I've never put my account on vacation hold, so this is one area I really know nothing about.  I'm trying to order some books in a deal from someone who has their account on vacation hold.  He wanted me to just transfer the credits, but I've already transferred my 50 allowed for the month.  I thought maybe I could add the books to my wishlist, and he could post them directly to me.  Not sure if that's do-able on vacation hold.  He hasn't given me the ISBNs yet, but he says none of them are found in the system.  Is there a way for us to make this deal work or not?  Thanks for any help.. 

If the ISBNs are not in the system then they cannot possibly be wishlisted. All valid WL books have a real ISBN (there are lots of people wishing for WL books that are never going to be posted as the ISBN was never issued or the wishers have added a short 'single book' ISBN to their list) . If he posted the books with previously unknown IBSNs into PBS they would go to the general FIFO. If the ISBN is in the system already it's either WL or not.  If it's not in the system, his attempt to post the book should allow the system to search for the book from whatever sources PBS uses to access that information (amazon, et al). In that case, they would go onto his shelf and you would have to order from his shelf, and to do that he needs to take his shelf off hold.

If they in actuality are WL with real ISBNs then you can put them on your WL autorequest and he can post them directly to you.

There is no need to transfer credits outside the system, unless someone is buying them from you or you're donating them. The easiest way to order a book is to use a credit and keep the transaction recorded and within the system so if problems arise you have recourse.

That didn't really address my post.  Anyone else have input?  I'm very familiar with the system and how it works, I'm just not familiar with vacation hold as I stated.  If what I said above is true, can he post books on my wl directly to me while remaining on vacation hold? If he has to post them w/o ISBNs, can he do so while on vacation hold, give me the short ISBNs to add to my wl, then take just those books off vacation hold enabling them to come to me?  Again, as I stated above, he is telling me the books have ISBNs, but the ISBNs aren't in the system, and therefore aren't wishlisted.

I don't believe he can post anything to your WL if his account is on hold. He could briefly take his account off hold, post them to you (once you add them to your WL) & then he could directly put his account BACK on vacation hold even with the WL books pending to you.

Thanks Amber.

Except, as I understand it, if the ISBN's aren't in the system, sassy can't put them on her wishlist.

But, does he mean the ISBN's aren't in the system, or that they are no copies of thebooks with these ISBN's available in the system?

If it is the first - This should work - " he has to post them w/o ISBNs,  he *can* do so while on vacation hold, give me the short ISBNs to add to my wl, (auto-request)- but,  he will need to take his whole account off vacation hold (you can't do it selectively) briefly, then he can put it back on vacation. The hiccup is if that if he has other wishlisted books posted, they will be offered to the first wisher in the FIFO queue while his account is "open". To avoid this he should put just those WL books on individual hold before releasing his account.

My guess is what this guy meant is that they aren't available to order because they are WL, not that they aren't recognizable ISBNs. 

He has to do it the way Amber says. I learned this the hard way.

Mistie, I have a feeling that was a lot clearer in your head than it is in your post.  Either that, or my mind is cloudier than I thought.  lol. 

No, he said the ISBNs are not recognized by the system, so he would have to post them without ISBNs.

Sassy, I usually keep my shelf on vacation hold and I can post books directly to people's wish list.  So, if he gives you the ISBN and you add it to your wish list, he will be able to post them directly there.

It only works if they are the only wisher or the 1st in line.  Which is probably likely if  he has to create the listings in PBS first.  But if your account is on vacation and you post a book that has more than 1 wisher directly to someone and then take your account of hold-it will put it to FIFO and the first person in line.  Although If you have the Gold Key and the person is your body, I would assume it would give you the "friend" alert and you can choose them from the list.

I just know that before I got the Gold Key, I had forgotten a couple times that my account was on vacation and posted a book direct to someone only to have it go to FIFO when I unheld.

LOL Sassy, probably - against my better judgement I'll try again.

This is assuming, as you stated,  the ISBN's themselves are not in the system, NOT that their are just no copies available.

*while on vacation hold, he lists the books using a"short" ISBN.

*He PM's you those short ISBN's

*You add those listing to your wishlist, and put them on auto-request

*he takes his acocunt off vacation hold, and the books are posted to you and auto-requested.

*he puts his account back on vacation hold.

IF he has any other books posted that are wishlisted, at the time he takes his acount off vacation hold, they will automatically be offered to the first FIFO wisher. To avoid this happening, before he takes his account off vacation hold, he should put each of those WL books on individual hold.

Anyway Sassy, this post got longwinded, but, I can't explain it any more clearly. If it still isn't clear to you, well, sorry :-)

Just my thought - this is quite a bit of "stuffing around" for him - but, if someone is offering deals at the same time they have their acocunt on vacation hold, maybe it's a price they have to pay. I assume he doesn't want "single orders" but is happy to do multiple credit deals. He is trying to use the "buddy credit" to make it easier for him, but it does circumvent any PBS protection for you. If you hadn't already sold 50 credits, maybe you may have been willing. Anyway, too much rambling.....

lol.  Thanks everyone.  I've spent a lot of time yesterday and today putting my account on and off vacation hold, trying to figure out what you can and can't do with it on hold and how it all works.  I figured out that you can actually post books while on vacation hold, but since I didn't actually post any wl books directly to someone's wl I didn't get to see it all the way through.  So I take it you guys are saying that the wl books won't be offered to me until he takes his account off hold.  And is Mary correct that I'd have to be the 1st wisher for them to get offered to me even though he posts them directly to my wishlist?  This is critical for me to know as I've already posted the how-to for him and only 3 of the 4 books have me as the #1 wisher.  I think he was either looking up his ISBNs with dashes (thereby not finding them) or the system added the ISBNs once he looked them up and he was unaware as he'd never looked them up again.  Once he provided me the ISBNs, I found most of them.

As long as you have the books on YOUR WL, he can post them directly to you.

Yes, Mary is correct :-) IF he posts them while he is on vacation hold, then takes his account off vacation hold, they will be offered to the first wisher in the FIFO queue.

Since it is now determined that the ISBN's ARE listed in the PBS database: he will need to take his account off vacation hold, and THEN post them direct to your wishlist. (since you are not the 1st of the FIFO list)

No, I just told him to post the 4 directly to my wl that I'm the only wisher for.  I put them on auto-request, so he should be able to take his vacation hold off after posting them and have them go to me immediately, right?  So he can immediately put his account back on vacation hold and be a happy camper?  (Yes, I told him to individually hold any other books on his shelf showing a W for wishlisted.)  I hope I'm not totally confusing him.  He seems like he's not very versed in the system.

If he's not on vacation hold when he posts them to you then they will go to you no matter how many are on the WL ahead of you.  It just doesn't work if the sender's account is on vacation hold. I have learned this the hardway. 

He also couldn't do it if you were on vacation hold and not the 1st person in line even if you had it on autorequest.  (learned this the hardway too unless they've changed how that works).

Oh my gosh, after wasting my time trying to figure that all out, he said it's too time consuming and he can just donate them to the high school.  The only thing he's done is reply to my PMs, and the only thing I asked him to do was post 4 books directly to my wl without taking his acct off hold (as someone else told me they would be offered to me that way).  Silly me wasting 2 days trying to figure this out for someone not willing to do more than mail the books. 

Sassy, that stinks - we wanted to know how it worked out :)

I'm just curious -how did this all start - was he offering in the Book Bazaar?  if he is offering, and his account is on vacation hold, then how does he expect it to work out? So, the only way he's willing to send you the books is via a buddy credit? Strongt not recommended from TPTB.

But, maybe next month Sassy, you may not want to sell your 50 credit allowance quite so quickly....

Yes, it was a deal offered in the Book Bazaar.  Apparently he was only willing to deal with people willing to gift him the credits and PM him their address.  I wish he would've just stated that in his deal or at the very least stated it when I mentioned I'd already transferred my 50 credit limit.  I've had other people willing to work with me under similar circumstances, and I'm sure I'll have others in the future.