Good day all,

In all the time I have been a member, I have received only one book that I considered not worthy of being posted.  It was a paperback book (large) and it was older and the glue was so dried up the pages were falling out when I got the book.  I kept the book and marked it received.  And then for many many months, the books that have arrived have been in wonderful condtion.    And then just a few weeks ago I received a book that was in good condition except for a page that was torn out of it (half of the page was missing).  I wanted the book so I kept it.  Today I received a book (hardback) and the spine is broken 85% off.  It had to have been like this when mailed.  The book is in good condtion other than that, so I am going to keep the book.  But I feel like it should be reported to avoid this happening to others and yet I hate to report it as it may, in the future look like I am difficult to deal with.  Which is not true.  I simply really want the books I order.

Suggestions?

You should report all books that arrive in unpostable condition!  You won't appear difficult to work with - the site's owners actually WANT you to report bad books because they can eliminate problem senders.  It's a black mark for the sender, not you.  So, don't hesitate to report your problem.

Sorry you're having a run of bad luck! I hope it improves soon. You do need to mark these books as Received With a Problem and then describe the problem in the survey page so that it will be recorded along with the transaction info.

Other people who send you books have no way to know that you've had a bad experience in the past, so there's no reason at all for them to assume you'd be difficult to deal with. One of the good things about this site is there's no public feedback mechanism for regular credit transactions so members can't blackmail each other by threatening to withhold positive comments.

The only people who know how many problems you've had are the site admins, and I think they are pretty reasonable. As long as the problems you describe are actually violations of the book condition guidelines, then there's no reason not to be truthful about the problems you're seeing. It seems like these things do go in waves for some people, so hopefully your turn to get bad books is almost done.

Hello and thank everyone for their comments.  I understand.

Please note the reply I got from the person who sent me the book with the broken spine.

....If so, no, I did not know the spine was broken. It did not appear to be extremely damaged when I looked it over, but I confess, I expect a some-what used feel to a former library book. Plus, I was not told to look for it by PBS, like they do with water damage. People who want pristine hardbacks usually have the foresight to put that in their conditions. (I have run across one such person this week, actually. Fortunately, I checked what conditions are deal breakers for her.)

To be honest, I'm a bit surprised by people's pickiness. When I get a book for under $3, I'm generally happy with a second-hand book. People who want pristine books under these circumstances are a bit unfathomable to me.

She did say she would return my credit.  I haven't checked yet to see if that took place.

Lol!  I don't know why people still surprise me with responses like that.  It will doubtless be a waste of time, but you should respond to that message and let her know as nicely as possible that broken spines are not acceptable under the PBS posting guidelines and "pristine" condition doesn't even enter into it:P  There's no reason for you to have to add an RC for something that the rules already cover - if people would just trouble themselves to read them.

From the help docs under the Book Condition guidelines:

Binding:

• Must be intact, with no separation on the inside or outside of the book
• If the book tends to open at a particular page, this is OKAY
• Small amount of fraying or denting at top or bottom is OKAY

Pages:

• No torn or chewed/gnawed pages
  • yes, that does say "chewed/gnawed".  That means no pet-chewed (or human-chewed) books.
• No loose or missing text pages
• Cover not water damaged (there may be no water damage to any part of the book)

I'd copy those into the inbox message with a gentle suggestion that she read over the guidelines and familiarize herself with them:P