Hello everyone...

After coming here and reading all of the good information, I have stopped automatically rejecting all requests with RC's.  If I think the book is fine, I PM the requestor and ask them to confirm that they want the book.  Almost always, they reply quickly, thanking me for checking and indicating if it is ok or not.

Now I have one, where I just truly don't understand the conversation.  I'm not stupid (I don't think) but something in this string of messages is just not clicking.  Can ya'll read this exchange and help me understand what she wants?

The original RC was the typical "not from a smoking household".  The reply concerns sending it to a different address.

Exchange is copied and pasted below - names changed to protect the innocent.  Many Thanks!

Mylinda R.   →  “Requestor Name” 3/27/2009 @ 10:27 AM ET

As per your request conditions:

We do not smoke in our home, however, I received this book used and cannot guarantee that it has never been in a smoking (tobacco, wood or other) environment. I don't smell anything wrong with it, but I have bad allergies and my sense of smell is not great.

Do you still want this? Please let me know by noon Sunday 3/29/09 and I will send it to you. If you do not want it, or if I do not hear from you by noon Sunday 3/29/09 I will cancel this request so that you do not lose your place in line.

Thanks.

“Requestor Name”→  Mylinda R.

3/27/2009 @ 2:43 PM ET

Yes. I will never see the book if you mail it to the address supplied. It will be resold...........g

Mylinda R.   →  “Requestor Name” 3/27/2009 @ 4:56 PM ET

I'm sorry - I don't understand what you mean. Did you want me to send this to another address? Please let me know where it should go.
Thanks!

“Requestor Name”→  Mylinda R.

  3/31/2009 @ 3:19 AM ET

TADDRESS IS PART OF THE INFORMATION YOU GOT RATHER THAN MINE. i JUST GAVE YOU CREDIT FOR IT EARLY AS A THANKS FOR DOING THIS.........g

Is this person using PBS to supply a used book store?  Is this a rare book that might be worth money on Ebay or something? 

This is why I don't PM.  Just causes trouble. Now you have to figure out what to do and then people start to expect pms and so don't make their RCS clear or don't have them at all and then complain about perfectly postable books.. 

Maybe this person is sending the book to a friend who will sell it after reading it? 

Not sure what to tell you but it sounds like it meets their conditions.

Umm, I don't think using PBS to get your book inventory to sell for profit is allowed?I would send these messages to TPTB.

No, it's not something valuable for resale - just a Stephanie Plum mystery.  I don't understand about the addresses.  Does she want it sent somewhere other than what shows on the label?  To where?  I'm just confused.

I cancelled the request, so maybe she would be happier just requesting it from someone else.

First off, please edit the links out of your first post.  The requester is not anonymous.

Secondly, I wouldn't PM for requestor conditions.  It's too much trouble.  If the book meets the conditions, say that it does.  If it doesn't, or you're not sure, say no.

Thirdly, no, it's not allowed to use the site purely for profit, but it's okay if you get books here and end up selling them down the road.

About the addresses: she may have entered an alternate address when she requested the book.  You'll only see the alternate address, not the address linked to her account.

I disagree with those who say not to PM people who have RCs if your book is in that grey area. I do it all the time and never have a problem, and I also have RCs and appreciate it when people PM me. It usually works out fine one way or the other.

The person isn't being clear about anything, but according to the Terms of Use for PBS (scroll down to the bottom for TOU):

1. Commercial Use Prohibited
   

   This Site and the associated service are to be used for non-commercial purposes only. Commercial use of the Site or associated service is absolutely prohibited and constitutes a breach of this contract, giving rise to substantial damages. Commercial use includes but is not limited to the following:

   • Any systematic effort to resell ordered items online or in person
   • Any use of bots or other systems to repeatedly access the site in an automated fashion
   • Use of the search function on the site for any purpose not directly related to participation in the book exchange

   Commercial use will result in immediate cancellation of service and forfeiture of credits. You hereby agree that damages from the commercial use of this site are difficult to compute. Damages from breach of this commercial use provision shall therefore be set at $100 per unauthorized Site visit. You hereby agree that such damages are a reasonable estimate of actual damages and you waive your right to contest these damages in a court of law or other proceeding.

You've already declined the request which is probably for the best since it wasn't clear what she was saying, however I would forward the conversation to the PBS Team by clicking Contact Us below and let them look further into her account to see if she's selling the books she's getting on here.

Britney - links removed.  Thanks for pointing that out.

Thanks for the help and feedback.  I was thinking it was just me not understanding what she wanted, it sound like you all agree the messages are unclear.

Thanks again!

It sounds to me like the person was trying to order the book from a specific member and missed, ending up ordering it from you. I would have cancelled the request too. They are obviously confused and have stated they are breaking the site rules by ordering for the sole purpose of reselling the book. As Ivy said, you may want to send the conversation to the site leaders to look at.

As for the addy, I think she was saying that the address on the mailing label was the correct one, it sounds like she used the alternate mailing address function to me.

Just wanted to point out that if you accepted the request in order to PM her and then cancelled the book is no longer on your shelf. You have to repost the book and start at the end of the FIFO line. Not a big deal if it's not a highly posted books. Sucks if it's a heavily posted book that's been on your shelf for a long time.  Another reason why I don't PM. 

Thanks Mary.  I had no idea.  So much for trying to be nice and work with the RC's...

I think the requestor's RC was clear, if what it said was "no books from a smoking environment." Either your home is a smoking home, or it's not. Why PM about that to muddy the waters, which is exactly what happened--about a totally unrelated issue to the RC.

I agree that something does sound fishy about the comment--you can let the PBS bigwigs know about that. But (and this is just my opinion) I would not make a habit of PMing about a person's RC. If they aren't clear enough for me to know just by reading it that my book does or does not meet their restrictions, I decline it.

Cheryl

So much of it is in the wording.  Like if you say "a book that hasn't been around smoke" well I'm turnign that down because I don't know if the previous owner of the book smoked or not. But if the RC says "not currently in a smoke environment" then I will accept.  I would have accepted this person's rcs because we don't smoke and I would have never noticed that it was going to a different address.

The smell one is another confusing one.  If the RC says "I don't want books that smell" then I turn it down because they all smell to me.  If it says "no smoke smell" then at my old house I would turn it down because we had a fire place and it doesn't specify cigarette smoke. I would accept it now because we no longer have a fire place and again we don't smoke.

But I don't ever PM.  Then what happens if they dont' respond?  Do you send the book or not?  If you send it and they complain then they have the PM and can say "well they knew their book might not meet my rcs-they shouldn't have accepted the request". THen what do you do?  Then you get people marking books RWP because there's no dust jacket, which isn't required and they had no RC asking for them-but they've been PM'd in the past and so now expect it from everyone. 

I think that now that people can turn RCS off and request the same copy over again that if RCS are vague then just decline. 

I think it was good of you to stop automatically declining all RCs, I've always thought that was kind of just shooting yourself in the foot, if your book meets the condtions why not send it? But accepting and sending messages each time is excessive, and rather detremental since if they don't want it you loose your place in the FIFO line. I find it best not to sweat the RCs, either I can understand what they are asking and my book either meets the conditons or doesn't, or I can't understand what they are asking and I decline.

I think she meant that in this case her "normal" RC's didn't really apply since she was not getting the book personally but sending it to another address instead. 

There have been threads here and there about the VERY and practically non-existant possibility of any Used Book Store making a profit from using PBS.  It appears the requestor was having this directed somewhere where it would be sold.  I doubt there is any profit going to be made, but maybe they needed a certain book to get to a certain place and this was a way to do so.  There is nothing wrong with alerting TPTB if you feel like they should know about it.

I would have just sent the book, but then again, I lust for credits :  )