I think all the members here will use the club in a way that works best for them. I have been here a few years and I have never had to buy a credit. I send out more books than I request so credits have never been an issue for me. I need to sell a few credits once in a while and that has worked out okay for me. Luckily for me somebody will come along and buy a few credits from time to time. I have sold 5 credits since the price went up. The club works pretty well for me. I'll probably hang around a while longer.

actually I started trying to sell 8 credits. I sold 2 and added 4 more. I would not try to change your mind. You must do what you think is right for you. I'm not sure why you are working so hard to convince people to leave the club. I understand you are unhappy with the club. Keep in mind there are many people in the club who never come to the forums and never post here so you are only talking to a small part of the club. As I said earlier the club works fine for me.

ps when I sold credits in the past I never sold for 2$. I usually sold in the neighborhood of $2.20.

OK, on one hand you say that you can't afford to pay more than $2 a credit, and on the other hand complain that you don't get enough requests to earn credits, requests that cost you more than $2 to send, which apparently you can afford. Your argument just doesn't hold together, you're just annoyed that the days of $2 credits are over...

I am just stymied by the attitude of entitlement that people should sell credits for $2 so that the purchaser can then request books from other members that will cost other members $2.61-$3.09 to send. There was a reason why PBS upped the price minimum: because member's were complaining that people were buying credits for less money than it costs to mail a book and it wasn't fair and it was undermining PBS.

Don't engage her guys. She is flinging her posts on at least 3 different threads in 3 different forums (that I've counted, but I'm so grossed out by her, I'm going elsewhere for a while). I responded to her first post, not knowing these others were scattered around. It's just trolling. Let it go.

Good advice Heather! Over and out...

I was wondering why she posted in the "Question" thread when there wasn't any question!!!!

$3 is still $1 cheaper than a used book can be purchased for from Amazon (with shipping).

I dunno ... even my library sells donated hardcovers (at least all newer ones) for more than $2.

She has a right to her opinion esp. since here there's been opinions about ignoring members posts since scrolling by wasn't good enough, people who think memberships are wrong, 5 days to mail is too long etc. So what's another opinion on a topic?

My library (FOL) sells hardback books for $4.00, and paperbacks (depending on how new they are) from $2.00 to $3.00.  My UBS sells the books for half the original price and if I take a book in to them they'll give me half the price they sold it for - 25% of the original price, so as an example I take an $8.00 book in; they'll give me $2.00 for it and charge me $4.00 for a same priced book, less the $2.00 credit I got for bringing a book in. Then there were some books that they didn't discount at all so I'd pay the $4.00 for them. Still cheaper to get the books at PBS, considering gas, etc. Pat

Um, I'm sorry but I don't understand...

" We add books all the time and ship out as many as we get."

If you are sending out as many as you get, then why is there a need to buy credits?

This site was never intended to be somewhere for people to simply shop for cheap books. It's meant to be a trading site. I'm sorry if you no longer find value in that.

Think the pricing structure is favoring buying not trading books. PBS charges $3.79 for a credit which includes the swap fee of $0.49. So the net cost of a credit is $3.39. It costs $3.09 in postage if you go to the post office to mail a book. Tape, time and gas have to be more than $0.20.  Raising the minimum price to sell a credit to $3 really is not much of an incentive to trade books as PBS's own price structure favors buying credits rather than earning them by swapping.

Easy to see why many are only willing to send out mutliples. Unfortunately, outside of the wishlist multiple thread in the Bazaar, there is no way to search for multiples among the memberships' bookshelves. 

Most of the books I mail are $2.61.

Me too but sometimes I send hardcovers. Supplies aren't much either because a roll of tape lasts, copy paper etc...it lasts for many books.

Wonder why she doesn't save the 0.55 PBS postage fee by getting Paypal Shipping.

This is a member who is not looking for finding ways to keep her costs down, this is a member who wants to buy credits at $2.00 and there is no reasoning with her...she's just angry she can't get books for $2.00 anymore.

Good point Theresa!

"we don't mail out enough to keep up on credits"

I agree with Sally W's response above.

Its a swapping club.  The intent was to acrue credits by sending out books to other members in the club.    Some months, I don't mail enough to keep up on credits either.   When that happens, I get to work and start sending out more books.  Otherwise, I have no credits, right?

Cheapest I can send a book is $2.61, but many cost me $3.09.  That doesn't include the $$ I paid for the book (many of my books are not swaps).  So why would I sell my credits for a measly $2.00?

Melissa B. has it right, IMHO.........PBS was not designed as a place to simply shop for cheap books.   Library sales, yard sales, etc. would be my suggestion for that. 

I've mailed out twice the amount of books I've received.........but I use my credits on the other sites as well, so I'm usually short on credits. (just spent 23 credit on a huge DVD series that I always wanted to watch.  Ouch!)    LOL

When credits were selling for $2 or so I would go to many people's shelves and sort by date posted.....and they had not listed any new books for 9-10 months.  I suspect that is something that just buying cheap credits encourages?  Not sure how not posting books into the system, or not sending out books, helps the club members here? 

Maybe I'm missing something.......

Totally agree ".PBS was not designed as a place to simply shop for cheap books." However PBS was designed quite  sometime  ago. For me today's reality, as I only read hardovers,is it is $$3.09 to ship a book plus $0.49 to  got a swap credit.  Each book costs $3.58 through the swap system for me. PBS sells a credit with swap for $3.79. Does not make sense not to just buy from PBS as the difference is $0.21.  The tape to wrap recycled packaging more than that! I am still active as I have earned credits and purchased swaps. When they are gone, it really seems pointless to continue to trade rather than just buy.

"and they had not listed any new books for 9-10 months.  I suspect that is something that just buying cheap credits encourages"

FYI, this is often/usually my shelf and it has nothing to do with buying credits.     I shipped out a LOT of books, CDs, and DVDs, and then realized the value of credits in the bazaar were falling.   When they ended up below my cost of shipping, I saw no point in selling any off (which I had done from time to time to bring my #s down). 

So instead, I just sit on the credits and donate the stuff I'd otherwise list, getting a tax receipt.  I'm finally, after a few years, down to few enough credits to consider listing items again to keep enough of a cushion to feel confident a sudden burst on my WL can be handled.  None of the credits I was sitting on have done the club any good--credits need to circulate.

However, it is a SWAP site. I swapped OUT plenty of items, it was time to enjoy the swapping IN before I spent more money on shipping.   Some people may find it easier to buy credits--but the people they are buying from have shipped books out to earn them, so I've never really seen a problem with selling credits--books are still getting shipped and now the credits are with someone who will use them to request a book.   Much better than just sitting in my mostly idle account waiting to see if the site stays active enough to use them up.  I will never build up that many credits again either--the only way I'm comfortable with large pile is if I can reliably sell the off for more than postage, which I don't believe is happening.

It's a lot better to have those who have plenty of books to ship out and the time & inclination to do so be able to sell off credits to those who just want to buy the credits and keep the credits circulating around.  Better than people who are trying to declutter books having lots of credits (and deciding to just donate them) and people who don't have many books or for whom shipping is a problem being unable to easily participate.