How long do I have to wait for a member to acknowledge a book request?  Can I cancel the request and move to the next person with the book?  How long am I required to wait?

The member has 5 days to accept your request and 5 days to mail after accepting.  If you cancel the request and re-request it, it will just go to the same person.  The best thing to do is just be patient and wait it out until the system cancels it for you or the member accepts and mails the request. 

Patience is the name of the game here at PBS. 

Thanks for your quick reply!  Ok, I will play the waiting game, then.  Wasn't sure how that worked, and didn't want to break any rules.

I'm impatient that way too.  I hate it when someone waits more than a day or 2 to respond to the request.  Unfortunately as stated above, you can't cancel it. Well you can, but if you re-request...it goes to the same person.  On the bright side, if they don't respond by the 5th day...they remove that person's copy of the book so it doesn't happen to someone else.  You're weeding out the inactive people and helping others on the site by playing the waiting game.  I still hate it though :) lol

Good luck.  Hopefully they respond soon.

Kellie

Kellie, that's good that they remove the person's copy after 5 days.  Didn't know that. 

Now I'm wondering about something else.  When I request a book it lists several available copies.  I try to choose the copy of the person that lives closest to me in hopes of getting it faster.  Sometimes, that's not possible because the person may not have a profile, but it still seems to give me the choice of who to request from.  But, I was also under the impression that you get the book of the person who listed it first.  So, what's the deal?

Yes, it can be frustrating Gina.  But if the other member doesn't respond, their copy of the book is removed from their shelf and your request is passed on to the next member offering the book.  If the member has several non-response time-outs in a row, TPTB may assume there's a problem and put the account on hold.

ETA - I think you can click on the other members profile and see if the account is active...vs. vacation hold or suspended. 

"When I request a book it lists several available copies.  I try to choose the copy of the person that lives closest to me in hopes of getting it faster. "

Gina, I am confused by the above statement. On this site, when you click "request this book", your request automatically goes to the person first in the FIFO line - there is no option to choose who you are getting the book from.

I do know on bookmooch.com when you order a book it shows all available copies, and you can choose who to order from. Are you, perhaps, confusing the two sites?

Yeah PBS doesn't work that way.  That sounds more like Bookmooch.

The only way you could do that with PBS is to go the member directly and do it by state but then you would have to keep looking at bookshelves.  Or if you hung out on the forums and clicked on people with states near and looked at their bookshelves.

Otherwise if you just order a book using the Order This Book Button, it goes to the first person who had it listed if you aren't on a specific members bookshelf.

Or if you are looking at non-ISBN listings (books that are posted without an ISBN) you may see several available copies.  But unless the sender has made his location public, you won't necessarily know where the book is coming from.

When I type a book title at the very top in the search window, it may list up to 4 or 5 books, each with the "order this book" option.  Some may be pb, others may be hardcover or audio.  That's what I don't understand, if there is more than one book available, why doesn't it only list the next book in line to order instead of several.  I don't know if I'm explaining this to make sense.  But, I'm not confusing it with bookmooch.  I tried bookmooch and didn't like it, so I only use PBS. 

Gina,

I think what you are looking at when you enter the title in the search field are available copies in all forms. When you order one you are tied to that ISBN. That is a specific version of the book that you picked. When it cancels, you are offered the next exact version that is in the system. If no copy is in the system it goes on your WL. That's why member's have different versions of a book on their Wish Lists. Hope that helps.

The ISBNs would be different which would make more than one choice for the same book. "Behind the scenes" at PBS if you click on 'order this book' (from pbs member, not amazon) it goes to the next book in the FIFO line.

I just did a test on an older book which has been reprinted a number of times - various ISBNs, same book not an enhanced edition - this may be why it's confusing. The system offers all the available editions/formats for a book; if you search by ISBN you get the one specific edition. I've never seen an option of being able to choose from a specific person unless you order directly from their shelf. I'm not sure why it would matter if I ordered from someone who lives close to me - the USPS, at least for me, has been consistent with good service and it doesn't matter if the book comes from Hawaii or in my home state.

Lori and I are on the same wavelength. :)

Ohh, ok, now I understand!  I didn't think about there being different ISBNs; that makes sense.  I couldn't figure it out, but that explains it.  Thanks everyone for clearing that up for me!!  I love these forums, don't you??

Other than the first couple of books I requested, I have had good luck with getting books in a timely manner.  I thought maybe since the first couple came from farther away, that explained it.  The last couple of books came in just a few days, where the others from further away took a week or so.  Do most of you get the books in about the same amount of time no matter where they are from??   Just curious.

Gina--

What I've noticed with media mail is that you can never tell how long a book will arrive.  I'm in Calfornia and I've sent and received books from the East Coast that have arrived in less than a week.  I've also sent and received books within California that have taken three to four weeks.  I'd say the average seems to be about seven to ten days for me (unless they're coming or going to Alaska or Hawaii).

I usually mail via first class, but the times I've used media mail the books have arrived in incredibly good time, even to the West Coast. There seem to be some 'problem' areas in parts of the country, and maybe east-to-west mail goes faster than west-to-east, but overall I've received incoming books in excellent time, and those I've mailed were delivered in almost record time.

Recently had my first HI transaction (coming to me) and it arrived much quicker than I expected, while I had my one mailing to Alaska go lost a couple of years ago.

Most of my transactions take about a week.  Even the shipment I sent to an APO overseas got there in 2 weeks.  My postal clerk tried to discourage me from using media mail on that one, telling me it would take about 3 months.  I'm not concerned with time frames, I'm concerned with cheap.  lol.  I'm poor and couldn't afford this site if it weren't for media mail and bulk orders.

It really varies.  I've mailed books 1st class that only had to travel a few hours from me and they took over a week.  And then I've mailed media mail books that had to go cross country and they made it a couple of days. 

I find that books taking longer than 2 wks are the exception and not the rule. But it does happen.  Books tend to take longer around the holidays. 

Interesting........thanks!