I have a RC that I do not want Book Club Editions.  The last 2 hardcovers I have received have been book club editions.  When a book becomes available and it says "waiting for member" can I pm that person to make sure that the book is not a book club edition?  I don't know if that is possible and I don't want for someone to think that I am being rude.  Thanks!

Christie

I think it's fine to have a RC for no BCE - but you need to spell out what BCE is!  Not everyone knows it by the initals.

Just my personal viewpoint.  I will read all RC's and send my book out if they meet the requirements.  However, I'm not going to visit another site and look the book up to see if it's the one you want or not.    While it's perfectly acceptable for you to ask that, to me it's going way overboard.   

I have nothing against RC's.  But I don't think I should have to send you  a PM or go looking somewhere else to make sure the book suits you.   So I would refuse the order.

I would go look something up before I'd send a PM.  With the PM I have to wait to hear back and it's held up, which is my thing against PMs.  However, if you list a website in your RC I would probably go have a look.  It that cleared it up for me, great, if not I will decline rather than PM you.  I will say that I didn't understand about BCE until PBS, so I think it is true a lot of people just do not realize.

Not knowing exactly what a BCE comprises these days, I'd probably decline the book because of that RC.  I don't always have the time (or inclination) to either PM or look at another site to see if the book meets the conditions.  If the book stated BCE on the jacket then I'd know, but otherwise probably not.  Pat

You could use the Order More Button to access their shelf and send a PM that way.

I'm not going to PM about a book or go to some other site to figure it out (I have dial-up internet, that would take more time than the effort is worth)... if the book states somewhere on it that it is a BCE fine...if it doesn't then I wouldn't consider it one -

Just wondering, but what difference would it make if it is a bce? It's the same story, right? Just that the paper is not the higher quality? If I got a RC with that, I would probably just deny, not wanting to bother trying to figure out if it is a bce.

Don't BCE's have different ISBN's then non-BCE's?..or are they the same? 

Sometimes they are different but more and more they are being the same ISBN.  It seems to me that since the quality on hardbacks are going down that the difference between book club editions and regular editions is getting less and less. 

If I got a request with an RC that a) asked me to PM them about something to clarify or b) asked me to go searching another website to look for details about a book that would indicate whether it was a BCE, I would decline the RC. Period.

I'm posting a book by the ISBN, if the ISBN matches the request as does the title and author, binding type, and meets PBS posting guidelines, I've done my job. I send enough books that I'm not inclined at all to go jumping through someone else's hoops to get a credit. Book from a non-smoking, pet-free home? I can do that. No water damage? Of course--I wouldn't have the book on my bookshelf otherwise. Must have dust jacket? No ex-library books? Those are simple, straightforward requests that I can determine eligibility for just by looking at the cover of the book. But "pm-me-or-go-to-this-website-to-make-sure-this-book-isn't-a-BCE?" Sorry. Decline.

Cheryl

I'm curious to know why people wouldn't want BCE of books, esp. a WL book.  I had a WL book offered to me, I accepted, and then got a PM that it was a BCE.  I honestly had no idea what that meant at the time.  I told the member that it didn't matter to me.  I don't know how, if any way, the book I got differs from the "regular" book, but unless the content is different, I couldn't care less.  

With something like BCEs, since a lot of people don't know what they are, I don't think it's wrong to PM the sender with a polite message.  However, if you explain in your RCs what they are, hopefully that will solve the problem in the future.  I agree though, I probably wouldn't go look on another website.  I think asking people to look for the words on the book that will indicate book club edition is the most that you can expect.  If there are some other non-obvious signs that you have to evaluate, that seems like too much to expect someone to do.  I think I might decline a BCE condition knowing that it's not always obviously stated on the book.

Dawn, I guess my answer to your question would be, personally, if I were collecting a certain series for my personal collection, I would want them to be all the same size and appearance.  Also, some people are just picky! 

I have to say, if I were looking for a specific book, and it was posted under the wrong ISBN, for the sake of getting it out the door quicker, I would be ticked.  For most books, however, I just don't care.  Read'em, post 'em!

Suzanne - that's true about having a series, or even all books by one author, in the same size/format.  My RC states I prefer BCEs but if a book is on my wish list I'll take the book regardless and maybe hunt down exactly what I want at some point down the road. I belong to the Rhapsody Book Club so all my romances are book club editions, all the Women's Murder Club books are BCE but I have one of Patterson's Michael Bennetts in regular edition and the most recent in BCE - makes for an interesting-looking bookshelf.

It's only in the last year or so that I decided to get Nora Roberts and Susan E. Phillips in HC so those HC collections are a big mix of  book club and regula reditions, I just stack them by height to make it more visually appealing but I'll take any size. The shape the book is in is far more important.

You could include a reference link in your request. Something like:

If you're not familiar with what a book club edition is, here is a tutorial for your convenience:

http://www.emptymirrorbooks.com/collecting/firstedition.html#bookclub

That's a site I found on a cursory look, but you might be able to find one that is better. I think the actual link URL will show up, and the person will have to cut-and-paste, but I'm not sure. You will need to make sure that the link remains current if you do this. (A broken link won't help the sender, LOL!)

Also, I've found that adding Thank you for your consideration! at the end has gone a long way toward people's accepting my conditions, especially if there will be extra hoop-jumping involved. :)