Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Discussion Forums - Questions about PaperBackSwap Questions about PaperBackSwap

Topic: Received book but sender forgot to mail

Club rule - Please, if you cannot be courteous and respectful, do not post in this forum.
  Unlock Forum posting with Annual Membership.
beatccr avatar
Subject: Received book but sender forgot to mail
Date Posted: 2/21/2009 10:30 PM ET
Member Since: 3/13/2007
Posts: 3,773
Back To Top

I probably already know this but I wanted to check b/c I looked in the help and didn't find it

Received a book today, went to mark received but sender hasn't said they mailed it yet. Now the help says this:

Click the button on the transaction to see the sender's name in the To: field of the new Personal Message

  • If the name is the same as the name in the Return Address on the package, then this sender did not mark the book mailed yet. 
    • You should immediately send a PM to the member, telling him or her to mark the book mailed!
    • If the member does not read your PM in time, the request may cancel
    • If so, a new sender will get your request and the status will change to "Waiting for member"
    • If this happens, you can click to cancel the new request
    • Then you can mark the book received from the canceled transaction in your Transaction Archive, to give the first sender credit.  See instructions on how to do this in I received a book from a canceled transaction!.

I have already PMed the sender to mark the book mailed but just in case they don't respond, i want to be prepared (and for in the future too)

what i want to know is, when exactly will the cancellation date be so I can catch it before it goes to the next person? i have a requested on date and a printed label on date. the person did not say when they would mail it by. so will the transaction expire 5 days from the printed date or 5 days from the requested date? I just want to make sure so that i don't miss out and it transfer to the next sender and that person immediately prints out the label so I can't cancel.

Thanks!

Yellowdogs1 avatar
Friend of PBS-Silver medalPBS Cruise Attendee medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Date Posted: 2/21/2009 11:31 PM ET
Member Since: 6/15/2006
Posts: 5,751
Back To Top

Hi Deborah,

The person who mailed you the book has 5 days from the date of acceptance, when she clicked "I can mail in the next 2 days", to mark the book as mailed.

If she misses this time limit,  then the offer will be passed onto another sender. All you need to do is make sure to click on cancel or I do NOT want  this book if it is offered to you again so that you won't get a second copy. Once it times out, you will be able to go into your transaction archive and marked the book received. If you need help with how to do this just drop me a PM and I will be glad to help you.

If the sender marks the book as mailed before the time runs out, then you will be able to mark the book received on your My Account page.

My guess is that it will time out and you will have to do it from your transaction archive. Enjoy the book. Hope it all works out.

Generic Profile avatar
Member of the Month medalFriend of PBS-Silver medal
Date Posted: 2/22/2009 10:02 AM ET
Member Since: 8/23/2007
Posts: 26,510
Back To Top

It'll only offer it to you again if it's a WL book and someone posts the book.  IF there's other copies in the system it won't give you an offer it'll just order the book.

You could try putting your account on hold.  I know I've posted WL books before and had my account on hold-it didn't offer it to the next person until I took my account off hold again.  But I don't know if it works the same with a book you've requested.  I think it will go the next full hour before it passes it on to the next person.  So like if  they posted the book at 12:15 pm then it'll pass the request on to the next person at 1pm.  Something like that.  Hopefully it's not Midnight that it passes it over. I would just plan on checking it quite frequently. 

Also don't buddy them a credit yet. If for some reason you can't cancel the 2nd transaction and you end up with 2 books-you do not have to give the 1st person a credit.  They didn't mark it mailed and that's their mistake.



Last Edited on: 2/22/09 10:03 AM ET - Total times edited: 1
beatccr avatar
Date Posted: 2/22/2009 10:34 AM ET
Member Since: 3/13/2007
Posts: 3,773
Back To Top

thanks mary that's the answer i was looking for. i just know someone people will print the lable almost immediately and then you can't cancel the request anymore, and i was worried that when it rolls over to the 2nd person, they do that before i get a chance to see it.

hopefully it won't come to this and the 1st person marks it received soon....

Generic Profile avatar
Member of the Month medalFriend of PBS-Silver medal
Date Posted: 2/22/2009 10:55 AM ET
Member Since: 8/23/2007
Posts: 26,510
Back To Top

Well I don't know if I'm correct about the time. I know when a WL book offer time out it goes to the next full hour like I said before and then offers it to the next person. That's what I noticed when one I posted recently timed out. 

I think when a book request you've made, that hasn't been accepted times out it goes until midnight of that day. So if you request a book at 1:30 pm it won't reset the request until like 12:01 on the 6th day.  It may do that with an accepted book that hasn't been marked mailed.

I would just start watching it very closely when it approaches that time out time and then check on it frequently.

Twintoni avatar
Friend of PBS-Silver medal
Date Posted: 2/22/2009 11:50 AM ET
Member Since: 5/22/2005
Posts: 1,592
Back To Top

That happened to me.....the sender printed the wrapper, marked it mailed but didn't mail it.  When it was reported lost in the mail I got another copy. A week later the first book arrived but the label  was re-printed and postmarked  only 5 days before.  Through a PM the first sender said it was his fault,  just didn't mail it when promised.  I did not give him back the credit because I now had 2 copies of the same book and did not think it should cost me 2 credits.

Spuddie avatar
Friend of PBS-Gold medalPBS Blog Contributor medal
Date Posted: 2/22/2009 12:30 PM ET
Member Since: 8/10/2005
Posts: 4,607
Back To Top

I just had that happen too, but fortunately the sender caught it and sent me a PM just a few hours after the transaction was cancelled. It was a wishlisted book so I went back to #1. The book was sent with printable postage from PBS and I noticed when I logged in and checked the cancellation that it had already been scanned by the system along the way, so I knew she had actually sent it and just didn't get it marked mailed in time. So I just took the book off my WL and will mark this received from the Transaction Archive when I get it.

Cheryl