So I recently had an experience on here where the I sent the requested book within hours of this person asking for it. Book was in excellent condition, I printed a nice label, wrapped it up tight and snug, and immediately sent it off.  I'm very conscientious of all this taking the proper measures and even going the extra step to ensure a safe, speedy, efficient transaction exchange process.  Anyways so I send off this book....and wait...and wait....and wait.....and the person on the other end never marks it as rec'd.  Now granted I didn't send it DC (or any extra fess which are required to tracked its shipment).......I just know I've never had a book go missing.   So I wait some more.  In the meantime, I'm sending and recieving, books are flying thru Media Mail it seems.  Only 2 days in some instances to go 3000 miles! But there's this one book, still not marked as rec'd.  SO I begin PM'ing this person as the final date gets closer...no reply, no answer. I PM again....."HELLO?  Anybody there? Have you rec'd your book yet? I'm getting concerned?"   ---Still no reply.    Then voila, with today as being the final day as being able to mark a book as rec'd without any problems, I awake, check my email to see the book was marked at 3:00am as FINALLY rec'd.  Now come on....I know deep in my heart this book got to it's destination well over a month ago. OK, so blah blah, whatever, I got my credit.  Point is: I don't want to swap with this person anymore.  Questions is: Is there a way to block a person from requesting books off my shelf and not dealing with them period? Remember at the beginning of Ebay's life there was a "bad trader" list.  Then "feedback hijackers" became a nuiscance?  All in all, it may sound silly to some, but if I make the effort to ship a book off in a timely manner, I expect the same in return when marking as book as 'rec'd without problem' in the same timely fashion.  Anyways, thanks for reading my little morning rant.

It sounds like this person was no longer active and PBS gave you the credit when it was marked lost. It happens. People sign up and then lose interest. You got your credit for you book, that's the important thing.

Ditto. Pretty much any 3 a.m. transaction is done automatically in the system. The person was probably inactive, or just used their introductory credits on your book and had just decided the site wasn't for them. Regardless, the system will automatically mark your book received if the member is inactive or if the person asks to have the account closed while your book is in transit.

Thanks Melanie and Jane for your prompt responses.  That's good to know.  Getting that off my chest, I feel better now and can read in peace today.  :-)

Yeah, I'd look to see if the person is still active, by clicking on their name in that particular transaction.  IF they are still active (which I doubt, as I agree with the other posters), there is no way to block him/her from trading with you.  The only thing you could do is add him/her to your buddy list and add a tag that says "do not trade" and remember to check this tag every time you get a request.  Sorta a pain, but it's the only thing I know to do.

Sounds like good advice. I did want to say that my first book I ordered from here didn't come for almost a month. I got a message saying are you sure you haven't received this book. i was afraid the person hadn't sent it. I'm not sure if it took media mail a month or if the person marked it mailed and then didn't send for a while. Just wanted to share my experience. Most I receive within a wk. but I have had 3 or 4 over the last few years that have taken a long time.

Nancy

I have been a member for not quite 3 mos. and I have had 2 lost books and 1 that should have been here by now, that may end up lost.  Is that pretty unusual?  One of the previous lost books had the torn wrapper returned to the sender, so we both knew that one was most likely forever gone!  Other than that I seem to get books within 10 days or less.

I've been here a year now and with over 500 transactions (sending and receiving) I've had one book go lost coming to me. And I have serious doubts that this particular book ever got mailed to begin with.  So yes, I'd say the amount of books you've already had go lost is unusual.

I've marked books both sent and received at 3:00 am - not everyone's in the same time zone, too!

I've also had books arrive on the very last day - and beyond, despite being mailed promptly (proven by postmarks).

Sure, you may "know in your heart" - but that's NOT the same thing as "knowing in reality". You had reason to have a strong suspicion - and you were likely correct - but not necessarily!

 - just sayin...

Just a brief follow-up and observations:  This person in question still has an active account, has 3 books posted for swap and 3 on their wishlist.  Is it possible for someone of authority at PBS to check and see when the last time this person actually signed onto PBS and if they are actively checking their PM's?  Those determining factors may justify my suspicions, therefore weeding out the potential undesirables (or those that lost interest in the web site).

Craig, enough books going lost is in and of itself enough for a person's account to be jeopardized. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just let the system do its job. Take your credit and enjoy life! :)

Here! Have a margarita!

I agree with most everything said here...media mail for me has gone in phases...for awhile it is a speedy process and then boom...things slow down to a snails pace...You also have to keep in mind where you were mailing the book too, was it Hawaii, Alaska, or an APO address as these will almost or will go lost before being marked received.  There are a multitude of factors that could or could not be involved...1) the person may not have daily access to a computer; 2) they were on vacation or dealing with a family emergency; 3) their computer crashed; 4) they were in an area of the country affected by the rash of recent tornadoes...and as far as the 3am time...that would only be midnight on the west coast so, really not that much out of the realm of possibility.

I second Jane's suggestion..."I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just let the system do its job. Take your credit and enjoy life! :)"

Being new to this site this topic has been very informative. I know a little more now what to expect in terms of sending and receiving books. Thanks for all you responses!