Why do some many boxers decline the offers?  I get so many more declines than acceptances. It is so disappointing.

Probably because you don't have any books they want? I did BOB for a few months and ended up putting it on hold and then not renewing because I would seem to only get offers from people with shelves that had nothing of interest for me. For example, I would get offers for 10 books from my shelf--mostly mysteries and fantasy--and the person had almost all romances which I don't read. I did accept a few offers but found that most of the books I got from those Box trades I ended up just re-listing here unread....it wasn't worth it for me.

Cheryl

I just took a peek at your shelf and I saw a lot of little series romances, many of them older ones.  My guess is that could be why.  Are you making BOB offers to people and asking for the same kind of books?  I know I frequently get BOB offers for newer tradesize and hardcovers and they have nothing on their shelves but children's books, little series romances or 20yr old mysteries (most of which I've read already).  I turn those down.

Also you can't take turn downs personally. If you are getting turned down a lot then maybe you need to update the books that are on your shelf or make BOB offers for similar type books if you aren't. 

I had someone make me a BOB offer yesterday for 1 book, I selected the book I wanted and today I found my counter offer declined.  No PM as to why.  She was actually getting the better deal.  Sort of-she asked for a paranormal romance that didn't have many copies posted and I selected a contemporary romance that probably has 100's posted-but I hadn't read it yet and want to-who knows why she cancelled. Maybe she realized she had the book she asked for already. 

Would you accept an offer if someone had absolutely no books you were interested in? That would be pretty pointless...

I've never joined Box of Books because I know it would be too hard to find a group of 8 or 10 (or whatever number) books on anyone one person's shelf that I hadn't yet read but were interested in.  I read a large number of books, basically one per day. So when I look at someone shelf who has similar interests, mostly I see books I've already read.  Maybe some of your trading partners are discovering the same thing.

I mostly didn't renew BOB because it got so tiring to go through dozens of offers & not find anything on those shelves I wanted.  The flip-side of refusal frustration is flipping through several shelves a day, and the time that takes, only to not find any books you want.  I have a lot of romances too, but I don't read categories & don't have any, but I'd get lots of offers from boxers who had them almost exclusively, and it's equally frustrating to search through hundreds of books, looking for something you'll read & not finding anything.  I hated turning down offers, especially if I had several books someone wanted, but it's a 2 way street, and there's no point in selecting things you don't want just because you don't want to disappoint someone who really wants your books.  And it makes you feel bad too.  I got more than one inbox from a disappointed person, asking me to take another look at their shelf, and it makes you feel bad to say no, you don't see anything you want.  I did accept a few offers I wasn't enthused about, because someone would message me back & say they added a few more books, and could I please look again because they really, really wanted my books:P

I've been doing Boxing for 3 yrs now, and I run slightly higher number of cancellations than completed. Some canceled by me, some canceled by the other member. Remember, if you do not have a diversified enough bookshelf, you will get more cancelations. I know I'm going to get a lot, because I have mostly romance and kids books on my shelf. I also know I will turn down a lot, because a lot of people with nothing but romances and kids books are going to make requests TO me, and I don't read either of those, I've been given them, the ones I actually read, go like hotcakes because I can actually trade with persons of the same book types.

I finally had to put a disclaimer on my profile that if one had mostly (romance, childrens, etc) books on one's shelf, that I would most likely decline the box offer. I started getting better offers after that.

I mostly didn't renew BOB because it got so tiring to go through dozens of offers & not find anything on those shelves I wanted.

This is pretty much why I didn't renew it after my first year.  I had a lot of trouble at first, because I felt obligated to find something on someone else's shelf.  I read pretty much exclusively Sci-Fi/Fantasy and if I found something to my liking, it was typically something I already had.

I got over the obligation part after painstakingly searching someone's shelf and settling on a children's book.  Only to be told two weeks after it was accepted that the book was missing and to... PICK SOMETHING ELSE.   After that I would make a good faith effort over a few days to try to find something - checking in case they posted something, then decline if I found nothing.

In the end, BOB worked well in getting most of my stash cleared out before I moved that year. 

BOB probably works well for people with a varied shelf of popular genres and with varied interests themselves.

Kathy, I finally did the same thing. Unfortunately, I'm hardly getting any requests now, since I have very little Scifi/Fantasy that I actually have to post.

Michelle, that's where my problem lies; I don't have a varied interest in my readings. I only read two genre, so I do get to do some boxing, but they are much smaller and less frequent than they used to be.

i've had box o'books for almost a year now (my one year is up on christmas eve) and i've had a decent experience with it.  i have only offered/requested a couple of boxes myself, preferring to sit back and let the requests come to me.  i don't have a lot of books on my shelf, but i think i have some decent variety, especially books that my dad has given me.  yes, people still decline when i do make an offer (on occasion) but the subscription paid for itself in the first couple of transactions and i am just happy to be able to support PBS in that way.