Last wednesday, I order a book from a member, then another one (by same author) from another member.

The second one was marked "mailed" within a few hours, while the first one is still marked "waiting for member".

Now, when browsing the second member bookshelf, I noticed she also had the first book I had order.

So my question is: Can I cancel the first order, and order it instead from the second member? Is it allowed?

yes, this is allowed

but of course...the bad thing is that senders have up to 5 days to accept an order and then up to another 5 to send it.  I never understood why they get that long when a receiver has 48 hours to accept a book.

Yeah, no kidding.  It irritates me to wait more than a couple of days to have a book request accepted.  I begin to lose faith that they'll mail in a timely manner as well.  I have found books on friend's shelves, and cancelled & reordered from them when my request wasn't accepted after 3 days.  If you don't know someone who has it or find it browsing shelves for BOB swaps or Book Bazzar specials though, cancelling isn't really an option.  Unless you want to wait until you're relatively sure this person is no longer first in line with the book anyway.

Thank you all for the feedback. Since I could, I did.

Unfortunately, mailing every day or every other day, just isn't an option for everybody. I'm sorry it irritates people to have to wait on me, but better to wait on me than never get my book. I think it's a terrible sign of such an impatient society when we can wait 4 weeks for media mail to arrive, but not 5 days for a sender to respond. That really makes no sense to me.

Btw, if you order a book and see it's from me, you might as well just cancel right away. I can't always mail right away or even within a couple days, so I use the time allotted to me by PBS and wait to mark it accepted, so that I will be able to mail after I have the ability to mail. Sometimes it's money, sometimes it's because DH won't be able to wrap it until such&such a day. I can't wrap them, sometimes I can't even go find them, and if you just can't wait another 2 days, well, I hope the PO looks more kindly on you than you do upon those that can't mark them accepted in 2-3 days.

Sorry to be so snotty, but it just IRRITATES ME that it irritates people for others to take up to 5 days, when the PO is going to take anywhere from 2-4 WEEKS anyway, so what the crap does a couple more days mean? When in the life of the sender that 2 days may mean the difference in whether they have to cancel your order? If PBS only gave me 2-3 days, there's a lot of times I wouldn't be able to mail books. But, apparently that doesn't matter to some of you impatient people, you'd rather get your book ordered 2 days quicker than allow someone to be able to mail their books. I feel sorry for you that your life is in such a hurry that you feel the need to be irritated at people who hold up your whole life by not sending a book as fast as you can.

ETA: This was not directed at you, Veronique. I have nothing against cancelling to order from someone who is already sending you another book. That makes sense! It's directed to those (who posted here, and other times) that get irritated at slow mailers.

the bad thing is that senders have up to 5 days to accept an order and then up to another 5 to send it.  I never understood why they get that long when a receiver has 48 hours to accept a book.

I don't know if this is "the" reason for the 5 days, but some members will have traveling jobs that take them away from home for the typical 5-day work week.  Allowing 5 days (and that the "day" ends late in the evening east coast time) allows such members to handle their requests when they get home and over the weekend. 

Of course there are probably some members who travel for longer periods, but the 5-day scheme seems far more common.

Sherry, I think that the crux of the problem comes from having to wait 5 days for multiple orders of the same book to time out. I've only had it happen once (book order was accepted by the 3rd member), but it sure is frustrating. And it seems to be a growing problem, now that the site has so many more members.

Personally, I'd like to see them shift it from 5 days to accept/5 days to ship to 3 days to accept/7 days to ship. Still gives the member 10 days to get the book in the mail, but it would increase the response time and remove the inactive accounts much more quickly.

Well, my particular irritation comes from several factors, and not just not hearing from someone when I order a book.  As far as I'm concerned, if they'll just accept the darned request within three days, they can mark it mailed by the deadline, and then mail whenever it's convenient.  It's not so much waiting for the books to show up as it is waiting for some sort of confirmation that yes, I'm aware you ordered a book from me, and I'll get it out in the mail as soon as possible.  I've had my own share of books lost in the mail, rollover requests, and cancelled WL offers due to one thing or another, and I'd just like to hear something from the person I'm getting the book from, if I shouldn't expect to get it any sooner than a month after I ordered it.  I can live without instant gratification, but I think a note if there's going to be another 10 day or so delay on top of the wait once it's mailed is reasonable.  Just seems like common courtesy to me.:)

I know, Jane, and I will apologize again for being so snotty, it just frustrates me to think that people are being frustrated at me because I can't always mail faster, and then they post how mad they get, and it just makes me want to give up posting books because I can't please people. Just having a pitty party, and taking it out on the boards I guess.

I know that it is the inactive accountst that really cause most people to get frustrated, but they dont always, many make it sound like we should all jump up and run get a book and get it in the mail in an hour after they request it. When half the time they aren't going to read the book when it gets there anyway, they are just going to put it on a shelf with their other TBRs and go order another.

I wish they would make the inactive accounts more visible. I think "last login date" should be on by default rather than off. If you don't want people to see fine, but those that are hit and run signups, don't care, they probably never took time to make a profile anyway (which I think ought to be manditory too!) Being able to see when a person was here last, how many books they've sent & rec'd, how long they've been a member are indicators that help a person not be so impatient wondering if they are looking at a "hit and run" account.

Again, sorry for being such a snot. But it doesn't really change how I feel about it, just wish I'd found a nicer way to say it ;)

ETA: Kim, I'd love to have a way to acknowledge a request, without accepting until I can give the book a double look. But, I've seen books come off my shelf, that I never should have put there, because I missed a bad inner spine, or writing or such, or dropped it and broke it, or couldn't find it, now matter how many times I go over those shelves where it should be but I often times have to wait for my DH, because the book is in a box upstairs, or on the shelving unit that I can't get to, so I can't look for it. And sometimes, he just can't look for several days. So, that 5 days to accept, sometimes is just needed for those who are disabled.

I didn't think you were being snotty, Sherry! You're right in that people have no patience, it seems. But I think it's most frustrating for the order not to be accepted. If it takes a while to mail, it doesn't bother me in the least. But when it takes 5 days for the first request (6 days for remaining requests) it just makes me want to scream! :P

And what's worse is the number of people who cancel and leave the deadbeat account active for the rest of us to deal with! I think more people would let the system do its thing if it were a maximum of 3 days to accept an order.

I don't know if this is "the" reason for the 5 days, but some members will have traveling jobs that take them away from home for the typical 5-day work week.  Allowing 5 days (and that the "day" ends late in the evening east coast time) allows such members to handle their requests when they get home and over the weekend. 

Of course there are probably some members who travel for longer periods, but the 5-day scheme seems far more common.

while I can understand your logic/reasoning...what about receivers that travel?  why don't they get 5 days as well?

I know personally, if I was going to be traveling I would put my shelf on hold OR find a way to check in at least every other day (and with the availability of computers this would be possible) to at least accept the request and select the furtherest out mail date

Sherry, I'm sorry if I rubbed a sore spot:)  Really didn't mean to...  I know exactly what you're saying though, and I totally understand your POV.  I'm just hoping right now I've never cancelled anything I might have ordered from you:P  Truthfully though, I've only done this a few times, and it was on the fourth day of not hearing anything, and following some other slightly nighmarish experiences.  Which, in the scheme of things, aren't really all that earth-shattering, no.  If I look at my TBR pile, it's not as though waiting a month for a book is usually any hardship.  The only time I actually get antsy about waiting is when I have already gotten something in a series - usually without realizing it was part of a series, of course - and I need the next book... or immediate medical attention..:P  I absolutely think it would be great if there was an easy way to inbox someone who orders from you before you accept the request.  I think it would make a lot of things easier.  That's one thing I love about BOB - you can message the person you're swapping with and let them know when you're mailing, and you aren't looking at those annoying little reminders about when you plan on accepting this request or mailing everytime you log in to the site.  Plus, it would help alleviate the some of the problems with requestor conditions too.  It'd be nice to be able to message someone who has conditions and tell them about the condition of your book, before you decline the request, or worse, end up with a RWP.  Anyway, just my thoughts.  Don't feel bad about being a little grumpy.  We all get that way, and it's usually because of the little snafus we've all experienced with swapping.  I'm sure everyone has a different perspective, and they're all not based on positive experiences.  I'm actually just grateful that most of mine are.:)  I love PBS.

I think a whole lot of drama could be saved if every request had a PM button. Then you could PM the person and say "hey, I got your request. I'm not ignoring it but I won't be able to mail it until this date, so I am waiting to accept the request.  I can mail the book, I just need more time".  And with RC'S than you could PM the person and say "I'm not clear about your conditions.  This is the book I have, I'm declining the request if I don't hear from you by x date".  There would be less "my conditions keep getting declined" and "would you accept these conditions?" threads and complaints. 

what about receivers that travel?  why don't they get 5 days as well?

They get auto-request.   There's no auto-accept for senders who are away from their accounts for a few days.

Sherri,  I really don't mind waiting for a request. I understand that people have lives and that in the great scheme of things, mailing a book isn't a great priority. I, myself, got 3 requests during the weekend some 2 weeks ago and had to wait to answer until the following friday when I could put money on my account and use the postage meter. I would have understood if anyone had canceled, although, understandably, I'm glad nobody did.

The only reason I raised the issue today was that had I chosen last week to ordered the second book first, I would I've seen that the member I had requested from also had the other one I wanted to order., and ordered both at once.

Had I known then that I could cancel the first order and order the same book from the second member, I would have done so. Because frankly, it's more convenient to have 2 books coming from the same member than from 2 different ones.

I wish they would make the inactive accounts more visible. I think "last login date" should be on by default rather than off. If you don't want people to see fine, but those that are hit and run signups, don't care, they probably never took time to make a profile anyway (which I think ought to be manditory too!) Being able to see when a person was here last, how many books they've sent & rec'd, how long they've been a member are indicators that help a person not be so impatient wondering if they are looking at a "hit and run" account.

This is my pet peeve.  I have no problem at all waiting for someone who is active and has their own "life issues."  But I've already had many WL books posted by new members who apparently -- to me anyway -- post their ten books, take their two credits, and disappear.  I've also had books requested from me that were on auto-WL by an inactive member.  I've already lost one book that way and don't intend to have it happen again.  I've since found out that she's just ignoring my PMs, which doesn't make it any better.  But her account is still there to order books from. 

At this point, it's a guessing game as to whether there's still a real person there or not, and if I have concerns, I PM.  So far, that's working great, but if they won't communicate with me, I will  cancel. I don't know if this sounds too harsh or not, but I don't feel obligated to someone who can't show at least that courtesy.  If they can't be bothered to respond to a PM, will marking a book received be too much trouble, too? 

I see communication as being the key thing here.  I was snowed in half of the month of February and had to mark several books mailed before I could actually get out and do that.  But I PMd the recipients to let them know what was going on.  Every single one of them was gracious and understanding, and I only had one book go "lost" before it was received -- but that one was only mailed a day or two later than it should have been. 

I understand that TPTB can't get into every little transaction that's done here.  Who would want to anyway?  But as long as we're left to our own devices to determine if accounts are active or not, we should have the tools to do so.  The last login date would help immensely.  So far, I've used book posting dates and forum messages to try to figure it out, but it's still a guessing game and a "gut feeling" kind of thing. 

It annoys me when people do not even mark accepted...If they PMed you and said I can't mark it mailed till...___________because.____________is that OK.?    I could and would deal with that.

Right now I have 1 book on order and there are 20 copies in the system ,,,why would I wait when I do not even KNOW if this person is a member anymore?  I am seldom in a hurry for a book but if I order it and there are many copies why wait....Also now and then I order a book for a study group and time does come into play on those.

I think a polite PM asking and letting someone know WHY it's not marked and that the sender is still  alive would be all that's needed in most cases...without it..I cancel within 48 hours

Maybe a profile with that info would be nice too..I tried to find ifthe person who hasn't marked accepted may be long gone..but they do not have a public profile...no wishlist...never reviewed a book

Sherry said:

Being able to see when a person was here last, how many books they've sent & rec'd, how long they've been a member are indicators that help a person not be so impatient wondering if they are looking at a "hit and run" account.

I couldn't agree with this statement more.

I'm glad that I read this thread.  I am very new here and I'm still trying to figure out all the "ins" and "outs" of the site and services. I registered in Dec. but didn't trade, request or list anything until a week ago.  I guess I'm slow.  I want to be a responsible member and swapper.  I hope I don't tick anybody off if I m a little slow responding.  I'm not always sure when I can mail out a book.  I don't have a car for sure, but once a week.  That isn't even a problem if the books I mail out are below the 13 oz. weight.  But I tend to have the heavier books.  If I have to rely on others (who aren't appreciative of the restrictions even though I try to impress them upon him) to mail out books, I can't be sure that he follows my instructions.  So I hope others can be understanding.  I, too, think a "PM" button for acknowledging a request would be a nice feature.  I currently have the problem of a person who ordered 2 books from me but it was 2days between the requests and I'd already printed out the first wrapper before the 2nd one came.  So they're going out separately.  It's probably best since I'll have to rely on my son to mail them and he hates going into the PO to hand off a package.  This way, at least, I can be sure that the books get mailed okay.  I hope that I can stay in members' good graces while I get used to the routine and proactices here.  It's the first time I've ever done this and I appreciate the opportunity.  I hope I can be a good member.

Ruth, there are some things you can do to simplify the process there if you have, or are willing to buy, a postal scale and/or use the PBS printable postage feature.  You can combine those separate orders, by weighing them all together first, and then when you print your mailing labels, near the bottom of the page, you enter the actual weight of your package (all of the books you're sending to the same address at once) in the boxes where the PBS weight estimates are.  Those weight estimates can be changed by you - probably for different & unknown bindings etc. with the same ISBN #, or just on the chance that a book actually weighs more or less than what the PBS database has recorded.  The amount you pay for the postage will automatically adjust for the actual weight you enter there, and if it was previously first class rate for a single lightweight book, it changes to media mail for a higher weighing package of multiple books.  You just print the one label, and on the other book(s) you're including in that same package, you can click on the print label tab to download the label, but not actually print it out.  That way, the system shows the label was printed and you can just check those multiples off as mailed when you have sent the single package out.  I do this when I'm using printable postage, so I'm only paying for one label, but if you don't use printable postage, you can always print out all of the labels, and include that second sheet with the instructions for the shipper & receiver on it in with your books.  If you do use printable postage, you still have to wait for your credits on the extra books until the single package is received, but you're saving on the postage and mailing them all in one package.  I usually write down the extra titles I've included in the one package on that first instruction sheet I print, so the receiver has a list of everything sent in that shipment - like an invoice.  Since your son is doing your mailing, I'd use the printable postage and invest in a postal scale.  If all of your postage & labeling is taken care of in advance, and it's accurate, all he has to do is hand it off or put it in the package drop.  You can get a decent digital scale at Walmart, or any office supply store, or you can buy them pretty cheaply from ebay.  Your local PO branch should also have rate charts they will give you on request, that have the current postal rates printed on them, so you can double-check & be sure your postage is correct.  There might even be easier ways of doing this that I haven't thought of, but this system works pretty well for me.

what about receivers that travel?  why don't they get 5 days as well?

They get auto-request.   There's no auto-accept for senders who are away from their accounts for a few days.

True they do have that but it isn't infallible.  I still think that if you have books posted you make an effort to check in at least every other day.  Plus you do get emails when a book has been requested, so unless something has happened to your computer, I would think most people at least check their email every few days. 

Thanks for the different hints and advice.  I will use them.  I don't have a scale, but I will be buying one.  I've learned a lot from you and I appreciate it.  I have PM'd the people that have requested books from me telling them when I expect to mail and what their conditions are.  I have received one reply back. So far all is well.  thanks again.

Ruth Foster