I had someone request 3 books off my bookshelf today.  I pulled them out of the boxes that they were in (1 box of Spanish stuff and 1 box of educator stuff.)

I always double check the books before I send them, and I noticed a watermark/stain on the cover of the Spanish book.  (Apparently some ding-dong in my house put the box under an open window and it rained)  The book only has damage to the cover and is 100% readable and has never been read...no creases, no folds, no nothing.  I KNOW that it is not postable.

I PMed the requester stating that the book had damage and I would buddy back the credit to them if they would still like the book or they could choose any other book off my bookshelf , pm it to me, and I would send that in place of the damaged book : still sending the damaged one free.  (Does that make sense?)  The final option was that we could cancel the order.

Do you all think that's the right thing to do, rather than cancel the order outright?

Now to find the person who moved that box o' books!

I think you did the right thing, given the circumstances.

I've found as long as your honest with your requestors, things go smoothly.

Yes, that was the right thing to do. I have received PM's like that before. I still wanted the "damaged" book and the sender offered me another book from their shelf. Everybody was happy with the transaction. I would have been upset if she didn't say anything and just sent the damaged book.

Things happened so I would assume that most people would understand.

All I can tell you is that if you had made that kind of offer to me, I'd have been more than happy.  Very up front and helpful -- sounds like you did great!  :-) 

Ditto!  That sounds like a great way to handle that situation.

I agree, sounds like the perfect solution and if I were the requestor I'd be pretty darned happy with your offer.

Thanks for your responses.  All is well, we decided that I'm just going to buddy back the credit ;)