I received a request for a hardback book with the following conditions:

I am not willing to receive hardcover books without a dust jacket.

Also, please no "Book Club" hardcover books; these can be identified by the lack of a sales price in the upper right-hand corner of the inside dust jacket and are usually smaller in size than first-editions.

This book is a 1976 book with a price in the lower right hand corer of the inside front dust cover. 

It also has the following descriptor on the dust cover:  "A FULL SELECTION OF THE BOOK_OF_THE_MONTH CLUB".  (No where in the book proper is it stated that it is a book club edition.)

I don't know if that means the book is  full-size or if it is, in fact, a smaller book. The book is bigger and heavier than most new hardback books produced today.  And I don't know if the condition means that the person requesting the book won't accept any book club editions even if they are the same size as the non-book club editions.

My impulse is to refuse the request.  But I would like to ask for clarification before refusing the transaction.  Is there a way to communicate with the requestor before accepting or refusing the request?

Peggy - as I see it you have two options:

1.  Turn down the request and state what you've said above.  If you have the only copy you can ask her to PM you back if she's still interested.  If you don't have the only copy, it will roll over to the next person in the FIFO line, but you'll still stay at #1 for the next person who wants the book.

2.  You can accept, then you'll be able to send her a PM.  If she doesn't want the book, someone will have to cancel (not sure who has the advantage here), but if you cancel you'll have to repost the book and go to the back of the FIFO line.  I think if she cancels, she'll get you again. 

I'd probably turn it down.  Pat

I would turn it down. Not worth the risk of a RWAP.

I'd turn it down, especially since I have some books that I know for a fact are book club editions that have prices and are no different in size than other editions and also have some non-book club editions that have no prices.

I would also turn down the request. Not worth the hassle of trying to figure out what the person is asking for and getting a RWAP.

 I turned down the request and put an explanation as to why.  If the requestor wants the book, I've asked him or her to PM me. 

Appreciate all the help.  Thanks everyone!

Sounds like a book club edition but in a larger format than a normal BCE.  Still they said no BCE's so you did the right thing by turning them down.

"It also has the following descriptor on the dust cover:  "A FULL SELECTION OF THE BOOK_OF_THE_MONTH CLUB".  (No where in the book proper is it stated that it is a book club edition.)"

Stating a book has been selected as a BOMC selection doesn't make the copy you have a book club edtion. It's a blurb on a par with stating the book is a New York Times Bestseller or an Oprah selection.

I received a request with the same RC you mention. The book I had was a small hardback, with a dust jacket and the price noted on the inside flap. I accepted and sent it, and the other member was pleased to have it.

For future reference, when you turn down an RC, the sender usually has no way of contacting you unless you included your PBS nickname in your message.  (Then she can find you in the membership directory.)  When we turn down a book because of RCs, it was never officially a transaction, so it won't be in our transactions archive.