I just logged back in this morning after a long absense to find that PBS removed my 7 credits due to account dormancy.  Is it worth it to try and get them creditted back to my account? A quick search in the forum revealed that this might have been successful in the past.  I'd really like my credits back...

You can send in feedback to the team using the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page.  No guarantees, but you won't know without trying.  Good luck!

I don't know the details involved here, but if the account was not closed and could still be logged into, then I think the credits should have still been available. But if the account was closed due to a long period of inactivity, then it makes sense that the credits would be removed. I don't know what the rules are in regard to membership status due to dormancy or a long absence, but the Team will be able to explain the reason for losing your credits if you contact them through feedback in the Contact Us link as Mary suggested, and you may be able to get the credits back. No guarantees, however, and it may depend upon your specific circumstances or situation.

"Welcome Back....Surprise!"

-TPTB

Did you have books enroute to you that you did not mark received during this time?  Before you left your account unattended, did you put WL books on autorequest that might have been posted and mailed to you and then in the mean time did not mark them received or maybe moved and did not update your address? 

PBS might have closed your account and removed the credits due to unasnwered requests & WL offers.

From the Terms of Use:

Dormant Accounts
An account may be deemed "dormant" when no items have been ordered, shipped, or purchased within any 1 year period. Dormant accounts may be closed and any accumulated Book Credits forfeited without compensation to the account holder.

If the credits were removed within the last 6 months, you should be able to see this in your Credit Registry. http://www.paperbackswap.com/members/registry/credit.php.

Welcome back Jesse, hope your credits can be returned.

Rob, lol

I'd be interested in knowing why this rule exists.  Does it cost PBS for accounts to exist?  My WL is huge but some have been on there for years!  Not that I would probably not receive a book within the year but I don't keep track.  I would hate to lose my credits just because my WL books haven't become available.

"I'd be interested in knowing why this rule exists."

How long should PBS keep dormant accounts open:  5 years, 15 years, 40 years, forever?

In my opinion, every member should have to log in at least every 30 days to retain membership.  Once logged in, just answer a simple question: Do you wish to continue your membership with PBS? yes or no.  It would take less than a minute per month to retain membership.  It sure would cut down on the number of rollovers of orders because of inactive accounts.

I agree Scalta.

I have suggested a regular log in to keep accounts active too.  Even once every 90 days would weed out a lot of inactives.  IMO, if you don't have time to log in once a month, 60 or 90 days just to log in and alert the system that you are still manning your account, then how do you have time to mail out books?  Just saying.  It would only take a minute to log in so it registers that you are still around.

By inactive, they mean no signs of the member logging in to their account.  They aren't going to close an account simply because you haven't requested any books or mailed any out as long as you aren't ignoring requests and come on every once in a while to check on your account.
 

PBS is quite willing to let us put our accounts on long term vacation hold.  Logging in once a year?  Fine with me.  Heck, every 90 days sounds fine. 

Mary and Emily - the official definition of "dormant account", which I copied and pasted above and which we all agreed to when we joined PBS, does not say anything about logging in being sufficieint to keep your account from going dormant. It only mentions ordering, shpping and purchasing within the past year.

I agree that PBS is probably not enforcing the dormant account clause of the Ts&Cs against members who are regularly (or occasionally) logging in, but it's worth knowing that they are allowed to close accounts that aren't being used to swap or buy books.

Tru but I don't think they will close an account with little to no book trading if they can see that the member has logged in, posted in the forums, updated their WL and such.  Those are signs that an account is active even if they haven't mailed anything out or gotten a WL offer in a long time. 

Just a guess, but I'd say the rule is there to allow them to close an account that is not actively trading, yet still has credits. They need to legally have the what-ifs accounted for. There is no reason for them to leave an abandoned accout sit open just because of credits left behind.

About a year and a half ago, I asked a question about dormant accounts in a CMT thread, and Len (from PBS) posted this:

We do not remove credits or close accounts on any of the three sites just for being inactive, though we reserve the right to do so. Inactivity is a factor considered when our system points out members that are doing things that harm the club. Here are some things that cause accounts to be reviewed for closure, but these are examples, not an exhaustive list:

Fraud of any kind.

Failing to respond to or declining requests.

Failing to respond to Wish List offers. (Not the same as logging in and declining WL offers)

Not marking books received in a timely manner.

Marking emails as spam. This is due to a legal agreement we have with email providers. Each time a member marks an email as spam (accidentally or otherwise), he or she is telling their email provider that they never signed up for our site. This causes the email provider to contact us requesting that we not send that member any more email. Since email is crucial to the participation in the sites, we are forced to close the member's account.

eta:  here's the original thread link in case anyone's interested: Minimum requests per month/year
eta2:  posted the REAL original link above.  And another thread on the same subject:  Rules to keep active account

Thanks for posting this info, Debbie. Very interesting and informative.

Thanks Debbie!  I appreciate the explanation!