I think I already know the answer to a Book Bazaar deal potentially gone awry; it's a 'buyer beware' situation there, though I've never had anything but positive trades there until now. Here's what happened.  On March 24th, I was looking at the multiple wishlist thread there, saw some books that I was interested in, from a PBSer who was asking for orders of 3 books per deal.  I asked her if the 3 that I wanted were available, and on March 25th, she wrote back and said "All of them are available. Will be mailing out towards end of week hopefully. Got a lot of books to post and wrap."  

I have no room on my wishlist to add these books, which prevented her from posting them directly to me and getting her 3 credits that way.  So, on the 25th, I gifted her the credits and sent her this PM:  "I just gifted you the credits; if you can shoot me a PM to let me know when they've been mailed, that'd be great. Thanks much!".  She wrote back "Will do.  Thanks".  

I PM'd her this on April 2nd:  "Hi, just checking to see if you were able to mail these?".  No response one way or the other, so figured she wasn't able to mail them yet.   Gave her another few days, then on April 7th I wrote:  "Any news on whether you were able to mail these? Just trying to keep tabs, so would appreciate hearing back from you. Thanks".  

Another 3 days passed with no word whatsoever, so on the 10th I said that it had been 16 days since I had gifted her the 3 credits for the books.  Asked her if they were mailed and if she had a tracking number.  If not mailed, asked her to gift me my 3 credits back.  I expressed my frustration at this situation, in the lack of communication, etc.   Not surprisingly, no reply to that PM either.  This person has been a member for several years, has been very active on PBS, with lots of 'friends', etc.  I don't know why she hasn't responded to me in any way since the 25th of March, but perhaps some kind of emergency has come up.  

I'm guessing there's nothing I can do at this point, but keep waiting and hoping that my books will arrive, or be out my 3 credits, right?

Mainly, no, you're out your credits. But... perhaps the person is just annoyed at the many emails you're sending her? If she shipped out your books, just wait for it. "Waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit for it..."

One thing you can do which would REALLY help is something I did plenty of times before I got Gold Key. When you want something and your list is maxed out, sort your list by last-added. Put those books on your RL. Delete them from your WL. Add the ones you want. Now the person can post them to you. As soon as they're posted, re-add the ones you put on your RL back to your WL. You won't lose much space because you're last in line anyway. 

It seems like people who are active in the WL thread are pretty legit. I hope this idea helps. Even at Gold Key, my WL is nearly maxed out. (And uh, anyone who wants to post me 3 or more WL books can feel free, heh heh.) So I do the shuffle when I need to  - it just ensures EVERYONE's butt is covered. I truly do hope you get your books.

Oh, PS - why don't you check to see if she read your emails? That could be a clue, too. I know there's a workaround (when I get PBS emails in my regular email, I read them, then I tend to delete them *on* PBS, which marks them as unread, even though I really did). But, it may help you to know one way or another. If she is shown as having read them all, but not responded to you, I'd be more huffy too. If she HAS NOT even shown as read any of them, then I'd be more worried about something awful happening to her than anything else.

Thanks for your perspective, Heather.  I really hadn't thought checking in 8 days after multiple credits were gifted was excessive, and then asking again on the 13th day.  After 16 days of no word, I did get a bit frustrated, with the silence, BUT I did just do as you suggested and checked my PM's to see if they were read.  (I didn't even know one could do that, so thanks for that tip!).  Now I see that she has NOT read any of the 3 PM's that I sent her, so now I'm worried that something has happened to her.  

So, I just PM'd her again and apologized for my frustration and told her to just disregard the transaction.  I am worried that something terrible may have happened to her or a loved one, since she has not read her emails, etc.  The loss of 3 credits isn't such a big deal, I suppose, and now I'm much more worried about what may have happened with this member than I am with any lost credits.  

Please PM me this members name catsandroses. Though the Bazaar is a buyer-beware and do not encourage members to use the WL thread this way (books should always be posted to the members WL), we also don't let members participate in the WL thread if they are not honestly swapping.

eta: I am a Book Bazaar Coordinator and Amanda and I will look into these kinds of things on the WL Multiples thread in the background :) That thread is a something we don't want bad swappers ruining.

Catsandroses, I had this happen to me in the ARC thread with two books. I sent a PM to TPTB, along with copies of the PM's, and I got my credits refunded to me. You could try this...

I was going to suggest that you let Melanie (melanied) or Amanda, the Book Bazaar Czars, know about this. 

Melanie did PM her as well, and the member gifted me back my credits!   So, all is well, and I'm glad for everyone's help & suggestions!

Glad it worked out for you!  From now on I would definitely suggest doing what Heather suggested in taking off the last WL books you added to put the ones you want onto your WL.  Then as soon as they get posted to you & accepted, you can put the ones back on there that you had on your WL to begin with.  I've done it more than once & it's always worked for me.

>>>>perhaps the person is just annoyed at the many emails you're sending her? If she shipped out your books, just wait for it. "Waiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit for it..."<<<<

If the person has not ever provided ANY mailing information about your books, I see no reason why you shouldn't ask in an email.  Esp. after 8+ days.

I would find it extremely annoying NOT to be notified in some way that my books were sent.  Seems like common courtesy when credits are buddied, that the sender would let the receiver know that their books were mailed, and on what day.

Of course, if no word from the sender, that would indicate either something happened and they haven't signed in to receive your emails, in which case always let a moderator/tteam member take it from there.