I'm down to three credits.  One book in transit so that will make 4 when she accepts.  I'm wondering if I should buy some credits.  I'll go for months without spending any and then all of a sudden my books become available.  Just recently burned two credits in a 10 day period.

In an emergency, if you get a book offer and don't have any credits, you can always buy a credit or two from the kiosk.  They're more expensive than people are selling credits for in the bazaar, but work in a pinch .

I move credits between Swap a CD and Swap a DVD as well.  So I get nervous and start looking for stuff to post when I get below 10. 

I just had to post some stuff.  I had 9 credits about a week ago.  Now, I have 2 WL books that haven't been mailed yet to me and came home to a surprise 3rd one that was posted and mailed to me today.

Now, I'm down to 6 credits and just posted 3 WL books to build the stash up again.  I've always got a few WL books already read and ready to post if the credit stash starts getting lower than I like.

I think I am at 9 credits now. if i get to the point where no requests are coming in I will hit my TBR shelf and post some that the chanvces of me reading any time soon are slim....that happens about 3-4 credits.

I rarely have less than 15.  But not because I get nervous if I get too low.  I just only spend them on WL books now.  Ever since I converted my WL to mostly non-fiction, my WL offers have dropped drasticly.

I'm comfortable keeping my credits between 5-10. But, even if they get really low, there are very cheap credits in the bazaar, so I know I can always get them quickly if I magically had a slew of my WL books offered.

On the opposite end of the scale - how many is too many, is there a number of credits that you are uncomfortable going above?

I don't like to have much more than 10.  I'll let it go as high as 15 but no more than that.

I've only bought credits once since joining PBS.  Someone offered me like 12 WL books at once because they were moving and wanted to clear out some stuff.  It would have taken me too long to post enough books to get the credits needed for them all so I bought some.

I don't like to be below 20 credits. I try not to accumulate more than 100.

I read fast, though, so I also go thru credits pretty fast.

I have about 50 credits now.

I've never bought a single credit at PBS. I never will. I don't think it's worth the money. 

If I start to go low and my bookshelf has a lull (very rare though since I add books a lot) then I'll either do a purge of unread books and offer the WL books in the genre threads and BB wishlist thread or post a few WL books to friends. I have at least a thousand unread books, many of them WL so I have a ready supply of credits at my fingertips. Because of that, I don't panic.  

I've never bought a single credit at PBS....... I don't think it's worth the money.

Credits are currently selling in the bazaar for around $2.25 - It costs on average, $2.47 to "earn" a credit by mailing a book - I think buying credits is definitely "worth the money" :-)

Right now I have 24 credits, which is more than I normally have. I think the most I've had at one time was roughly 35 but the more credits I have, the more that I tend to have a habit of "spending" the credits on book deals (which I've done a lot of lately).

I try to keep around 8-10 credits on average just for random WL offers.

As for anyone who thinks that buying credits isn't worth it, I have learned that buying credits is sometimes a lot cheaper than posting books & paying the shipping.  I mailed 2 books today & both of those cost me $3.44/each so that was a total of $6.88 that I spent to get 2 credits.  I know that sending multiple books at a time saves on shipping, but I don't have a lot of room at my house to hold on to books once I've read them, so I can't always keep a stash for very long to send at the same time.  Mailing each book individually & paying around $3 can add up pretty fast.

I've never bought credits. I've never needed too.  I always have WL books on hand that can be read quick and posted. I don't keep any. I hjave a big enough TBR that I don't feel the need to spend them as soon as I get them. I my credit stash gets over 20 than I don't post WL books until I get down to 10 or 15.

With credits selling so cheap, I'm surprised people are still mailing books out.  It's cheaper to donate them and just buy credits.  (I don't do that, although I don't mail out nearly as many as I used to).

My first year here I didn't use the WL and I would allow myself to get down to 2 credits, but now that I have a WL (mostly for 16 yo daughter's YA books) I try to keep 10 on hand.  WHY, you may ask?   Cause one week I got offered 8 of my wishes!

I really like to have 40-50 credits.  Only because I have a daughter who homeschools her three kids and I like to be able to give her credits when she gets offered WL books that she needs for them.  I also give the grandkids credits for books they want to read.  I love that my daughter, SIL and grands like to read so I encourage by gifting them credits.

Credits are currently selling in the bazaar for around $2.25 - It costs on average, $2.47 to "earn" a credit by mailing a book - I think buying credits is definitely "worth the money" :-)

As for anyone who thinks that buying credits isn't worth it, I have learned that buying credits is sometimes a lot cheaper than posting books & paying the shipping.

 Let me clarify. I was not talking only money. I have $200 worth of credit each at two very good UBS. For a regular paperback I pay less than $2 when buying at these two stores. If I really wanted a book -- enough to buy a credit specific for it -- I have alternate ways of getting that book for cheaper than buying a credit in the BB.  

As for the postage angle of it -- I joined PBS to swap books. Not buy them. If I was strictly looking at the cheaper deal then I would not be on PBS to begin with nor would I be using PBS postage. Given that, I'm not too worried about the .22 I would save purchasing a BB credit versus mailing out a book. I'd rather mail a book and swap. I also, more often than not, seem to send out multiple books. Right now I have 8 books waiting to be accepted: one order of 4, another order of 3 and a single order. 

Aside for that above, I've never needed to. My shelf is busy enough that I just don't need to buy the credits. 

I think it's different strokes for different folks. I don't think anyone should have to justify their way of thinking, or their way of using PBS. 

I get down to zero. I also could save money just buying credits from others, but I have access to a thrift store with a good book selection. Books there cost around fifty cents. I'll often buy wish listed books there to post for others. I've posted some heavily wish listed books six or seven times. That person gets a book they want, I get the credit, the thrift store gets my money, everyone's happy.

Don't worry about it at all.  Usually have more than enough; and if I don't I just post a WL book or two to get what I need.

-RD

I try to keep mine around 20 in order to be sure I have enough for my wish list stuff.

I just *KNOW* someday, somebody is going to post a bunch of math/science/physics books that my husband wants... I wanna be ready!

MaryF

To Jeanne G: I don't need to have that many credits, because if I got 8 of my wish-listed books in a week, I'd die of shock.

And to Mary F.: It's nice to see such optimism!

I keep my credits around 3 - 5. I don't like tying up a bunch of money on a website.

If I ever need more I just buy credits.

I like to have no more than 10 and no less than 3.

If the site goes down for some reason, too many credits here would be a waste, but I want to make sure to have enough just in case stuff gets offered.

I have none now.  I prefer to have 3-5, but I don't like to have more than 10.  I like to buy books but I'm downsizing.  I have pretty much purged most of what I have that are WL books.  Most of the books that are on my WL are things that other people don't seem to have and are rarely posted.  Buying credits is worth it to me, but I have not done it often and not for awhile.  It's still cheaper to get it here than buying it online or at a bookstore to me.  A lot of what I buy is not cheap, even used.  Don't get a lot of mass market  paperbacks.