Lately, I have been getting a rash of unacceptable PBS books.  Out of the last 8 book I received, half have either not met basic PBS condition guidelines or did not meet my RC. The only RC that I have is that books do not smell of cigarette smoke/mold/musty. 

I have had the following:

* one book with a broke binding and loose pages that were falling out

* one book that reeked of mold  (I don't just mean smelled, other people in the room could smell this book when I opened the package. The sender tried to cover the mold smell with frebreeze which just made it worse)

* one book that smelled strongly of cigarette smoke (this sender included PBS DC so they got their credit immediately)

* one book with water warping on a number of pages

I don't think I am being overly picky. I have never complained/cared about highlighting, underlining or margin notes and I had one book arrive with about 20 post it page markers on it. But those were easy enough to remove, so what did I care?  But, I am afraid that PBS is going to mark me as a problem recipient if I keep submitting RWAP's for issues that I shouldn't have had to deal with in the first place. 

I use to think it was weird and overly picky when I got a requestor who reiterated the basic PBS condition guidelines in their RC. Now I am beginning to understand why. I am thinking of adding a line to my RC asking that a sender please PM me if they have any questions as to an issue with their book, but the only senders who would probably respond are the ones who only send books that fall within the guidelines. If someone is planning on breaking the rules, they aren't going to send a PM.

I have never had a recipient of one of my books ever complain about a book that I have sent because I always follow the PBS guiedlines and never, never send a book that smells of anything.

So, what are the chances of PBS marking me as a problem recipient and taking away my trading privledges if I keep marking transactions as having problems?  

No one knows the specific numbers that get your account reviewed. I would say you're fine because you can just explain to them like you did here what happened. I doubt they'll be contacting you about it though. Four seems to be a fairly low number to me in terms of marking books RWAP, especially since you've been here so long and are only now just getting a string of bad books.

I wouldn't add the PM thing to your RC. They have to actually accept first to PM you. It would be easier just to repeat the guidelines within the RC. Something like, "No water damage or loose pages."

Just to clarify, I joined PBS in 2006, but only really started getting really active in the last six months. Prior to April of 2010, I only traded a few to a dozen books a year.  Since April, when I moved and had to downsize, I have had over 200 trades. 

If you're really concerned about being tagged for marking too many books as RWAP, start taking a few digital pictures of them when you mark them RWAP. Then keep them in a particular place so that you can access them to demonstrate why you marked RWAP. It wouldn't hurt, and probably would give you some peace of mind.

Does your RC ask for non-smoking books?  If not then it wasn't an RWP.  Even then it depends on how it's worded. 

Asking for a PM is an automatic decline for me when reading RCS.  If I can't tell from the RC if my books meets it or not, I'm not going to accept and then negotiate with someone.  I'll wait for the next order.

Mary, the OP said "The only RC that I have is that books do not smell of cigarette smoke/mold/musty. "  So the cigarette smell was an official problem.