Do you really RWAP for highlighting? I received a book today and I just wish the sender had pm'd me about the highlighting, I would have ordered another copy. It is a religious book, not a text book, I understand why someone highlighted it, I would in my personal copy too, but it is distracting to have some one else's "favorite" passages already highlighted, you know. I find myself just reading the highlighted text and not the whole page.

I haven't marked it received yet, I am not sure what to do, and I just wanted to ask the general PBS population.

Yes.  I would.  The guidelines are very clear.  Highlighting needs a PM and approval.  I might not ask for the credit.  But I would RWAP.

From the Help Center:

"

Overall Condition:

• No damage at all from water or other liquid
• Not soiled
• No stains (exception for cookbooks--see below)
• No mold
• no highlighting, underlining or writing on text pages (exception for Textbooks/Workbooks and travel guidebooks --see below)

No writing or highlighting or underlining on text pages

• a signature or note on the flyleaf or inside front or back cover is OKAY
• an author's signature on the title page is OKAY
• writing or highlighting or underlining on the text pages is NOT OKAY
  • Exception: if it is a textbook or workbook, these are expected to have highlighting/underlining/writing
    • if you post a textbook/workbook, the condition must be described to the requestor in a Personal Message
    • AND the described condition MUST BE AGREED TO in a reply PM before the book is sent
    • This is the one of the ONLY three cases in which a PM exchange about a book is required before the book can be sent (the others are for travel guidebooks and cookbooks--see below).
  • Exception: if it is a travel guide (not a picture book but a guide, such as Fodor's or Lonely Planet), some writing on text pages could be expected.  All maps must be present and included with the book - if detachable it is OK if they are detached, but they must not be missing.
    • if you post a travel guide that has writing in it, the condition must be described to the requestor in a Personal Message
    • AND the described condition MUST BE AGREED TO in a reply PM before the book is sent
    • This is the one of the ONLY three cases in which a PM exchange about a book is required before the book can be sent (the others are for textbooks/workbooks and cookbooks--see above and below).

I would mark it RWAP.  I might or might not ask for my credit back, depending on the circumstances.   If I didn't ask for my credit back, and I received a good response, I'd go in and submit follow-up that the problem was Resolved by Sender.

The glue that holds the site together IMHO is that we all agree to follow the postability guidelines.  A RWAP is a reminder to someone to be sure they are checking over their books before mailing them out.

What Emily said.  A highlighted book is unpostable, unless the textbook waiver is involked and you approved the condition before sending.

ETA - and yes, I've RWAP'd several jr. biographies that arrived with surprise highlighting/underlining.  Some I asked for a credit return, and some I didn't.

Yes, always. If I could still use it or would have accepted it if they HAD followed the rules and messaged me, I wouldn't ask for my credit back, but I would still RWAP.

I ordered a Bible and it had highlighting in it.  Yes, I marked it RWAP but didn't ask for my credit back as I was able to use the book anyway.

Yes, I'd mark it RWAP. Of course, in my case, highlighting tends to give me nearly instant migraines, rendering any book that contains any useless for me. So, I guess I have really good reason to do so. But, even if that weren't the case, I'd still consider it a RWAP case, since the rules are really clear on the subject.

Needless to say, in my case, I'd ask for the credit back as well.

Yes, I would RWAP it and ask for my point back.

rwap for sure. credit  returned for certain.   If we the members don't hold up the rules especially when they are very specific (no grey area on highlighting) before you know it every book  you order is going to be yucky.  Yes occassionaly someone will miss a small stain in the middle of the book.  But blatant rule violation is not tolerable.  Ok can you tell I've been burnt twice this week. 

Ask for your credit back and don't feel bad about it.  The sender is the one in the wrong.

My Bible study classes in past few years have used books that were written for use as college textbooks--- had no idea until they arrived.  So my question is HOW do we know if a book is a textbook or not?

  The same would apply to classics used in literature courses.  So how do we know to even ask if there is highlighting if it's not obvious that the book is a textbook?

I agree that highlighting is an RWAP in general. 

You shouldn't have to ask about highlighting. It's up to the sender of a textbook (or any book that was used as a textbook) to contact the requestor, tell them about the condition, and let them accept before they can send the book. If you get a book that is underlined or highlighted, and you didn't send a PM saying this was fine, then it should be a RWAP.

Well put, Elizabeth.

In the OP's case I would probably ask for my credit back since it's altering the way you read the book.

If it wasn't going to make a difference to me, I'd just mark it RWAP and not ask for a credit back.

TPTB have said that ANY book can be considerated a text book. It is up to the sender to let you know it contains highlighting.

What Elizabeth said.

You SHOULD mark a highlighted book that came without advance notice of being highlighted as RWAP, even if you decide not to ask for a credit refund (and most especially if you DO want the refund).

The RWAP functions as the site's Quality Control device, and marking the transaction as RWAP is just the responsible thing to do; it is just a truthful recording that this is what occurred during this transaction.  It isn't aimed specifically at punishing the member who did it, although it does record in their history that specific member sent out a book in violation of the site rules, so if they keep up the habit of doing it the site administrators can take appropriate measures with that member.

If i had not been made aware of the highlighting BEFORE the book was mailed, I would RWAP.  Notification is a PBS requirement, as far as I recall.

It's not so much notification as asking permission to still send the book.  Personally, I dislike other people's highlighting.  It's distracting and it directs my eyes to what they found of note, which may not be how I feel about it.  It took me a year of college to get over my "Don't ever write in a book" issue.  And even then it was only in texts I would be keeping (Like Physics and Calculus) and books I could not sell back (or were worth a dollar, no matter the condition...).

I've received two highlighted/underlined books.  I RWAPed both.  In one case the sender denied the book having any highlighting.  I sat here and thumbed through the book, looking at the extensive highlighting and thought "Lady, if you didn't see this, you need your eyes checked."  She pissily refunded my credit.  The other was extreme extensive highlighting.  I wanted to read the book and I couldn't.  The sender never responded to my PMs, and only refunded my credit (by stealth) after I marked it Not Resolved.  I'm still on the waiting list for a, hopefully, unmarked copy.

Also, I would accept a highlighted/underlined book dependent on the extent of the marking.  If it's a line here or there, that's cool, or a random note in the margin.  But when it's at least one paragraph per 2 pages, I can't read that.

Well - she knew and admitted it but said it was not a problem - that she "often trades and receives them like that?.  I did mark it RWAP but did not ask for my credit back.  I have marked it unresolved because she argued that the highlighting was okay, while I believe/feel/know that it is against the rules.

Thanks for everyones input.

you should send the issue to PBS for resolution.  I had a sender who admitted they sent a book without accompanying dvd, then stopped responding when I told them they needed to refund my credit.  PBS actually sent me the credit because the sender admitted the problem and said they were contacting the sender about following the rules.

PBS probably needs to contact this sender about following the rules.

The OP did not ask for their credit back. So, there is no issue to resolve. IMO.

The PBS guidelines on RWAPs are very clear that if you want your credit back, you need to request it from the sender explicitly. Since the OP did not do that, the sender did not offer, and there is nothing wrong with that.