Is there anywhere on the individual posting where I can make it known that some of my hardcovers do not have dust jackers?

Or should I just contact people as they request a hardcover without a dust jacket?

If I were to mention this information on my public profile is that enough information?

I would appreciate your suggestions.

Thank you 

Deb K

You dont need to, unless a person has a requestor condition saying it has to have a dust jacket, sending it without, is fine and allowed in the rules.

They wont see your public profile before requesting the book.

Yup--what xengab said--it is up to the requestor to put an RC in place if they want to make sure books have dust jackets.  If there is no RC stating a dust jacket is required feel free to send your book (as long as it is otherwhise postable of course).  If someone you send a book to (who didn't have an RC) gives you grief (marks book RWAP) because of the missing dust jacket, hold your ground and politely point out to them that if they want only books with dust jackets they need to put an RC to that effect in place, and that according to club rules your book was postable.

Laura, I'm glad you mentioned possible RWAP's.  New members usually don't know that some members try to RWAP hardback books sent without a dust jacket when they don't have RC's in place. 

Several years ago I sent a hardback sans dust jacket and the receiver tried to pull that on me.  When I explained she needed to have RC's requiring dust jackets, she said that it was an understanding between members who requested hardbacks that dust jackets are included and if they aren't, the requester should be told ahead of time. 

I don't think so.

What?  They tried to scam Hunter?   PBS is very clear about dust jackets. 

Dust Jacket:

• The DUST JACKET (this is not the same as the cover of a book) does not have to be included with a book at all, unless the requestor had this in their Requestor Conditions. 
• So DUST JACKET condition cannot be considered as part of the condition of a book, unless there were Requestor Conditions on the request specifying that the dust jacket be included.
• If the Dust Jacket was to be included as specified in the Requestor Conditions on the request, the Dust Jacket must meet the same conditions as defined for the cover, below.

Emily

As Xen mentioned, requestors are very unlikely to see your profile page and is therefore an inefficient method of notification.

If a member requests a hardcover from me that does not have a dust jacket I will send a PM to inform them before sending the book, even if there is no RC. If the member does not want the book, I'll cancel the request as not meeting requestor conditions. I would rather do this than send a book without the jacket and risk an unhappy requestor and a RWAP.

Chris, how can you turn down a request based upon RC's when there aren't any RC's?

I feel by sending a PM for missing dust jackets add to the problem.  Some members start expecting to be told in advance and when they get a hardback without a dust jacket, they mark it received with a problem, even though the posting criteria clearly states that dust jackets aren't required.  I don't want an unhappy requester either, but when the posting criteria states one thing and the senders continue to do another, then confusion results.  

I agree with Hunter...PMing a person is opening up a can of worms. Many people do not visit the site after requesting a book and therefore never see the PM and you are left hanging, waiting for a response that does not come, especially when in this case, dust jackets are not required unless they have an RC requesting it be included.

I used to PM members offering freebies with their order...they would not see the PM until after receiving the requested book and now suddenly they are annoyed because they did not get any freebies because they never responded to the PM.

I also agree with Hunter    What seems polite can quickly become problematic in several ways. 

What happens if the other member does not answer your PM...do you send or not?  At the very least, give a deadline...such as, you will send the book if you do not hear otherwise by noon on Friday (for example).

If they say no and do not have an RC for you to decline, you must then cancel the transaction...if you repost the book it will be offered to that same member again.  Now in order to offer your book to other wishers, you either have to ask the first member to add an RC to their account for you to decline or wait until their wish has been fulfilled.

"Now in order to offer your book to other wishers, you either have to ask the first member to add an RC to their account for you to decline or wait until their wish has been fulfilled."

What Denise said is true--if the book is a wish list book.  If the book doesn't happen to be a wish list book, then when you repost the book, it'll go to back of the FIFO line, and depending how long/slow moving the FIFO line is it could be quite sometime before you get another request for the book.  I'm with the others--if there isn't an RC in place requiring a Dust Jacket and I have a postable book that is missing the Dust Jacket, I'll go ahead and send it without the PM.

OK. The arguments against sending a PM regarding the dust jacket prior to sending the book are well taken.  The situation has only happened to me perhaps 3 or 4 times at most in my 6+ years here, and each of these had a good outcome. The books were mailed and well-received. I was trying to be polite to the requestor and let them know exactly what they would be receiving, but I can see how this could cause problems. In retrospect, I agree it is better not to do this.

On the flip side, I occasionally receive PMs from senders to tell me something about the book condition before they mail it. The PMs may be due to the fact that I have RCs, and the senders are simply letting me know that their book is ok or has some very minor defect. Personally, I have no problem with this and have appreciated their concern and thoughtfulness. However, I agree that if a book meets the PBS rules and requestor conditions, there is no need to send such PMS, and that doing so may cause problems in some cases.

I really dislike PMs about conditions.  I'm a strong believer that if your RC is not clear, then you should edit it.

There is a place for PMs about underlining.  (And I think that rule is very effective at getting us to not bother with underlined books.)

Frankly, I think the only PMs I've ever sent about conditions were on several of out of print books that were so close to the edge that I felt I needed to let the member know.   All of the books were wish listed, making the issue of who would cancel and who would not pretty clear.  I stated that I should be the person to cancel if they did not want the book, so they would keep their place in the wish list.   Plus a time limit.

I've been told by TPTB to NOT send PMs about dust jackets or conditions, that is what RCs are for.  I'd asked about exlibrary books and was told to not bother PMing and if it was RWAP, to show the person the rules page.

As a courtesy to the member, I always let them know if it doesn't have a dust jacket; if they don't want the book, I cancel and note the reason, and they are grateful for the consideration.

On a side note, when reading a book, a lot of people remove the jacket so as not to damage it, and then forget where they put it, so I do purchase books without them.  I just snagged Gone Girl without a DJ, and after reading it, the member I passed it to said he didn't care because he wanted to read the book.  The book itself was like new, so it's all good.