I just got a PM from a member asking if I would do a deal on some of my kids books. I've never done an offer on either side, seller or buyer. I've looked through help and here but only see reference to offering them in the Bazaar or box o' books. I have a couple of questions:

Is it within the rules to do such a thing? (PM a member for a deal)

Assuming it's not against the rules, If I say sure we can how does that work with credits, the system and the like? I guess they would request the books for the amount of credits (say 3 for 2) and then tell me some way what the 3rd would be? If that's the case how do I "track" that it went to that person with the others and then off my shelf?

sorry for the questions, it's been awhile since I've been on and got the PM the same week as a request. 

It is perfectly fine to PM someone asking for a deal or offering a deal. It is also perfectly fine to say no if you don't want to give the deal requested or counter offer a deal that you might feel is more equitable.

If you decide to do a 3 for 2 deal then they would request 2 of the books and you would send all 3. 

You want to remember to remove the free book from you Bookshelf. You can just delete it if you want to, remembering that adjust the weight on your label for the free book. What I usually do is print a label (with no postage services added) from the request and then go to the 3 book and use the Mail to a Friend option. When you enter the address exactly as it is on the label it will add it to the shipment for you, but is still a creditless swap. Then your weight of the package is more likely to be right and you can use PBS postage if you want. The free book will be on a different tab once you mark them mailed and you would need to mark it received when the requester says they got the package.

I don't think it's against the rules to PM a member to see if they are interested in doing a deal.  If you want to do it, I think there are a couple ways you can handle the credits.

1) You can ask them to request two and then PM you with the 3rd book they want.  You can then go to your bookshelf and remove the 3rd book. I assume you would mail them all together so I don't really understand this question - how do I "track" that it went to that person with the others and then off my shelf?

2) You can ask them to request all three titles and then you can give them one credit back using the give credits link on their profile page.

I believe #1 is usually the way people do it.  It's the way I've always done deals.

ETA:  I like the idea the poster above had about using the mail to a friend option for the 3rd book.  It would then take it off your bookshelf and you'd still see it in your transaction archive.

I recently did a 3:1 deal for a huge order. I have an ongoing deal on my shelf but I am always willing to look at offers. I've seached other shelves and requested offers too.  Worse they can do is turn you down. Great way to get older sets of multi-book series as they often languish since there are so many copies posted.

In this case, the other member ordered books from my shelf and I used mail to a friend for the others using the same address.  The label price was not right though; it was way too high so I entered the actual weight myself and the postage was under $10 for an excess of 20 books. There were two tabs on my account page and once she marked the ones she'd ordered (and sent a PM) I just marked the rest.

What Melanie said.  Although I use DC (especially for multiples), and was wondering if it would work the other way around?  To print the two credit books as regular FIFO with DC, then the freebie as 'mail-to-a-friend' without DC/postage, will the system still combine the transaction?  

I buy counter postage, so USPS checks the weight for me anyway. I like the credit assurance of PBS DC and the ability to track the package JIC it appears stuck enroute

I copied this from the book bazaar, about the rules.  hope it helps you.

How to Make a Deal:

For the Sender:

• Start a topic with the "Terms of the Deal" in the title. For example, "2-for-1 on all books on my shelf". The end date of the "deal" should be in the first post in the topic, or in the title (for example, "2-for-1 on all books on my shelf until April 30th").
• A member who wants to take advantage of your deal (the requestor) will post in the topic the book she wants for credit, and the freebie(s) she is asking for. Then the requestor will send a PM to you, with this same information, and will request the for-credit book from your shelf.
• You need to remove the "freebie" book(s) (if it/they are still available--if not, send this info in a PM to the requestor).
• If you get two PMs asking for the same book, you can handle this as you wish--but the requestor who requests the book first should get the "deal" if the
  freebie(s) she or he wants is/are still available. Remember that you will NOT get the request for a book until an hour after it is submitted, unless the requestor PMs you FROM THE ACTIVE REQUEST--doing this will send the request through immediately.
• If you cannot meet the requestor's request (if a book she wants is already taken by another requestor and you hadn't gotten to taking it off your shelf yet), don't print the address or mark the book mailed until you have arranged an alternate deal with the requestor. If no alternate deal is satisfactory, the requestor should cancel, so that your book that was requested does not get removed from your bookshelf. The sender should not cancel--doing this passes the request along to another sender (who is not part of the deal) and this creates confusion.
• If you are confused about whether a book has been requested from you, look through your bookshelf. The notation "pending request, 1-hr max." means the request has been submitted into the system, but it has not been submitted to
  YOU yet.
• When you get the request for the for-credit book, you can accept it and package the book up with the requested "freebie(s)" you have removed from your PBS bookshelf, and send them all together (this saves postage over sending out books individually!).
• If a book that is part of a deal can't be sent for any reason - it can't be found, for example, or is not in good condition, or does not meet the requestor's conditions - the sender should NOT cancel and should NOT click to decline for Requestor Conditions .
  • Instead, the sender should send a PM to the requestor who has approached you about the deal, and if he or she does not want the book, he or she can cancel the request. (If the book can't be found or is not in good condition, the sender can then remove the book from his or her account Bookshelf.)  A sender should not be the one to cancel a 'deal' request.
  • The reason for this is that If the sender cancels, this will pass the request along to a new sender who is not part of the deal. This causes confusion and disappointment.
• The requestor should always be the one to cancel a "deal" request if the deal can't be made.
• When the requestor gets the package, she will mark the "for-credit" book(s) received, and you will get your credit(s).
•  Remember to keep your topic up-to-date: you can edit your original post as needed (this will NOT bump your topic). For example, if the original post offers 6 different damaged books you are willing to offer as freebies with orders from your shelf, please remove the items from the list in the original topic, as they are taken.

You don't have to use 'mail to a friend', just change the weight on the regular label. Much easier. 

True Barb, I would use it so the PBS system would track all details of the transaction (ie I don't have to try to remember anything).  I'm kind of anal that way (or lazy).    Then I won't wake up in the middle of the night a week from now, wondering 'did I remember to include the freebie???'

 To print the two credit books as regular FIFO with DC, then the freebie as 'mail-to-a-friend' without DC/postage, will the system still combine the transaction?

I do go back and print the label on the full request using PBS postage (as my first post indicates you can do) which would include DC. But if you attempt to do it your way, no it will not combine the transaction if there is a DC or postage label already generated for some of the books. I print the no services label just to get the address to enter the free books. Then when you print the final wrapper for everything you can select whatever postage service you want to.

You don't have to use 'mail to a friend', just change the weight on the regular label. Much easier. 

I like to use it because it takes the book off my shelf officially, so I'm not neglecting to remove it (very easy to do on big multi-book orders). It also puts it in the transaction archive if I ever need to check (although there is no data other than that it was sent), but it does have the same day as other orders and it goes into your books mailed tally in your profile. It also creates the insert page on the label/mailer that has all the books listed for the recipient.

If I run a 3/2 deal, the other member orders two of the books from my shelf and PMs me with the title of the free book. I delete it from my shelf and add it to the package.

I have a home scale, so I either hand write or print the label, weigh the package and add the needed stamps.