Hello all,

Here's my question: I received a request for a book that I thought I had available to send, and when I printed the label I went ahead and printed my postage. When I went to get the book to pack it up, I was unable to find it (I moved recently and I think there is one box of PBS books that didn't get unpacked... though I have no earthly idea where it is!). If I cancel the request, will I get a refund on the money I spent for postage, or will I have to say goodbye to my $2.60?

Thank you in advance for your help!

No refund.  Sorry, but it gets transferred pretty quickly to the USPS.  Sometimes we can catch PBS before it gets transferred, but not usually.  At that point we have to go to the post office for a refund.  Which can be very difficult.

If you ask for the refund within about a half an hour of when you print the postage, the Admin Team can sometimes cancel the transaction before the postage money gets passed on to Endicia, our postage provider.  If they can cancel it it  time, you'll get the refund.

No, cancelling the transaction doesn't do anything about the postage. Postage is non-refundable, but you can always send in Feedback via the Contact Us link in the lower right under Company and see if there is anything the PBS Team can do about it yet.

This is one of the reasons you always want to find the book and double check its postability before printing the label. That way you know you can send it and you can also check the weight and make sure you are printing the label for the correct amount.

You have to get a hold of PBS staff by Feedback within that small window.  If you do not get them within the window, they can't do anything.   This is why PBS has that warning that postage is non refundable when you select it. 

As you've found out the hard way, it's always a good idea to not print the wrapper until the book is in your hand, and you've had a chance to look it over for any damage you might have missed the first time. I too learned this lesson the hard way, so you are not alone!

I think the help docs state it well

What if I print with postage and then can't send the book, or my printer malfunctions?

• If you cancel a transaction (or the system cancels the transaction if you did not mark the book mailed in time) after printing with postage, the postage and fees can't be refunded by PBS.  The funds are transmitted to USPS when you download the wrapper with the postage on it.  You could try taking the printed, unused wrapper to the PO and discussing this with them.    We have no mechanism to recover these funds from USPS ourselves, but individuals may be able to do so.
• If you download a wrapper with postage and then your printer malfunctions, remember that you can reprint the wrapper (you can download it again) using the RePrint Wrapper button without being charged.  This can be done from any computer that has a working printer attached.   You should try this option if it is at all possible before cancelling--once canceled, the postage cannot be refunded.

Early on as a PBS member I printed a wrapper with postage for a book I had in hand and was ready to mail. I was inexperienced with the way the way printable postage works and did not look carefully at the book weight and cost of postage until after the wrapper had already been printed. Somehow the weight for the book was in the PBS database as 19 lbs and some ounces, and the postage came to over $54! I saw the error right away and immediately contacted the Team using feedback from Contact Us. My postage was refunded and I was able to print another label with the correct weight and postage.

The lessons I learned from this were to be careful to check the weight and postage cost before printing a label, and to contact the Team promptly if there is an error.