I requested a book and received it today and it did not meet PBS guidelines. It was highlighted and the pages are stained. It had sticky parts on the back because of stickers (this part I can live with but I'm sure it isn't a postable book). Not only that but it did not meet my specific guidelines, in which all I asked is that be wrapped in plastic as my mailbox leaks. The only options I am given are:

Damaged by usps - Didn't happen.

Damaged by sender - Somewhat?

Wrong book received - NO.

And Requestor conditions not met. - OK, so yes for the plastic part, but where do I report that it was higlighted and stained?

Thank you!

ETA: I just checked her profile and it does say "There may be highlighted portions of books." but I did not have a way to read that when the book came up from my wishlist. Even though it was mentioned, it is clearly against PBS rules. What would you do in this situation?

I could be wrong, but I think that requestor conditions apply to the books only, and not the way it's packaged.  As long as it is packaged according to PBS and usps guidelines then I believe that is all the sender is required to do.  There have been some threads on this very same forum about requesting special wrapping and most folks say they wont go out of their way to do anything special.  Altho, most folks do wrap in plastic, for just this reason, but that being said, I don't think wrapping falls under requestor conditions.

As for the rest of it, mark it RWP and PM the person, nicely asking for your credit back.  You may want to cut and paste or provide the link to the PBS rules about water damage, highlighting (if it's not a textbook), and etc.  When you mark it received with a problem there will be a place for you to tell R&R what's wrong. Good luck!

edited to say, just read your edit, again, if it's a textbook, then the highlighting is alright, but just posting that your book may violate PBS guidelines does not excuse one from following the rules. 

I don't believe the highlighting is all right even if it's a textbook, unless the sender PMed the requestor and the requestor agreed to receive the book with highlighting.

The highlighting (if not an agreed-to textbook) and staining should be reported as damaged by sender.

I'll second what Cindy just said.  You could mark it "damaged by sender," or "requestor conditions not met."  If you choose the first option, mention the requestor conditions problem in the box where you can add information.  (It's fine to have a condition requiring  plastic wrap.)  You might mention to her, too, that putting the highlighting info in her profile doesn't work, since people don't generally see the profile when requesting a book.  If she goes to the Help Center and types in "highlighting" in the Help Docs window, she'll find that the only books that can be posted with highlighting are textbooks, and that that is the only instance in which an exchange of PM's is required before sending the book.

I could be wrong, but I think that requestor conditions apply to the books only, and not the way it's packaged.

I think the requestor conditions do apply to how the book was packaged. The sender does see the conditions and when they accept are agreeing to all of them, not just the ones they want to abide by. You may get a lot of turndowns, but if that's what you want you should expect to receive them packaged that way.

In this case, report it as damaged by sender and ask for your credit back. Use the official form, so R&R will get a copy of the official request for your  credit to be returned. The highlighting may be okay for a textbook, (although I think they're supposed to PM you and let you know how much it's highlighted to make sure that's okay) but stains are not okay for any book. Detail what's wrong with the book, so that it's on record.

You may not get your credit back, but then R&R will have a record that they've sent something they shouldn't on at least one occation.

edited to say, this is what I found:  Perhaps we should ask R&R if we can apply conditions to wrapping above and beyond the PBS and usps guidelines.  I read that this applies to books, not wrapping.  I will keep looking tho.  From PBS help documents: (underlining is mine)

Requestor Conditions allow you to specify what kinds of books you are NOT willing to receive from other members.   The specifications you write will appear verbatim on every request you submit. 

I had that happen to me last week. I ordered a book and it got here with a huge, yellow, disgusting smelly stain which I am now sure is cat pee because it has the typicall, faint smell of cat pee. My message to this sender is still unanswered so I marked it as  "RQ not met" because I clearly wrote in my conditions that members should only send books within the PBS guidelines. I also forwarded my message to R&R. That´s all I could do. The book is going to be burnt next time I am sitting in front of our fireplace.

Packaging can be a RC - The only "kind of books" this member will accept is the kind that come wrapped in plastic. Can't imagine why someone would feel they should send a book and not follow a request like that, seems oddly rude, just deny the request instead of forcing the issue. Now I can imagine someone accepting the condition and then forgetting which book had that request on it when they send it. - RC conditions not met.

Highlighting is not acceptable unless it's a textbook and PMs have been exchanged prior to sending the book, if it's not a textbook it cannot be listed on PBS with highlighting - user damaged book

Stained - user damaged book

Sticky from stickers - not against PBS rules IMHO. Most books have stickers attached at some point. It is not a stain and can be removed. Sender maybe should have removed it before sending it, but is not damage to the book.

Thanks for the reply all. I never thought it through that asking for certain packaging may be wrong. I will fix that in the conditions.

It was a fiction book. With random sentences highlighted. *shrugs*

I don't mind about the sticky part either, it's really the highlighting that bugs me. I'm not going to be bothered by asking for a credit back since I will still read it. I just wanted to know if you would say something or not.

I guess that line is pretty subjective because it would never enter my mind that packaging requests are the same as book requests.  If I wrap a book differently than a requestor condition states, but the book still makes it there fine and dandy, but it could be a ding against me, well, I guess I will now need to turn down all requests for packaging that are different than PBS guidelines, which is no bother to me, just something new for me learn today.  *shrug*

someone has in their conditions that you must mail within 24 hours?  how odd and wonder if they get a lot of refusals.  While I generally ship within 24 hours, I might reject that just on principle and what if something happened and I couldn't mail within 24 hours?

*shakes head at some people*

24 hours?  that's an odd request, so what if you accept on the first day, and mail 2 days later (total of 3 days) and that's not alright, but if you wait 5 days and then decline because you can't mail in 24 hours (total of 6 days) - they'd rather that.  Seems they were just shooting themselves in the foot asking for that one! 

damaged by sender, since it was unpostable.  I'd put a note in there saying conditions weren't met, too, but I don't have conditions, so I'm not sure how they handle that.  Also, since it was unpostable, I'd point out the problem, and politely, ask for my credit back.

I would say that any requestor conditions - no matter how odd you (generic 'you') may find them, are just that, requestor conditions, and should be followed as such. If you cannot meet them, then refuse the book.

The sticky from the stickers may be removed with the wonder chemical "Goo Gone". I use it, by putting a teeny bit on a q-tip and carefully wiping it off with another q-tip.

(edited for spacing issues)