I just joined about an hour ago and I just want some clarification on something.. I have gotten 2 credits.. how exactly do those work? I was a brief member of swaptree but after a nasty little know it all moderator and conflcting paramaters on the site I have moved here in hopes of a better experience... I suspect if I search a book it will tell me if it's available correct? I have added a dozen of my own books and searched for some of the ones I am interested in that I could remember but they all came up with only the wish list and buy at amazon available to me... I just want to make sure I understand how the site works.. thanks in advance for the help...

Welcome Teresa!

PBS works on credits, one book = one credit (audio books are 2 credits).  Members/you receive a credit when you send a book to another member, and the requester marks it received (delivery confirmation is slightly different).  You 'spend' your credits by requesting books from other members.  Some books are wishlisted, some are not.  If the books you want are wishlisted, get on the list pronto so you are in line for your turn!

If the book you want isn't available in the system at this time, you can check other editions and/or bindings of the same book.  Sometimes the paperback is not available but a hardback copy is.

Waiting for a book that hasn't been released yet?  Many pre-release books are in the PBS system, hop on the wishlist and have your place in line!

AND be sure to find and read the required book conditons.  New members sometimes miss the guidelines (kinda have to hunt for them) and don't realize there are rules against posting books with liquid damage, writing or highlighting on text pages, stains, missing pages or cover, etc.

PBS members are very helpful, so ask if you have more questions.

Welcome to PBS!!  I agree with Denise abouat hanging out on the forums whenever possible because you will learn so much especially on this forum.  We're all willing to help.  Just take it a little at a time so you don't get overwhelmed.  Reading both the "Help Documents" and the red sticky thread at the top of this forum's menu will help you out a lot.  

Books are posted by ISBN only and the binding, title, and author must match that ISBN.  You can search for any book by ISBN, title or author.  Some wishlists can be very long - but it's deceptive because of the great number of members here - the rate of turnover for some titles is very fast!  So don't let a long WL discourage you.  Anytime you find a book's page that you like the book - it will have either a "order this book" button ( if there's any in the system at the time) or a Wish button for when it isn't in the system.  The number of people waiting is shown on the book's detail page.  To find out how many books of an available title are in tje system - just add it to your Reminder LIst (RL) then go to your RL and it will show you how many of that title there are in the system.  At some point PBS may be showing that information on the books' listing pages.

Please come back to read the forum and to ask any questions you might have.

Ruth

Hi, Teresa!

As the others, I'd like to welcome you to PBS and wish you good luck on finding the books you desire and getting rid of the ones you've already read.

If you don't mind, I'll share my first advice to any new member. If you don't want to follow them that's totally up to you, but it will help a lot for you here in the beginning to understand the basic rules and guidelines:

Take your mouse to the top of the page where you will find a gray bar with sections that give a drop down when you pause your mouse over them.

Find the Help Center tab and pause over it. The first line says "How to Swap Books" click and take the Tour of PBS. Then return to the menu.

After taking the tour, come back to the Help Center tab, and click on "Browse Help Docs"

Once the screen changes, click on each of the first 5-6 topics on the LEFT side of the page, and read all of the pages under each.

As I said, this will give you the best, fastest, most information for your time that you can get.

Also, if you have any questions at anytime, try a key word or two from the question you have (such as WISH LIST if you have questions about what it is or how it works) in the search slot of the Browse Help Docs page and you will be given a list of likely answers to your question. BUT, if at anytime you do not find your answer, or do not understand what your answer is telling you. First try asking your Tour Guide. He or she will be listed on your BUDDY LIST tab (visible by holding your mouse over the MY ACCOUNT tab in the gray bar, and clicking Buddy List and sending the question to them in a PM (Personal Message). OR feel free to come back here to the forums, and after a quick search (using the search feature & a key word or two again) to see if your question is already been answered, if not post like you did here and you will find lots of members quick to give you advice and help. PBS members are as a general rule quite friendly and helpful.

Hope you make lots of new friends here, as well as have lots of great trades :)

Welcome to PBS - nothing to add you got some great advice.  As you the learn the site you will have more questions.  Just reading the questions in this forum you can learn alot-but if you are really unsure ask your TG or another TG.   You can also find your TG under the Personal Message tab at the top of the page. 

Teresa, welcome!  I don't have anything to add either.  I agree with jubead as you learn the site you'll have more questions and you're gonna think they're dumb.  At least when I write one I think my brain went dead and the question is silly.  But, the people here are great and will help you as much as they can.  And, the TG, either your own or any other one are available.  You can also check out Live Help.  That's TG's who are online right now.  Just in case TG is Tour Guide.  We do have lots of acronymns here.
 

Teresa,

Welcome! You will enjoy PBS and learn a lot from the forums.

A few acronyms:

PBS - PaperBackSwap
RWAP - Received With a Problem
TBTB - The Powers That Be
TG - Tour Guide
RC - Requestor Conditions
TBR - To Be Read
WL - Wish List
FIFO - First In First Out
ARC - Advanced Reader Copy
BOB - Box of Books
BCE - Book Club Edition
UBS - Used Book Store

Link to a more detailed copy of acronyms: http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/search.php?terms=glossary

Blessings,
Christina

Christina totally beat me to it!  The acronyms are *key* to reading the forums.  Otherwise, it's just alphabet soup.

Welcome!  I just joined 2 weeks ago and am totally addicted :)

ETA:  I'd also advertise your shelf in the Book Bazaar so that people can take a look at it and you can work on getting more credits :)  Because more credits = more books.  And more books = more fun :D

Thank you everyone for all the great info... and thank you Christina for the acronyms... Yeah I was a little lost seeing RC but figured it out. I woke this morning to my first request and am sending it as soon as I leave the house today so I have marked it sent. I also decided to use the delivery confomration as I find it is a great tool.. I think most of the books I looked for last night were not available as I don't remember seeing anything but the option for using wish list but I will go back and look for other isbn's.. now one thing I did notice in my wish lists was one particular LONG waiting list... 127 people.. is there any hope to ever get that book?... Also say I have a title that has 3 different isbn's do I need to request ALL of those to be in my wish list? if I want to get first available? thanks again guys for all the great advice and welcoming

Depending on the book (a recent release especially) you'll find a wishlist of 127 people moves really fast. I was on a wishlist of over 500 for a book and got it within about 5 or 6 months. You can put all the ISBNs for a book on your wishlist if you choose. Some people do, some people don't. I'll usually put all versions on my wishlist except for audio, but others might not depending on if they only want paperback or hardcover. It's really up to you--and the particular version you want.

More about wishlists--you might find the book you have where you are the only wisher is the one you wait longest for! What I've been doing lately is checking with my local library against my wishlist here. I can go on a waitlist at my library too and wherever I get the book first is fine with me. If you have a particular genre you like, check out that forum also. You might find some new to you authors with books that are already in the system.

The big thing about long WL's is which book it's for.  If it's a paranomal/vampire/romance, it will most likely move very fast.  If it's a long WL for say "Paula Deen's" cookbooks, not fast at all.  I waited a whole year only to move down below the 100 mark so I bought it used from Amazon since it was a present for my DD.  Some of the books that are Top Seller list books can have huge WL just as they come out only to crash and have 100's of copies in the system within weeks (check out just about any Dan Brown title).  Literally.  I have had on my WL a few scifi/fantasy books for as long as I've been here...they aren't new and they never get listed.  It's the older books that have less than 10 on the WL that I find never move!  LOL!! ;D

Ruth

Welcome Teresa!

There's a lot of great advice here and there are WONDERFUL people here on PBS.  Everytime I've had a question, I've posted it to the forum and have had many people offer suggestions, solutions, etc.

Frequenting the forums can help books move on your shelf sometimes since people might be more likely to check it out if they know you by name recognition from the forums.  If you have a particular genre you like to read, you might want to check that forum out.  I LOVE historical fiction, and I've acquired a few books from the posters there because I usually find more than one on their bookshelves that I want, and it saves them postage to send 2 or 3 books to the same person rather than to different people.

Also, some people do post directly to someone's WL if they know them from the forums since they know a forum poster is more likely to respond than let a request time out.  I must have gotten a few books that way because there were a few I had on my WL that I was no where near the top 10 on, and suddenly I would get a message saying that it's been offered to me! :-P

Thanks to Christina S. for the great acronym link!  The one missing from that list that I see in these forums all the time is DH.  I had to google it and found out it means dearest husband or dumb husband depending on the context :-)