I've had a good selection of books on my wishlist.  I have many that are set to auto request. 

The past FOUR times, someone has stated that my request was accepted, and then I get the email that the sender backed out and is unable to send the book (each time without a reason as to why.)

I am absolutely sick and tired of this crap from lazy members.  I just wanted to see if others had this similar problem before I delete my paperbackswap account.

I think you are having a bad run.  Plus it may be the holidays.  People may be busier than they thought they'd be and they just can't do it.  It doesn't make it right but I really don't think this is the norm.  I haven't had any of my WL books timed out or denied in the last few weeks so I'm having a different run than you.  :O)

Give it a chance and see how things are after the holidays are over. 

Unfortunately, it seems you have a rash of canceling members at this time.  They do seem to come in clumps, I don't know why that is.  It -is- frustrating, especially since they didn't even give a reason for the cancellation.  However, this bookclub CAN be very rewarding.  I've happily received over 400 books here, and sent out almost as many.  And that's because I stuck with it, although when I first joined the club seemed to have NONE of my instantly-full WishList books and no chance of them being posted.  But by waiting patiently, a large majority of those 400+ books I've gotten have been Wishlisted books.

Please try to have patience with members who are having troubles fulfilling their PBS orders.  The rest of us will make up for them till they can get their acts together again!

I do find it odd that people will post wish list books and then not follow through.  I mean at the time they post the book they must be willing to send it, and then a few days later they've changed their minds?  Doesn't make a lot of sense!  I know that things may happen--somehow the book gets lost or misplaced or some type of emergency will prevent people from mailing a book, but it does seem like you're having quite a run of bad luck Kevin!

I've only been a member here for two months, and haven't had this problem yet--but quite frequently I know the people who post the book wait until the last possible moment to mail it.  I suspect they know it's a wishlist book so they post it immediately and then they read it before putting it in the mail.  (This doesn't bother me, as the amount of time taken is within PBS's guidelines.)

Well, I haven't had a WL offer in what seems like a really long time, so it hasn't happened to me.  I HAVE had 3 unpostables sent to me in the last couple of months, which is unprecedented--also 3 books have gone lost recently--which may just be holiday related so they may still show up. 

Before the last couple of months though, I've had great luck receiving really good quality books, so I'd hang around a while longer if I were you.  I sympathize, it's frustrating to get your hopes up and then have the orders cancelled.

On the other side, I posted a heavily WL book and it took almost a week and about 5 members before it was accepted.

So, if you have recieved a WL book either through PBS or as a Holiday gift, be nce and please remove all versions of it fom your WL so that others will get to the top of the line quicker. 

I don't think it's the norm, but getting a reason isn't that much better in some cases. I've had "I lent it out for the holidays" and "no money to mail."  I understand that you might not have $ to mail, but then your shelf should be on hold. As far as lending it out, why did you list it? It was heavily WL'ed.

On the whole, sticking around is definitely worthwhile. :-)   

Especially stick around through January! A lot of people receive books for the holidays, read them, and then post to the WL line. I've had many WL books in pristine condition sent to me in January and February! :)

What you describe does happen occasionally, but it's definitely not the norm. The last couple of times I had WL books posted and then cancelled because the member didn't follow through, I think it was a new member who didn't realize what was involved when they posted their books. I've also had people cancel after accepting when they spilled coffee on the book (making it unpostable) or "I can't find the book" or things like that. Could be a lot of reasons why it happened--it's pretty unusual for that many to happen in a short time, though! Hopefully your run of bad luck will stop.

Cheryl

It happens.  you just had a run of bad luck.  I've learned if I'm ordering a book with more than 25 copies in the system that it's likely to time out on the 1st person.  you would think they would be glad for the order.  But if it's been posted for several weeks they may have lost interest in PBS. 

Also with the Holidays-there are probably more cancellations than usual.  People can't get to the post office or run out of postage money or just time to wrap and mail books.  They should go on vacation hold.

Also you may not have been the 1st person this book was offered to. They could have posted the book a week ago and it timed out on several people before making it to you.  They had time to mail the book a week ago-not it's a couple of days before Christmas, they may have travel plans and no longer have time to mail the book out.

Seems like we've had a run on people who are wanting to quit PBS all of a sudden too.  Sheesh people, have a little patience, things are not always going to go the way you want them to or the way they should for that matter.

I think peeps need to lighten up a bit.  It is the holiday season after all.

It does seem to come in runs. I usually will have ONE book that I get offer/reject offer/reject repeatedly before I get a copy.

Now, on the other hand, I had a book today that was requested. I grabbed it from my shelf and was about to print it when I dropped it and spilled my soda on it. Grr. Hate being a klutz. But yeah, sometimes stupid stuff happens. Doesn't mean a person isn't committed, it just means stupid things happen. (thankfully it was a heavily posted book, so the order just rolled over for the requester). 

I'm on the other end of that problem---I've posted a few WL books that have had only 1-3 members wanting them and none have been taken by the members who apparently didn't want them afterall, so they are sitting on my shelf.  On the plus side though, I know that those books are #1 in line if a request is made.

If I have a WL'd book on my shelf  and there's only 1 waiting for it.... I expect that it won't get taken.  Who knows how long they've wanted it?  it happens a lot.  So I'm always glad when I have a WL'd book to post that it has4 or 5 wanting it.  Better odds of getting it accepted.

I'm sorry you've had such a run of bad things here.  They do come in groups.  I know it's happened to me!  The ones that cancel or time out on a book they just posted are the ones that make me wonder.  Once I had one time out and I wanted to know why - (I was new) so I PM'd them and much later on that person claimed she hadn't been on the site for 6 months before I wrote her.  Yeah, right - whatever.

Ruth

It's happened to me, too.  I think it's usually new members who are not prepared for sending books out, or are not intending to.  They get their free books and then they're gone.  I don't understand when long-time members list WL books and then cancel them with no explanation, though.

However, if you're on the other end, this can be advantageous.  I've recently had several orders for books that have sat on my shelf since I joined in July.  Yes, maybe my turn finally came up.  But I suspect some of these books rolled through one or more senders before coming to me.  I've had to dig books out of my end-of-year donation box.  Hopefully, I'll get to use these credits on WL books in January and February.

It does seems to go in runs, as other people have said. I speculate that whenever PBS gets a news story, or some other media exposure, a whole slew of people sign up, "post" great books, but then decide PBS isn't their thing.

I suspect that some of the cancellations in December may be related to people who didn't realize what the post office lines were going to be like.  The couple of times I had to wait in lines in December I would see multiple people come into the PO, look at the lines, turn around and leave!  Maybe the books will be reposted in January.

Besides, if you closed your PBS account, where would you go for books? Can you really afford to buy them all new or even at the UBS's? The other swap sites really suck no matter how bad your opinion of PBS by comparison, so that only leaves buying them new or UBS and that's much more expensive.  After you've traded a couple hundred books, you'll realize that divided over the couple hundred, the loss of a couple books really doesn't matter as much. It's when you are first starting out and get hit with the bad run that it really hurts. I went for nearly 2 yrs before getting my first bad book. That was pretty amazing compared to all the posting that goes on in the forums!

So, tough it out, it will get better, and you will be happy you did. I promise you :)

Like others have pointed out, it goes both ways. I wish people would keep their wishlists up to date because it's annoying to post them and watch them rotate through several members. On the other hand, I've never understood the logic of posting a wishlisted book and then canceling it either. I'm sure mistakes are made and it's happened to me only a couple of time.s 

Can you really afford to buy them all new or even at the UBS's? 

Since I'm a paperback reader, my used bookstore can actually be much cheaper than PBS (cheaper than mailing and cheaper than buying credits, which I have never done). Book prices are half the cover price and then with the credit system I pay a quarter of that. Trade-sized books come in right about the same price as a PBS credit. But hardbacks are obviously a lot more expensive.

I'm also very lucky to have a great FOL store that sells paperbacks for .50 and hardbacks for $1 to $2 depending on publication date.

For me, I think PBS is one of the most expensive places to get used paperbacks but it has a wide variety of choices, most of the people are nice, the swaps are great .... as much as I love my UBS and FOL, PBS is still my favorite place to get books! 

Wow, I wish I could find a good variety of the books I'm interested in reading at cheaper prices than PBS. Sure I can find books for .50 but who wants to read them, unless you are a romance reader, then you might find some good stuff, but not other genre.

My FOL only takes romance books in limited quantities. And absolutely no Harlequins. It's an awesome little store. And if you're a member it's all half off. For example, this is what I picked up for swapping when I went in to visit a friend (I used to be a volunteer there):

Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe by Jennie Shortridge (.50) 

The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox (.25)

Real Vampires Live Large by Gerry Bartlett (.25)

Don't Talk Back to Your Vampire by Michelle Beardsley (.25)

Cruel Intent by J.A. Jance (hardback) ($1)

Must Love Dragons by Stephanie Rowe (.25)

The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James (.50)

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher (.25)

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher (.25) 

I'm pretty lucky by our choices around here! (When I lived in Salt Lake though, it was decent for price and choice too)

I started to invite everyone down by giving address etc and realized, I don't think I'm allowed to. If anyone is interested just PM me. I think that's OK. 

I have been to a couple of FOL sales that have a HUGE selection of paperbacks for 50 cents and hardcovers for $1.00. They are of the popular variety in many genres, not just romances. I guess we're just lucky here. I love the last day when you can fill a bag to the brim for $5.00. I have fulfilled many wishlists for members on here with those bags full of books. Love those FOL sales!

To the OP, see how things go after the holidays. I think that things will be better. No, it isn't the norm that people post WL books then opt out. It happens but not very often. Stick it out and things should get better soon.

I find a lot of cheap WL books here but I still love my PBS Account.
On Thursday I popped into a thrift store that about 30m from here on the way to the mall. I found 4 Tradesize erotica books and several mmps-got them all for $4.50.  4 of the books I got had WL lines over 100.  They aren't books I would have bought new or put on my WL here but I'll read most of them and post them all.   4 of the books I got were released just within the last month and still had the Borders price stickers of $15/each on them. 

But I still love PBS and would still pay a reasonable yearly fee to use this site. 

We do have great FOL sales around here as far the books I find-but the prices are't that great.  I don't go there to find books just to post since they charge $1-2 for tradesize books and $2-$5 for hardcovers.  I go to find books I want that are most likely WL.  And to support my library which I use a lot.