I wanted to see what was available for swap in the Outdoors & Nature genre. Lo and behold, it pulls up 10000 entries - but turns out everything I saw was FOR SALE at Amazon. I don't want to wade through Amazopn's entire inventory - I can go to their website for that!  I want to know what other members have available to SWAP.  Is there still a way to do that?  Used to be able to (I've been a PBS member for a lot of years).

BTW - I don't like this new thing of showing Amazon's inventory on PBS anyway - and especially I hate getting e-mails saying "Good news - your book is available" only to find it's available for sale at Amazon!  I love amazon, but I'm perfectly capable of finding things there by myself. When I go to PBS - or hear from you - I want to know what I can get with my accumulated points, not what I can buy somewhere else!

So can you help me find what PBS - not amazon - has available?  Thanks - 

Did you try selecting "Posted Books" in the Search Type dropdown? That limits the search results to only what's available for swapping.

By the way, PBS doesn't send out emails about books being available at Amazon. They send out emails about books that they themselves are selling in the PBS Market. You can turn those off by clicking on the link in one of the emails, or by going to your My Account / Settings page.

Pretty much every book on PBS has a Buy From Amazon button because they get a commission if you use that link and them buy something from Amazon, which helps keep the site free.  That doesn't mean if you hit the Order This Book button that you will be ordering the book from Amazon.  The Order This Book button means the book is available from another PBS member.  If there's a Post This Book button then there are no copies posted and you need to WL the book if you want to be inline for future copies posted.

I just went to the Advanced Search, pulled up Outdoors and Nature, posted books only and it brought up over 3600 books that are available to order from PBS.  Below each one is a Buy From Amazon button.  Just don't click that button. Although even if you click it-it doesn't buy the book from Amazon for you, it jusst takes you to that page on Amazon.  I like that I can do that because the Amazon page frequently has more info than the PBS one.

I think there is sometimes a misunderstand about the Order From Amazon button.  That does not mean it's not available here on PBS. 

If there is also an Order From PBS button, then it's available here.  You might try narrowing your search some to find books that you might want.

Happy Trading!

The click-thru button to buy from Amazon has always been there, but they have made the button more prominant lately. The small commission they get from sales generated on those click thrus keep us from having to pay site fees.

To get books in your search that available currently, and not those with a wish list - enter your search phrase in the window in the upper right in the search box. Once the list comes up, go to the left where it says AllBbooks and change that drop down to Posted Books. All of the books listed will still have a prominant Amazon button, but they will also have the Order from PaperbackSwap button.

When you do a search, a gray box pops up on the left.  Near the top is a menu you can toggle from "all books" to "posted books" if you only want to see books that can currently be ordered.

The books here can be divided into posted books and wish list books.  If a book has an "order" button, it's posted into the system and can be ordered right away.  If there is no order button, then there will be a smaller button you can use to add the book to your wish list.  When you do that, you're getting in line for the book.  If someone posts the book, it will be offered to the member who is first in the wish list line, and everyone else will move up a notch.

As explained above, the Amazon and Market Place buttons are different animals.  They allow you to buy books, but that's outside the normal PBS swapping process.