Ok, so I received a book that has weird smudges on the outside of the pages (like someone had something kinda yucky on their hands or the book was pressed against something wet (not water..more like a dark liquid).  It isn't on the inside of the pages, just the outside.  Really, my only issue with it is if I trade it after I read it, am I going to end up having to give them a credit back. 

I read the conditions, and all it says is that it can't have "staining", but there's really no elaboration into what that means.  The pages don't have warping from being wet, so I'm thinking that someone's hands were pretty dirty when they were reading it or picked it up.

So, I have no idea what to do..lol.

Try wiping the ????? off. Just don't use a wringing wet rag.

You can try to lightly 'sand' it with a fine grade sand paper or an emory board.

with a small amount of windex on it and see if the smudging comes off of the cover.  It sounds like it might be newsprint  offset to me.

I got my first ever RWAP as a shipper today and I wish that my person had taken their issue with my
*alleged* neglient shipping materials to this board first. 

You could always PM the next requestor, maybe they will be taking the book out of circulation ?   I have books sent to one of my sons who is not a member, and these are never going to be vetted by another  PBS member again, as he is just not that good with mailing things.  So condition isn't an issue.  He wants the book for his library.

Just my 2 cents.se

Good luck

Denise

The fine grade sand paper works great.  Hold the book tightly closed, and sand the page edges.  Gets chocolate fingerprints off. 

You can try alcohol wipes on the cover. And sandpaper for the page edges. I've done that a bunch of times and it works great.

I press down hard on the book and then use a dry magic eraser on the page edges... cleans it right up! 

I use those magic erasers on everything but I never thought to use a dry one on page edges. I appreciate the tip Debbie.

there are some really good tips in here.   I am going to have to use that chocolate fix on one book I have that is on many a Waitlist.  I accepted it with the mark because I really wanted to read it.   And where does one get a dry magic eraser ? (I really don't get out much !)

Thanks for sharing these little *trade secrets*  ;0

Denise

Denise: At the grocery store (or Target, Walmart, etc.) It's the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.  My daughter just cleaned her shoes with one & now they look like new again.  They take marks off walls & lots of other stuff too.

Oh wow...thanks guys.  I didn't even think about any of that..lol.

They will take anything off of anything.

If it was something you were looking to make postable all of these are good suggestions. I'm going to go against the grain here though and suggest that you DO NOT try to clean up a book to make it not an RWAP once you've received it. The reason being that if you are unable to clean it off or do more damage in the process, it could make it impossible to show/prove the damage that it came with originally. 

IMHO, a book shouldn't have to be cleaned by the receiver, and unless it is something that comes of very cleanly and easily, it should still be RWAP.

;0 the stupormarket (as I call it)  I do get to about once a month.  I will look for it there !  Thanks so much.

Denise