Is it possible to discuss allowing Senders to specify conditions? For example, I'd like to specify that any order from me involve at least 2 (or maybe 3 credits). Right now, if i reject somebody's order because it's for only one item, my item would have to be relisted and placed at the end of the request queue.

I have a feeling that you can only do that with wish list books, and that's in the multiples thread in book bazaar.  

If you are talking about your regular FIFO shelf, I don't see how you can put any stipulations on it, because books are placed there with the intention of sending singles. 

I see you have a large bookshelf- maybe you can advertise for deals in book bazaar.  Or even list it at the heading of your shelf- but that's not going guarantee that anyone looks at your shelf after placing an order.   Probably offers deals (3 books/2 credits, etc) in the bazaar is the way to go.  

But you are right, you can't penalize anyone for ordering a single, or your book will go to the end of the FIFO line. 

When you cancel a request because they didn't order more than one book, you are going against the "Terms of Use" that you agreed to when you joined.  http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/terms_of_use.php

Each member lists books he or she is willing to send out upon request.  This is from the first paragraph of the "Terms of Use".

You might consider Box of Books, where members send multiple books to either other without the use of credits.  Or you could offer a deal on your books in the Book Bazaar discussion forum (or in the red thread at the top of one of the genre discussion forums) -- maybe three or four books for 2 credits.   When someone orders a book from you, you can PM him and offer a deal for more books. 

But you can only offer; you can't insist.  Canceling orders because you only want to mail out multiple books would place your account in jeopardy.

I can't be the only person who no longer needs credits. It just doesn't make sense for me to mail a single book, especially if it is a heavy hardcover. Is there a PBS official who can say that PBS will / will never implement a way to give senders some more control. I don't see it harming the requestor. If the requestor doesn't want any of the other books on the sendor's bookshelf, the requestor can hit a button saying "Doesn't meet sendor's condtions." The sendor's book stays at the first position, and the requestor's request goes to the next PBS member who listed the book. And credits should not be an issue. The bazaar is full of people selling credits at $2 each.

And credits should not be an issue. The bazaar is full of people selling credits at $2 each.

There's lot of folks on PBS living on a limited income.   That's great that credits can be bought for $2 in the bazaar, but that doesn't mean that people can always afford to order books in multiples and therefore spend multiple credits on a single order. 

If you don't need any credits then donate your books. This will remove them FIFO and allow others who need credits to move up the line. No loss to you since you don't need credits.  That's what I do. I post WL books as I need credits and I donate pretty much everything else.  I don't think I've ever kept a bookshelf of more than 50 books here and most of the time I only have 5 or 10 posted. 

Thanks for pointing out it violates the Terms & Conditions. I will not cancel requests for single books, which I had been pondering.

Is a message like this to each requestor OK?

Thank you for your book request.

Please take the time to go through my bookshelf and see if there are any other books you'd like to add to this order.

The postage cost per book decreases dramatically with each book you add to an order, so it makes it more affordable for me to continue listing books at PBS.

Regarding the Box of Books suggestion, I don't need any more books. I have more books than I can read the rest of my life. And if somebody wants books I have, if they'd pay postage, I'd send it to them without asking for credits.

While credits are not important to me, the money it costs to mail books out is. The suggestion to donate books is good if the agency to which the donations are given need the particular volumes. I encourage managers of non-profits in my area who maintain libraries to join PBS and look at my shelf and tell me which ones they want.

Our local public library was about to destroy 20 boxes of books because they had not been check out for the last five years. I feel sad that a book is destroyed when somebody out there might want to read it. PBS & Amazon & eBay are great in getting individual volumes to people who want them. I'm merely suggesting that giving sellers the option of placing conditions would make it more affordable for me to list books on PBS, which to me enhances PBS.

So again, is there any reason PBS should not give sellers the option of requiring orders to be a minimum number of credits?

I don't think you can send a message like that without an incentive or an offer of a deal.  "If you happened to want any more books I am offering a 3/2 special" (or whatever).  I don't mind messages like that at all.

I will be honest, if I got the message above I would feel annoyed and pressured to buy more books when I may not want any more.  It feels like a guilt trip to me and that's why I would feel annoyed.  I would think that if I had wanted to order more books, I would have done so.   PBS already tries to suggest multiples when you see the button by your order something to the effect of, "Look at the sender shelf and see if you want more books."   FIFO bookshelves are there for ordering single books.  I want to feel like I can place a single order and not feel bad about it.

 The requestor may not have any more credits to spend, not have any money to buy any more credits, or not want get any more books then the order placed. 

<<So again, is there any reason PBS should not give sellers the option of requiring orders to be a minimum number of credits?>>

Yes, because doing so would violate their own Terms of Service, as other members have already pointed out, including a leader of the PBS volunteer Tour Guides.

PBS does not monitor or moderate their forums; if you want an answer directly from PBS, or to give them a suggestion, you'll need to write to them directly via Feedback.  Use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of any PBS page, then the "Feedback" button.

So again, is there any reason PBS should not give sellers the option of requiring orders to be a minimum number of credits?

There are no sellers on PBS, only swappers. PBS has always said they base the site on simplicity. No one in the forums can give you a definitive answer on whether PBS will ever allow senders to have conditions, but most of us that have been in the forums for a while and have watched them implement new things can guess pretty good that they won't because it would go against their simplicity goal and the One book = one credit concept because once everyone starts requiring more than one book to be ordered, then people would no longer be able to get one book for one credit, they'd need to spend more ordering books they don't necessarily want to get the one book they do want. Took quite some work to get the Wish List Multiples thread in the Bazaar and one of the rules there has to be that people cannot do it with the books on their Bookshelf.

Doesn't hurt to send in Feedback and give them your suggestion. If they get enough people asking for something they may look at implementing it.

If you have the credits and don't want to send any more books for a while, I just put a hold on my books.  This saves me having to  mail anymore books for whatever time I decide on.  This is different than putting you shelf on vacation hold as this kind of freezes offers and books on your shelf. I go to my bookshelf and click all and then hold.  I have done this when I have spent what I consider enough in postage for the month.  I still get my wish listed books.  When I re post my books it seems they go rather fast even though none are wish listed.  I think it has to do with recently posted books.  Of course I take books that sit too long to charities for their book sales and I sell some to a book store that buys books so I keep my shelves somewhat balanced.  I also have listed multiples in the bazaar wish listed multiples. 

When you individual hold your books from your Bookshelf you put them at the end of the FIFO line when you repost them.  Not a big deal with books that don't have a lot of copies posted but not a good idea if you have a lot of heavily posted books.  If you want them to keep moving up FIFO then you need to do vacation hold and then put your WL books on autorequest.  Unless you don't mind going to the back of the line of several hundred books on a regular basis.  I haven't looked at your shelf to see what you have posted. But if you have a lot of Nora Roberts, Grishams, Patterson's, etc.., posted-individual hold could keep putting you at the of the line of possibly thousands of copies. 

Personally I just take mine to the thrift store and donate the the non-WL ones that I know won't move quickly.  Gets them out of my space and I don't end up with a pile of credits just sitting here.  I personally can't afford to have more than $20-$30 ties up in credits just sitting here.

I believe asking for $ for sending is also against the rules.  Credits only.

I would suggest advertising in the bazaar, but I would suggest better organization than you get on the bookshelf.

as an example... I have a book list of Cliff Notes I have http://www.paperbackswap.com/CliffNotes/list/16044/... I have posted this saying I would like X credits for all of these cliff notes. had other lists for other things.  ( I use the booklist, because I don't want to send one at a time, so I don't put on shelf)

I think it is even nicer if you list the book name and author (with links) organized by category... but I would not make it go on forever. I would choose 1 or 2 kinds of books for the post so you can be specific in the subject line.

Also say what your deal is... ie require multiple credits... 4 for 2... whatever.  Don't make people contact you to find out what the deal is.

I used to like the wishlist threads in the genre BBs,  but the one in the bazaar is such a mishmash that it is awful to use and I never look at it now.  I think that can happen with big bookshelves too.

If you have books you don't need, and your local library is tossing books, then please consider a charitable thrift store. Not only do you receive a certificate allowing a deductible contribution on your taxes, but PBS postable books are easily resold to others so that the charity earns money.

If you have a problem with some 'charitable' organizations which pay their employees far below minimum wage, and their vice-presidents hundreds of thousands a year, as one national 'charity' was disclosed doing last year, then look for locally sponsored thrift stores, not identified with national 'charities'. There are many in my town.

For example, I volunteer as the "book man" for one of Haven Hospice Attic resale stores, and put out hundreds of new books a week. Currently, we are selling over $200 a day, just in books, at the store where I volunteer in north central Florida. The five resale stores for Haven Hospice generated 50% of Haven's budget for last year. This helped pay for $1.6 million in un-reimburseable medical care for those without medical insurance or who had used all their benefits.

I donate my books to a local one that supports a home for mentally disabled adults. They have people with downs syndrome and other disabilities working there.  They also recycle stuff that doesn't sell instead of making it landfill. 

If you want to send books for the cost of postage, try posting them in lots on Ebay.  You can start with a very small opening bid, like 99 cents for the lot, and it's very easy to figure postage for the weight of the box.

The ability to set Sender Conditions does not fit into the current PBS model for trading books. This fits better with Book Bazaar or Box of Books offers than with standard, individual trades. Sending a PM to requestors to suggest browsing your shelf to add additional books to their order is inappropriate. If the ability to set Sender Conditions is important to you, contact the Team with your rationale to see if this is something they may consider adding in a future release.

Over the weekend I did write using the "Contact Us" link. The link is to this forum discussion.

Regarding: Allow Sellers to Specify Minimum Number of Credits in an Order
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.paperbackswap.com/Sender-Conditions/topic/292481/

You can read the forum for my rationale.

Thanks,

and this was the response.

Thanks for writing in to let us know that you would find it useful to be able to require multiple-book requests. We don't currently have plans to make that feature available, but we will keep it in mind and we appreciate your feedback.

Yes, I like your PM wording....I've received similar in the past, and frequently check out their bookshelf as suggested.  Sometimes I order more but not always.  That said, I do have a limit...I no longer search bookshelves of more than say 200 b/c it just takes too long.

Good luck with tailoring your PBS experience to meet your needs!

I frequently receive messages form people sending me books offering me a deal. I don't find that offensive. I would if someone was sending me a book and then tried to make me feel guilty for just ordering one.

Denise: "That said, I do have a limit...I no longer search bookshelves of more than say 200 b/c it just takes too long."

I keep my shelf to less than 150 books because many members do not search shelves larger than 3 pages.