I've had a second book request cancelled (two different swappers) because the swapper is only doing box swaps.  Does this happen a lot to other people?  Too bad there isn't a separate way to list these books (although I'm sure it would cause system-wide chaos).  It is frustrating...I've had many cancelled requests lately (for a myriad of reasons)- probably 1/3 to 1/2 of my requests- and there's rarely another copy in the system, so perhaps I'm just feeling testy today. : )

I've never had this happen to me, but I'm not ordering much lately.  It strikes me as wrong that someone offers a book to the general membership by putting it on thier shelf, then when you order you're informed that they didn't mean to offer it to you!

I find that really odd that they would not want a credit for a book. I guess they con't want to bother with postage on a single book. Sorry its happened to you so much, I've never seen it happen. These people will probably get a warning from the site for cancelling too many orders. Not sure what PBS's stance would be on it. I know they allow you to exclude books from boxing because you want a credit, but I've seen nothing on the other way around, I wouldn't think they'd encourage it.

I'm not even sure that's allowed.  If the book were on someone's wishlist and it's on their bookshelf, I don't think the system would let them cancel it and then send it to someone else.

Adrienne;  a member cannot hold up books only for book swaps. If the book is on their Bookshelf, they have an obligation to send it.  I would definately report this member to R&R. Go to "Contact Us" at the bottom of the page and in the BLUE SECTION, click "send feedback". Cut and paste what you reported in your original post.

Have never had that happen to me.   I definitely would ask R + R about that.

Ok.  Thanks for the info & advice. 

I guess I should clarify that the message I got, which was included in the cancellation notice, was "I am only doing boxes of books at this time.  Sorry for the inconvenience."  So, it doesn't sound like she was specifically holding the book I requested for box swapping, but that she was only doing box swapping and no single book swaps.  Not that it makes any difference from my perspective!

The other time it happened was a while ago, so I don't remember exactly what the explanation was.

June (or anyone else) does this still sound like it wouldn't be allowed & should be reported to R&R?  I couldn't find anything about it in the help center.

Thanks, everyone!

Adrienne,

Yes, please report this person.  The help center says:  Books that appear on your bookshelf as available should be able to be sent out when they are requested.

You cannot deny credit requests just because you prefer box requests.

a member cannot hold up books only for book swaps. If the book is on their Bookshelf, they have an obligation to send it.

I don't think that this is true.  I don't think that you are under any obligation to send your books if you don't want to - whether it's because you change your mind and want to keep the book or because you want to only do boxer swaps.  I don't think I would report this, because I'm not sure that they've violated any rules.  (If there is one in the help section, I haven't seen it).

I have to say, though, that I do find it very odd that someone wouldn't be willing to send a book for a credit.  I've never had that happen before and this is the first time I've heard of it happening.

Sorry you're having so much trouble with requests being canceled.  I hope things improve soon!

Adrienne, You need to let R&R know about that.  Boxes (or BoBs) are an option but are not meant to replace sending books out through the FIFO.  You can copy and paste the info into a feedback message and they will contact the member.

As an FYI, books that are invovled in a BoB offer are not removed from the members' shevles until both parties 'accept' the box.  That can take a few days depending on many things.  So, it is still possible to have a book ordered that has been already requested by BoBer.  I've had a book ordered out 'from under me' in that way and it didn't bother me.  But some members will go ahead and hold the book for the box, which is okay.

ETA: By posting books onto your shelf, you are agreeing to mail them out to other members who request them.  Now, I'll go find the info I know says that somewhere....

ETA: Found it in Terms of Use (A link is at the bottom of every page):

Section 4 Exchanged Material

Seconce Paragraph (bold mine):

Listing or Posting
By listing or posting items for selection by the exchange community, you aver that you are the sole owner of the items and have the unrestricted right to transfer ownership thereof. By posting or listing an item for exchange with the Site, you agree to ship the item when requested. The posting or listing of items without the intention of exchanging them when requested is expressly prohibited and may constitute wire or mail fraud in violation of U.S. and state law. The listing or posting of items for exchange that you do not have in your physical possession is expressly prohibited.

Glad you found that Kimberly.  Adrienne; I definately would report this to R&R. Let them straighten this out.

ETA: BTW: The three of us Tour Guides are telling you the same thing.

I'll have to chime in with the other Tour Guides - let R&R know and they'll sort it out.

Will do!  Thanks!

I just found out something new....all the member needs to do is put their shelf on hold.  From the help center doc "How does the Vacation Hold Affect Box of Books"

Box-O-Books is not affected by a Bookshelf Hold.

• You can put your bookshelf on hold for regular (for-credit) requests, and keep it open to Boxers.
• In order to hide your bookshelf from Boxers, you will need to Pause your Box-O-Books as well:
  • To do this, click the Settings tab on the far right in the Box-O-Books area.
  • Click "Pause Box of Books"
  • To UnPause Box-O-Books later, just go to your Settings again and click the button "Fully Activate Box of Books"

So, Adrienne, I think you should still let R&R know because you can't contact that member now that they said they couldn't mail but for anyone else out who has BoB, this is useful info.

ETA: Also, excessive "I can't mail this book" will become a red flag on the account and could result it being frozen.  Not a good thing.

Ah- I actually already sent an email to R&R yesterday, but I was able to PM the person through the transaction archive list, so I passed along the info to her.  Hopefully this will save other lowly individual swappers from being in my predicament  Thanks!

If a boxer has a book on their shelf and it's requested by someone for credit, the book will disappear. If they cancel the request the book will not go back on their shelf. They have to post it again. So if it's a WL book then when it's posted it would get requested by FIFO for whoever is 1st in line. If the book is a book that has other copies in the system then the person requesting the book will get their request filled by someone else down the line.

It is nice that you can put your shelf on hold and still do boxing. I can't remember if it works the other way round or not?