I'm a relatively new PBS member so I'm perplexed about this situation. Someone marked my book received with a problem for a missing DJ. It was supposed to be a gift. (Don't get me started on my rant about PBS books as gifts!) Now, I know for sure that there was NO RC for this swap and I know that DJ's aren't required to be swappable. If the requester wants it, they must specify it. I was going to point this out respectfully in a PM, but I'm not sure where this leaves me once I send the PM? Can my credit be taken from me for this? Will this look bad on my account? PBS veterans, please help a newbie out. TIA

HC do not need to have dust jackets.  Here is the link to the help doc page.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/help_index.php

You can look at any RCs that were on the order from your transaction archive.  Go to My Account Main.  At the top there is the transaction archive.  Go to the order and press Request Details. 

It sounds like you are in the right.  If you used DC and/or PBS postage, you should have the credit.

ETA   Be very polite in your email.  They can mark the problem as unresolved.  Archive any emails.  But if you used DC, they can't take your credit.

I didn't use dc or pbs postage, but I still got credit for the book. That's what I'm not understanding. It's marked rwap, but my credit is there. I wasn't sure if my credit is in jeapardy.

That means that the receiver pushed the button saying the book was received, giving you your credit.  Now only you or PBS (if they end up getting involved) can remove your credit.

If the RCs weren't there, beyond being under no obligation to return the credit, please DON'T!

DJs are not required, and please don't go giving credits back. They need to learn the rules, not cost you a credit and then yell at the next person who sends them a hardback w/o a DJ.

Thanks, Julie. I wasn't sure how to tell the requestor how to resolve the problem on their end since I've double checked that I did everything right on my end.

If they don't respond to your PM and don't mark it as resolved within a week contact PBS and explain the situation.  THey will see that the person had no RCS requiring a dust jacket at the time and your PMs to them.  They can then mark it resolved.  I had someone RWP me for wrong book sent when I sent them the right book.  THey had ment to order an audiobook but ordered a hardcover which I sent them.  The listing said hardcover and they only gave me 1 credit. 

Don't get me started on my rant about PBS books as gifts!

Yeah, I flat out turn those requests down.

There is no automatic credit return in any situation. Credits can only be returned by the sender of the book OR by PBS, if they get involved, which would be extremely rare.

When someone orders a book from you, a credit is deducted from their account immediately. It goes into "escrow". When they mark the book received (regardless of the condition), the credit from escrow goes to the sender. If the receiver thinks there is some problem with the book, they contact the sender directly, explain the problem, and ask for their credit back. If the sender chooses to, they can return the credit.

If the book goes lost in the mail, the credit from "escrow" goes back to the requestor. The sender never had the credit, so nothing is deducted from their account.

The exception is if a sender uses PBS Postage or PBS DC, this is a credit "insurance" against the book going lost, where the sender receives the credit from "escrow" either immediately (if they used Postage) or after the book is first scanned by the PO (If they used PBS DC). If the book goes lost, the sender keeps the credit that they received (because they have paid  a fee to PBS when they bought the DC). In this situation, PBS returns a credit out of its own pocket to the requestor.

There are some situations where PBS does say in the rules that the credit should be returned. However, it is never automatic. It is always the sender's choice.

In very rare situations PBS will become involved in a problem transaction. The only ones I've ever heard of, are when the sender admits to violating the rules, but doesn''t want to make it right for the reciever. Most problems are resolved between the two parties, usually leaving one party less happy than the other (unfortunate, but true). Also, there are many situations where 2 people, each with honest intentions, can disagree about the condition of a book. PBS does not get involved in these problems, because, how would they know the answer without seeing the book for themselves? So, they wisely leave it for the 2 people to work out themselves, giving them guidelines to follow for the most common situations.

In your situation, the receiver of your book doesn't fully understand the rules. You do not need to worry about this at all. Simply respond with a polite note back to them, adding the link or  a cut/paste from the rules so they can read it for themselves, and say that you will not be refunding their credit.