I was lucky enough to get a 5-1 deal on kids books! All of them where from the persons shelf and this supposed to be postable. One of them is not at all postable, and I will include a photo of that as it made me WOW. The other book however has a stain and I thought I would consult the experts as I know some book coloring is normal and postable. I think with my non-expert eyes though that this is stain. 

 Neither of the books are the 1 I ordered so I believe that the sender gets a credit still when I mark recieved shortly. I want to get advice on this book first however so I can inform the sender of the situation kindly of course.

 So is that staining or something other?

 And the for sure not postable one:

 How... does one miss two pages so so torn in a little paperback? LOL I taped them up, but that does not make it a postable, just makes it so my kids can read it a little longer! :)

It looks like staining to me, but if it is just on the page edges, you can often clean it with a little sandpaper. (I do that all the time, I know it sounds like it would tear up the paper, but actually most times, it completely cleans up the marks and you can't even tell its been sanded).

Yes, unfortunately, deals are outside of the PBS rules, in terms of credits, so if the book that was actually ordered was OK, then you should mark the package received normally. But, yes, all of the books that had been posted to her bookshelf ought to have been postable.

On the bunny book, I wouldn't consider that small/minor an area to be "staining" since normal wear/age/oil from skin while reading--all those could case small areas of discoloration on the page edges like that.  If the pages themselves are stained or the text is unreadable, then yes, I would consider it stained. 

If these books were on her bookshelf, then they should all have been postable, and it's obvious the bottom photo is not a postable book.  However, if you got a deal on them and the book you spent the credit on is postable, then it's my understanding that the other books were "freebies" and therefore not technically swapped through the system, so no RWAP could be issued.  I would, however, send a gentle reminder to the person who sent the books reminding him/her that books should be postable, and that torn pages are not acceptable for posting here at PBS.

Oh yes, I agree, as I said as these books where not the official book requested it is not a RWAP situation. I was wondering though if I should mention the stained book. No stains I took to mean no stains. The book is 15 years old and I did not know if it some how met a yellowing age, thought I thought that was more uniform. I did not think staining had anything to do with being able to read text?

Looks like age to me, not a stain.  And no, yellow ageing is not always uniform.  Could also be foxing - a type of staining from age. 

foxing! That is the word I was thinking of. Thank you Cozette!

Can't tell from a pic if it is foxing or stains. Could be foxing, could be mustard.  I would try sandpaper on it. If I sand off a stain I usually mention to the sender that the stain on the side came off with sandpaper, but some members aren't willing to do that and would mark them as RWAP and ask for their credit back so they might want to try the sandpaper trick on the books themselves before mailing them.

 I let the member know and she mentioned it was a yard sale book and she should have checked better. She has a huge shelf though and does tons of deals and I ordered from her again. She refunded the credit! And I then sent it back to her. LOL

I love PBS! it is a reminder to think the best of people. I know some people send bad books and don't care. Others however do very much care and are amazing, sometimes though things slip through! It happens.

Wow, sandpaper, really??  Never thought of that trick!  Thanks for sharing, Melanie!