I just ordered a book...the information for the book says it is a hardcover.  The tags/reviews say paperback.  In addition the sender has another copy of this book listed as a paperback on her available book list (makes me wonder if she listed the same book twice to give it more exposure, or she just has 2 copies).  Not sure if I should PM and make sure it is a hardcover book...just to avoid the drama of RWAP, or if I should just wait and see what I get.

TIA

Amber: If this member posted the book by the ISBN# and it's supposed to be a hardcover, putting a tag on it that says paperback doesn't mean it's okay. I would verify that the book is actually a hardcover. If not have that member cancel the transaction and they will have to re-post without an ISBN#.

Yes, by all means contact them and see if the book they are sending matches the book type you ordered.

Putting a tag on a book is meaningless ... there is no way in PBS to annotate condition information on individual copies of book, including tagging.

I'll agree, try to contact the sender. 

PBS guidelines specifically state that tags are not to be used to identify the condition of individual books, so tagging as a paperback is useless.  It's possible that the database is incorrect and should be for paperback, or possibly both bindings were published under the same ISBN...regardless, the sender should check to make sure her book matches the PBS listing.  Although it is possible she has two copies of the book, this sounds like a legitimate time to pm.

Also--just because there's a tag on the book that says it's paperback, that doesn't mean that the person that would be sending you the copy tagged the book as "paperback".  Tags are not specific to a book copy and this (incorrect) tag could have been put on the book quite awhile ago by someone totally unrelated to your current transaction.

Not a bad idea to send a friendly PM to make sure the book is the one you want though.  I have a few Anne Perry books on my wishlist, that I'm collecting a specific copy for.  They are paperbacks, but are not the mass media paperback version.  They do have a different ISBN than the mass media paperbacks, but a couple of times I've received the mass media paperback version instead of the one I want.  I of course have RWAP'ed those books.  Lately, I've been sending a polite PM to confirm that the version the person will be sending has the correct ISBN--so far it's always been the wrong book.  Since the mass media paperback versions of these books are fairly heavily posted, I think people see someone wishlisting a paperback version and just decide to post it to me.  Frustrating, but by PM'ing I save even more frustration.

If you click on the "R" at the end of the "paperback" tag, that marks the tag as inappropriate (and removes it from your view.)  If enough members mark it as inappropriate, the tag will be removed altogether.

Laura, for the Anne Perry book, you might consider a requestor condition, since you've run into the same problem several times.