the book does not meet my conditions so that I do not lose my place in line.

How about that?

I read carefully each and every condition and send if the book meets the condition.  What I don't do however is ever PM about a book.  That is just going to a length I am not willing to go.   Make your conditions clear and no PM is ever needed.       Just my take on it.   BTW I've never turned down a book request for conditions except when I smoked, which is no longer a problem.      Asking someone to PM is asking too much of the sender, in my opinion.

I don't think its asking too much of the sender if your conditions are something that is really part of PBS guidelines anyways... for example, I ask that people "PM first" if there is any highlighting or writing on the text of the pages.

This is against PBS guidelines anyways (except for Texts, which PMS are needed anyways).

Its just after recieving several books wtih writing in them, I decided most people must need a reminder.  I don't think its asking too much of the sender in a case like that, for example, especially.

Kimberly, if you want a book so badly that you don't want to use RC's and you're ordering manually anyway, just go to your settings, turn off your RC's, order the WL book, then turn the RC back on in your settings.

I really don't think it's appropriate to ask someone to ignore your RC's in a PM request and then place the order with the RC's in place. This is because the other member must state that the book meets the conditions when they click the "yes" button. Clicking that button is agreeing to that contract. I would not click "yes" even with your PM. If it doesn't meet the conditions, it doesn't meet the conditions.

I'm not knocking people with conditions, but a little common sense is in order here. The sender is already agreeing to take additional steps to fill your RC request. Asking them to PM you in addition is too much to ask, especially when there's no guarantee that the requestor will answer.