I am new and have just received my first book. The cover was fine but the inside has writing and notes on all but 8 pages of the book. Words have been underlined throughout each page. Some full paragraphs are crossed out completely. I have only listed books myself that are free from any marks. I sent a message and the person was rude and said they didn't think it was that bad. Reading someone elses notes throughout a book in the margin is distracting for me let alone my 16 year I requested the book for. Can anyone give me insite as to if this was acceptable for someone to send. Thanks.

It is an unpostable book and this person should be returning your credit. Their opinion on whether it was bad or not is irrelevent, it is against site posting rules. I would send the following quote from the help center and state that you want your credit returned. Sorry you got a bum swapper already.

Guidelines:                                                                                                

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 --[must communicate condition and receive approval of condition prior to sending] 

If your book was marked as "Damaged by Sender"

• This means the book did not meet PBS criteria for swappable condition.
  • Books at PBS must be in "good, not excessively worn" condition. See here for more guidelines on what "good condition" means at PBS.
  • If the damage was limited to the dust jacket of a hardcover, and the requestor did not have any Requestor Conditions requiring dust jackets, then this is not considered damage to a book. Hardcovers do not have to include dust jackets at all; damage to a dust jacket ALONE therefore does not constitute "poor condition" in a book. If ONLY the dust jacket was in poor condition, and the requestor did not have conditions specifying a dust jacket with her book, then you do not have to refund the credit.
  • If you taped the wrapper to the book and the book was damaged (and rendered unrepostable) by opening the package, then you should refund the credit. See here for guidance in wrapping a book.
  • If your book did not meet PBS criteria , you should refund the credit.

Hi Virginia,

Welcome!

Im so sorry that your first book was a bummer, I can tell you that I have been a member for a while and have never gotten a book like that. I would mark the book received but with a problem and explain the books condition. I got this from the guidelines in the help center. Hope it helps!

Thanks Melanie. I want to continue to swap. This is such a great idea.

Thanks Angela. It was a summer reading book for my son.  I appreciate the information.

just about every book I've gotten has been in very good/excellent condition.

.

Thanks Stacy and John.The sender did post a refund and I have already ordered another copy. As a newbie I appreciate all the help.

Yikes! That doesn't even meet the basic "in good condition" criteria, specifics or not!

Glad to hear that it all worked out in the end.

Yes, seagull, I agree.  I didn't want to appear "picky" so at first I did not put certain requestor conditions down.  But, now I realize that I have a right to recieve books that are in just as good of condition as those that I send to others.  And, putting the Requestor Condition out there helps all involved -- it helps me get the books in the condition that I can enjoy them AND it helps the sending member by reminding them of certain guidelines and alerts them to my little bit of "choosiness" so there are no problems with the transaction. 

The worst that happens with requestor conditions is you have to wait longer for some books - but if its important enough for you to have your books in a certain condition, then its worth the wait! =)

I had received a book that was apparently a school text or school reading. most of the pages had hilighting on it. I hadn't checked the book right away when I received it so I took the hit on it. I ordered the book again from someone else and the same thing - just underlining though, no hilights. I guess this book is required school reading and I'm only going to get this type of book. I guess if I'm really picky about it, I'll just have to buy it.

This is a good reminder to all of us to check the books we receive carefully, and to make use of the "received with a problem" button.  Your later request for return of a credit will have much more weight behind it if the sender knows that there is an active "problem" notation on record.  Let's use the system as intended so people get the message that they have to follow the posting guidelines.

I'm glad you got your credit back, Virginia.  It annoys me when people do things like that, and then compound the problem by being rude!  At least she did the right thing in the end.

I was slightly bummed the other day when I picked up 4 bags full of used books at my friend of the library (FOL) book sale.  I got home with them, and upon further inspection, noticed some tearing, staining, and underlining inside some of them.  Some of them were WL books too.  I'm not really out any money, because they were cheap, and I can take them to the UBS, but still!  The underlining bugs me the most, because someone did that one purpose, with a pen!!  Crazy people....lol.