Can't believe it - I have posted a brand new copy of Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth". We are now on the 4th person to be offered this book and, so far, no one has responded even though there are NUMEROUS people wanting(?) it. I understand that some people may not have credits, but if so, why not respond to the effect that you don't want the book now. (just had to gripe a little) Thanks

I don't think that the PM feature kicks in until the book is accepted.........so the member does not know who is offering the book.  Not responding and letting it time out is the only way the system will work.

That recently happened to me with a book I posted when there were 168 members wishing it. It finally went to the fourth member on the list.

Good point, Toni. I hadn't thought of that. thanks

A lot of people may have gone away for the week and may have forgotten to put their accounts on hold...

I was wanting to read it, Pillars of the Earth, and being so far down on the list, I went ahead and bought it.  This week I was waiting for a poster to accept my wish list request for a book that they had just posted.  And it took too long for the poster to respond ?  so I guess the book goes to ......???? What happens in this case.  It is still on my wish list but what happens to that copy?

And they did repost it.  and it is back on my acct. page.  Maybe this time I will get it.  It is just so odd to post a book and not be willing to folloow through.  At least to me.

Remember too, Pamela, that just because it just popped up on your wishlist doesn't necessarily mean that the person just posted it...it could have been in the system for days, or weeks, as it goes through people wishing for it, timing out, and moving on to the next person and timing out, etc., etc. It is as frustrating waiting for a wishlist book to be accepted as a poster as it is waiting for a wishlist book to be accepted as a requestor. I just have to keep up the "we are weeding out inactive members" chant as I impatiently wait.

I'm going into my second week of waiting for a book, with over 30 wishers, I posted to be accepted, as it times out and times out, and times out... Patience...

Amen, Sally. That is what I went through. Finally the 5th person got my book!

I also had a wish list book finally go to the 5th person and there were over 200 people on the wish list. I wish people would at least decline the book instead of let it time out. It takes two days for each person to time out so my wish list book had been posted over 8 days when the 5th person finally took it.

I agree, if only people would just decline rather than letting it time out -- but I suspect that the people who are letting books time out are not active members!

I would love to see a feature that if someone does not sign in at least once in a 30 day period then their account is put on hold until they respond. I mean it only takes a second to come to the site and sign on for those members who are interested in swapping but perhaps they are new and their books all have a number ahead of them in the FIFO line so to start with they are not seeing much action on their bookshelf.

I always watch my position on the wish lists and so often I seem to go from #5 or #3 to being offered the book in about a week (when it has taken me 6 months or longer to go from #10 to #5) and I know that it is because that book is just timing out with inactive members. Not complaining mind you, but I wouldn't mind getting the book sooner than later! It seems the longer the wishlist, the more books time out waiting for members to respond!

It is hard  being patient sometimes but that is what it takes!

I have a question.  How do you know what number you are on a wish list and also how many people were offered a book you posted?  Just curious.  I seem to get a lot of books on my wish list even though there's usually a lot of people wishing.  I just figured it was because I'm an active member, on this site every day!  I have got to get a life!  : )

Juanita- If you go to your wishlist under the "My Account" header, there's a little grey circle with a ! in the center of it next to "Wish Date". Hold your cursor over that and it'll show you how many wishers there are and where you are in line. I'm pretty sure you can only see how many people were offered your book by looking under the Transaction Archive.

If a book on my wish has me 10th in line or less (which I track like crawford said) I decide if I really want it and put it on "automatically send" so I don't even have to respond.  How exciting to open my account and see a book is on it's way and I didn't delay it by having to okay that I still wanted it.  On my wish list, I see where I am in line, then hit "tag" and put 24/12/4, meaning I am 24th in line on December 4. 

I find it's the books with a really long line that tend to go through more people. You would think that the person on top would be so excited to get the book after waiting in that long line. But so many people join and then lose interest in PBS. Their account just sits inactive-most likely they aren't getting many book orders or WL offers.  So by the time they work their way up to #1 they are no longer participating.  Maybe they've changed their email and just don't think to close their PBS account.  So usually when I post a book with a long WL, I expect it to time out on several people.

Also sometimes people WL multiple versions and then forget to delete one, the system does not always do this.  Just the other day I posted a WL book.  I always look at a person's WL when I post a WL book or get an order.   I'm always hoping I have another book I can read and post to them to save on postage.  Anyway she had a book on her WL that I had on my shelf. Same binding and cover just a different ISBN.  I knew when I posted my copy that there were nearly 200 copies posted. So I pm'd her about it.  She had put the book on her WL before it came out. She got one version already and somehow missed this one on her WL. It must not have been a common issue since she didn't get it offered to her. There were 19 people on WL for this book that had 193 copies of another version posted.  Both versions are basically the same-mmp, same cover-just dif ISBN's and one book has about 20 pages more than the other.  I tagged the WL one.  I figure maybe that'll prompt some people to remove it from their WL  and save some poor soul with that version from being disappointed when it doesn't get accepted.  Or maybe some of the 193 people with the book will get lucky and get some orders.