I requested a book on 12-6-07.  I'm on to the third member and it's been 4 days still waiting for it to be accepted, so I expect it will then move to member #4.  There are 116 copies of this particular book, so it's not like it's hard to come by.  I'm not in a hurry to get it, but I have to say that I am beginning to get pissed off.  Why even have a book on your shelf if you apparently don't intend to honor requests for it?  If you don't have it/can't find it, fine but then TAKE IT OFF YOUR SHELF.   I'm sure I'm also expecting too much common courtesy, but it also would have been nice for members 1 and 2 to have at least PM'd with a "Sorry, I can't send this book because...".  I've had another member cancel a request and she was nice enough to PM me with an apology and  explain that the book had already been ordered and sent and she didn't know why it was still showing on her shelf.  Why others can't be as courteous, I don't know.

I can top that!  I requested a book that had only 5 copies available -- it rolled over w/o a response from ALL FIVE bookshelves! 

It was book 1 of a three book series, and while I was waiting for someone -- anyone -- to agree to send it, book two arrived! Naturally.

I waited about a week and requested it again -- got a response the next day and the book arrived promptly.  Weird.

There may be people who are not logging on because of the Christmas holiday coming up.  I didn't put my shelf on "hold" and was hoping noone would request anything til after the 25th.  But I did get a request and went to the post office today.  I belong to another site and there are two books that I know were received - one 7 days ago, the other 10 days ago.  The people still have not acknowledged receipt of either book.  Fortunately the site will show the trade completed after 30 days.  It is really frustrating for those of us who log on every day and respond in a timely manner.

I had the same thing happen to me. I'm all for helping to weed out the inactive accounts but it does get frustrating. When I had one about to turn over to the 3rd person: I posted what I was looking for in Book Bazaar.  Someone responded right away and I canceled my request. Then I ordered it right from the other person's bookshelf and it was sent right away. 

My guess is they've forgotten  o put their account on hold for holiday vacation.  Letting book requests time out helps notify PBS of possibly inactive accounts. But it does get annoying when it's been going on for awhile. 

I"ve been timing out alot on books i've requested, too. I finally got disgusted with the last book I requested and just cancelled it completely. Now I'm just hoping that one day I run across it on someone's shelf that I know as a buddy or is active. 

I wish the period of time was shorter before your request moved on to the next person on the list.

I've been there too so you are not alone. It is annoying isn't it?

I'll tell you my story real quick. I requested a book that had maybe like 20 copies or so and I waited over a month as it went from member to member! So annoying. I finally got it though but my goodness!

I make a point to at least check Paperback Swap, Swap a CD, Swap a DVD & Bookmooch daily. My main computer is my laptop which I don't take out till night time usually. So I use the desk top to check on things first thing in the morning. I also have a chronic health issue so there are days I'm in such pain I can't get out of bed but I have made a point to not go two days without checking on things. If I see a request I'll messag them and let them know what is going on and when I can get the book, CD or what ever mailed out.

People seem to forget the golden rule these days "Do Unto Others". I try my best to put those words into my kids heads! lol

Oh, it has happened to all of us...a few months ago I was waiting for a book request to be accepted for well over a month, as it went from member to member to member...and each one of them timed out. Not a single person turned down my request; they just did not respond. It is SOOOO frustrating. I wish there was some way PBS could put accounts on hold if there has been no activity in 30 days or 60 days or 90 days. It is especially frustrating when it is a book I REALLY want, and there is only one copy and it times out with no response.

And the part I really can't figure out is because all of my wishlist books are on automatic, when someone lists a book, it is automatically requested for me, and then there is no response...it is obviously not an abandoned account because they have listed new books but then let a request time out!?!?!? I just don't get it!

OK, I've gotten that off my chest! Whew!

Happy holidays all!

What book are you looking for?

I'm quick at responding, since I'm on my computer every single day. Sometimes I forget that not everyone is on as much as I am, lol. I hope you get your book soon..have a very Merry Christmas!

As I thought, I'm now on to member #4 who is supposed to have this book.  *sigh* 

Heather, the book is "The Gift" by Julie Garwood.  I think that if #4 doesn't respond within a couple days, I'm gonna cancel the order and go fishing for it on the Book Bazaar.  Since there are 100+ copies of it, surely to goodness someone there will be able to accommodate me. 

It really does seem sometimes like certain books are cursed to go through several posters.  I've only rarely had nonresponses to book requests, but when I have it seems like they've been multiple nonresponses for the same books.  Weird.

It's not all the holidays.  One book I requested had hundreds in the system, and it went through 5 people before the fifth finally sent it.  And when it arrived it included a bunch of brochures and ads for their business.  *Sigh*

ETA - oh, I forgot to mention that this book was requested in February (I believe) and it was March before I even got the "accepted" notice.  I do remember that it switched months while I was waiting for someone to accept.

Now on to member #5.  It's at least indicated as "Accepted", which is further than I've gotten with the first 4 requests!

And I agree, it's not all holidays as the first request was made on 12-6-07.  

How frustrating!  I understand not having time to mail books during the holidays but at least be courteous enough to put your shelf on hold then.  Some of us are still requesting books, no matter what the date is.  It's frustrating to sit and wait on members that aren't even going to check in and look at requests over the holidays.

Its not just requests either, many of my WL books have gone through multiple wishers before getting accepted, one knocked 7 people off the WL before findng someone who really wanted the book. Guess I am cleaning up those WLs before the system changes.

Maybe I am strange, but if I put something on my WL, I really want it and will grab it when it comes to me, even if it means buying credits when I am out (which I have done before). 

I finally had success (I think!) with member #5, who actually accepted the request, printed the label and indicated that the book had been mailed.  I better daggone well really like this book after all this!!

How's this one?  There was a book that I've been #1 on the WL for forever ... and just before the last secret buddy WL swap, someone posted it ... so I didn't bother to put it on my Secret WL list ... and the post timed out .... Now this thing was WLd AND on Auto-request ... so it's not like someone wasn't logged on recently ... IT WOULD ONLY HAVE BEEN ONE HOUR from when they listed it to when it showed up as ordered!! ... Finally, it was cancelled, and then immediately relisted TO MY WL AGAIN ... and IT TIMED OUT AGAIN!!!!

What kind of nimrod lists a book to swap, and then ignores the order???  TWICE???

I was sooooo steamed .. and I STILL haven't gotten the darn book!!!  >:-{

i'm currently waiting for someone to accept a book request from 12/10.  i'm on the 4th member to be requested at this point.  i too am wondering if anyone is going to accept it! 

I understand that not everyone obsessively checks their email daily as i do, but you'd think that if you took the time to join a club like this and post books that you would realize that you need to be more on top of things.  if you can't then dont join! 

not that i'm glad we are all in this predicament, but it's nice to see i'm not alone in this. :-)

*keeping my fingers crossed*

Karen- Which book are you looking for and do you have any conditions? I can keep an eye out for the book since I am heading to a few 2nd hand book stores soon. I would rather get things that might be harder to find then the popular books that will get posted at some time.

And so you know if I post a WL book or think it could be one I always check back in 2-3hours so I can send it out the next day..Just like I did with the MindFreak book I sent today. I got given two copies for christmas and was told to pass it along .

Pam - the book is Grrr by Mike Straka.  I honestly never expected it to be as scarce as it's proving to be.

I know what you mean about checking back.  Whenever I list books, I always make it a point to check my main page for WL Holds before I logoff, just in case ....

Thanks for thinking of me!  :-D

I am on to my third member for a book I ordered...  In my opinion, five days is too long to wait.  I think 48 hours should be standard - people who have a WL book come up only have that long to respond, no matter what their personal circumstances are.  It should be the same for responding to a request.  I know there are people who say, "I don't live on PBS, some of us have lives, etc. etc.," but these people should be getting emails saying one of their books has been ordered.  I'm sure they check their email at least every other day!  They can take 5 minutes to log on and say whether or not they're going to send it.  I don't mind if it takes them the full 5 days to mail it - I just want to know whether or not they're going to!

I hate when people don't respond to the requests.  Back in  mid-to-late August, I had posted about 50-75 books that we got from friends to be donated to an annual booksale here (one of my dad's coworkers works for the organization).  More than 20 of the books were WL'd (bunch of textbooks, too).  One of the textbooks that was Wl'd timed out, and after 2 weeks, all books wer sent to the booksale--then the same person is looking for the book again a week after the books were gone  (I had missed that one when taking all the books off of my bookshelf)--If you're looking for a college textbook, would you NOT check your account for 2-3 weeks hoping that the book would get posted?

It annoys me too when people don't reply either way....when I'm requesting the book or I have posted a WL book.  I posted several and was waiting to mail all at once and drove me crazy that people wouldn't check their account at least once a day (email will tell them if they need to login, really not that hard!)