This is the 4th time this has happened, so now I seek advice.

To make it clear: I request book, the deadline to mark it mailed has come and gone, it is not shown as mailed, PBS removes book,

gives my credit back,  and indeed in one case put up another copy for me, and then the book arrives. ( this also happened on cdswap).

Menawhile, I am counting my credits, and ordering more books/cds.

Then the errant book/cd  arrives.

Now, I understand the rules are very clear, that the books/cds/dvds have a deadline to be mailed, and for several good reasons, to prevent confusion and delays.

but me, being a nice person, sighs and marks the book received, and pms politely to sender, etc.

Except...this is the  4th time and I can read and follow the rules, so am i emabling others who do not?

Perspectives, please.....

In the Help Center, under "I received 2 copies of the same book!"

"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.

      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."

So, the short answer to your question is, stop being a "nice person" -- the rules don't require you to mark that "not marked mailed" copy as received.  One lost credit will make folks remember a whole lot quicker than a slew of nice PMs :-)  Just make sure you mark the right one received.

Cheers,

Catt

If you receive a book that (apparently) didn't get mailed by the first person check the sender info in your transaction archive to make sure who actually sent it.  If you had reordered it from someone else and they were sending it too then you are likely going to get two books.  I've pasted the help doc that can guide you through this.  You are under no obligation to mark the first book recieved.  But you can, it does give them a credit.  It's up to you.   Remember make sure who sent the book to you and mark it received from the appropriate page.

 Yes, you are enabling.  Some say that we should be teaching people a lesson to remember to mark their books mailed by their forfeiting credit.  But perhaps life got in the way.  I think that if I realized I never marked a book mailed then I'd go to my TA and PM the receiver to let them know.  Maybe their second transaction wasn't complete and it could be cancelled.  Getting a credit would be nice but I would understand if not and if it were my mistake. 

Hope this helps!

This usually happens when the member that sent this book did not complete the sending process by marking the book mailed, but sent the book anyway.  In these situations, there is a possibility that the requestor will end up with 2 copies of the book.

If you received (or will receive) two copies of the book, you are not obligated to give a credit to the sender whose transaction was canceled.  If you got (and will get) only one copy, you should mark the book received so that the sender gets credit.

WHAT TO DO:

You should FIRST check your My Account main page to be sure there are no currently ACTIVE requests for the book in your account.

• If you DO NOT have an active request for the book on your My Account page (check all tabs there)
  • you should mark this book received as described below.

• If you DO have an active request for the book on your My Account page:
  • and it has the Cancel Order button on it, you should cancel the new request and mark the canceled copy received as described below.
  • and the sender has printed but not marked mailed yet, you will not have the Cancel button.
    • You can contact the sender using the PM button on the request and ask her NOT to mail
    • If she has printed with postage or has mailed, she cannot cancel (postage will not be refunded), and you will end up with 2 copies of this book.  In this case, you MUST mark the second copy received when you get it; you should NOT mark the canceled copy received. (Please see I received 2 copies of the same book! for more information.)
    • If she agrees not to mail, she should contact us to ask us to cancel.
      • If she clicks Cancel herself, this will only pass your request to ANOTHER sender.
      • We can be contacted using the feedback link at the top of the Contact Us page (accessible from the bottom of any page on the site).
      • You can read more about cancelling requests in How do I cancel a request?.

To mark a canceled book received and give a credit to the sender:

• Go to your Transaction Archive:
  • Place your cursor over My Account in the toolbar at the top of the site and click Transaction Archive in the menu that drops down
  • You can also get there by clicking the link "Transaction Archive" at the top of the My Account page
• Scroll down to find the canceled transaction for this book
  • Be sure it is the correct transaction: sometimes there are several canceled transactions for one title
  • Check the sender name against the return address on the package
  • To find the request easily, sort the transaction archive by "Requested by Me" - "All" - "title" - "descending" and scroll down to find the transaction(s) for this title.
    • Again, there may be multiple transactions for one title: be sure to choose the correct one!
    • You can compare the name of the sender on the transaction with the return address on the package
    • You can also click the link Request Details on the right of the transaction to see more information about the transaction (the dates it was requested, printed, mailed)
• Click on the transaction
• The usual Book Received screens will come up.
  • You will have a chance to send a message to the book-sender during this process.
• Marking a canceled book received will take a credit from your account and give it to that sender.

If there is no button on the transaction:

• either you removed this at some point earlier, or
• the sender canceled the swap (it didn't simply "time out"), which can remove this button
• In this case, you can give credit for the book directly to the sender by clicking his or her name on the transaction to take you to his or her bookshelf or public profile - where there is a "give credits" button.

You also might want to check your Wish List, and remove this title from there, if you do not want to receive future offers of this book.

• The book would have been placed on your Wish List automatically when the transaction canceled, if there were no other copies of the book in the system at the time of cancellation.

You get a 2nd copy because the 1st one wasn't marked mailed then you don't owe the 1st person a credit.  Let them learn their lesson.

Usually when this happens-I cancelt he 2nd request and PM the first person.  So far I have never heard back from somene saying "yes I mailed it" but I figure it can't hurt. I just reorder the book later.  I also have yet to have one of them show up. 

If you haven't gotten another copy because it was WL or just hasn't been accept by anyone-then go ahead and give them the credit. Life does happen sometimes.  People unexpectedly lose power, have computer crashes, get sick etc...,

While I agree it's a nice thing to do to give that first person that didn't mark mailed the credit, yes,  you're enabling when you do that.  Don't mark those books received.  The other person will learn their lesson when they keep losing credits.  PBS sends plenty of reminders to mark stuff mailed.  Quit rewarding people that aren't following the rules and they'll either quit swapping books or will learn to mark stuff mailed.

Um...keep in mind that the people who are likely to do this are brand new members. And, they will learn just as fast not to do this if you give them the credit and send them a PM explaining that you didn't have to give them a credit and why, and how to avoid the problem in the future.

I like to help new members instead of punish them. Who knows, they might become really great members!

Just adding another perspective.

complaining about not getting a credit. I had not received the book yet, so spent awhile tracking down HIS problem, then PM'd him very politely explaing he had timed out of the "mailed book" process.

Book fnally came, I pm'd again,  giving himn credit, never heard from him. No thnk you, nothing.

To date, I have not gotten any 2nd books afer the first one timed out, and have always gotten the timed out book.

but still...the  rules were designed to prevent all this double mailing of 2 books, confusion, etc.

I think what I will do is when i notice the PBS time out ( the book just disappears form my account ) I will pm sender to see if they sent it.  that might save a lot of time.

Many thanks for your take on this issue.