I received some books today that I had ordered.  The packaging was damaged by the Post Office (even came in the plastic bag from the post office acknowledging the damage) - I don't feel right marking it as a problem trade due to the fact the sender wasn't at fault.  What are the benefits of marking it as a problem if it clearly wasn't the senders fault?  Why would you ask the sender for a credit in return when they didn't cause the issue (one book has minor damage - not sure if I can repost, however, again, not due to the sender - the post office 're-taped' part of the packaging and it was taped to the cover of one of the books)?

Just curious because I don't want the sender to get any marks on their swap record when it wasn't their fault.

If you mark it damaged by the USPS, it will NOT go towards the senders "record".  I do not ask for my credit back in these situations.  I only ask when I know the sender is to blame.

It's good for the sender to know if their post office is too rough.

Ditto both Kellie & Mary.  For damaged by USPS, I do not ask for a credit return unless it was blatantly obvious that the damage was caused by poor packaging.  The team might use the RWAP Damaged by USPS to help track problem sort facilities and what not so it does still need to be marked that it was damaged.

In any case, you only mark the books RWAP if
1. the package is damaged AND
2. the books inside are unpostable.

If the book(s) are unpostable, then mark it as damaged by Post Office. Good records help the site to determine what are "normal" rates of damage so that they can determine when a member is reporting or mailing books that seem to have an abnormal amount of damage.

If the damaged area on the cover of the book is less than about a square inch, I think its fine to re-post. Up to a square inch can be missing altogether from the cover.

It is nice to maybe PM the sender if you think they could improve the wrapping or something, so that more packages don't get damaged in the future.

You also have the option to go back on the WL in the same place if you mark it as damaged by PO.