So I just got my 3rd in row book with water damage! The first 2 books were wishlist books that have been on my list for a LONG time.  The most recent one was on a bookshelf. I feel bad marking so many books RWAP I realize that over the long run it is not that many books with problems but 3 in a row feels excessive. Gah...not sure I want to deal with the whole back in forth of I didn't know or I got it that way or send it back to me before I refund the credit.  I am sure the senders don't mean to send books with water damage but it is obviously quickly just flipping through the pages.  Please help me not feel like an evil person for RWAP another water damaged book.

You are not an evil person at all.  Actually, you are doing your part to make sure PBS continues to be the high-quality book swapping club we all know and love.  Thank you for that!!!

Yes, please RWAP and help weed out those people that pay no attention to the rules.  I consider it doing my duty and just try to be as polite as possible and shrug off any negative replies.

Please don't feel badly about RWAPing unpostable books and don't think that at least some people aren't posting them knowingly. People who didn't realize there was damage will be horrified and happy to refund the credit (as would most of us in that situation) and those who sent it knowingly need to be held accountable to discourage the practice.  

The last book I received was not only warped with water, but had actual staining.  The sender's defense was "Well, I got it that way and it read perfectly fine.... but YOU must be one of those PICKY people who expects PERFECT books."  *insert eye rolling here*

I don't argue with people.  I state the problem, include links to photos of the damage, ask them to refund the credit within three days and tell them I'll be happy to mark it resolved when they do.  It doesn't need to go any farther than that.  Either they're going to refund it or not.  I will admit that I did respond to the last sender's nastygram, knowing that I was probably only talking to myself, but I couldn't help myself. 

Kath, I got almost the exact same response to a RWAP I did on my last book received with water damage!!  And I didn't ask for the credit back, it was a 'for your info' message, but still a RWAP.  What is it with senders that cannot or will not follow the rules?  Just because you got it that way (and I honestly doubt that!), doesn't mean it is OK to send.  I sent a message back telling the sender that she should have marked it RWAP when she got it so everyone is following the posting guidelines.

Don't feel bad. My most recent RWAP (over THIS book) involved a woman that belligerently informed me that she has sent out books with similar "wear" and that 99% of the members here wouldn't have bothered marking it as a problem, so I was just a troublemaker. She'd been counting on people "feeling bad" and not arguing.

Why encourage it? Just mark it RWAP and be polite.

Definitely mark them RWAP and don't worry about it; you can't control other people's reactions.  I recently received a badly water damaged book and after marking it RWAP, requesting a refund, and giving the sender a week to reply, I never got a response of any kind.  No argument, no refund, no nothing.  I marked it unresolved and am hoping the sender at least got a nastygram from TPTB for sending a bad book and failing to respond, but who knows? 

My trades here have been pretty free of unpostable books, but I did get one about a month ago that: A. was an ARC, B. had major water damage and staining, and C. had food staining throughout. It turned into the first and only exchange of nasty PMs from the sender in my entire career here. I sent her photos and while she never addressed the issue of it being an ARC, she did accuse me of doing all the damage myself in order to get a "free book". I always in the past felt bad about RWAPing a book, but after that transaction I will never again hesitate to mark a book RWAP. It was so obvious that the other member knew what she had sent and was trying to bully me into retracting my RWAP (marked in error) and those are the members that we all need to stand up to for sending out unpostable books. We all sooner or later will unknowingly send out an unpostable. But when that is the case for me, I will have no problem sincerely apologizing and returning the credit ASAP. So don't feel bad, RWAP away. Either you will be calling attention to the fact that someone is knowingly sending out unpostables or you will be giving someone a wake up call that they need to check out their books more thoroughly before sending.

Thank you for the words of encouragement.  I have RWAP the 3rd book.  I want to say that the sender of the 2nd book I recieved with damage was so gracious and kind regarding the problem.  I do appreciate when the exchange can occur kindly. Hopefully this one will be another kind, gracious poster that just made a mistake.

I too feel bad RWAPing a book, and I have never asked for a credit back.  But ... I recently received a book that was not wrapped in plastic and was mailed in a manila envelope.  It arrived on a day when it was pouring rain.  The book was soaked, and now untradeable.  The sad thing is that the book looked to be a newish book.  I wrote to the trader, and received a gracious reply along with a credit return.  Maybe the experience will make the mailer wrap her books in plastic from now on.  WHo knows.  I was happy to have such a positive experience though.  

I did RWAP a book that was water damaged.  The sender was kind enough to reply and said it was not damaged when she mailed it.  I took her at her word.  I did not request my credit back.  It was not wrapped in plastic and the outer envelope did not look like it had been wet. Of course, it was dry when I received it.... I have a PO box so it had to get wet en route, somehow.  It looked like it had been sitting on a table and someone spilled their water on the table.  The back cover and about 1/3 of the book are water damaged. Stuff happens, I guess

I had to RWAP a book two days ago, the first one in awhile. I generally get WL books only through the Games forum now, and it's much less stressful because receivers are protected if an unpostable book is sent. But this one was a YA book I'd been waiting on for a long time! When I opened the package, it was an ARC. :-( (I got it via FIFO)

I did the whole sending message thing, with the Help Doc infos on ARCs, and requested my credit back. I also included a picture of the book so it would be on record with PBS in case she refused to refund the credit. Luckily the following day, I had the credit back. Not sure what I would have done if she hadn't refunded it. I think I would have been pretty upset. I get ARCs all the time from publishers, and I know some people are perfectly happy paying a credit for an ARC--but I'm not. Not when I've sent close to $4 to earn one credit.

You did the right thing in reporting each and every RWAP. I've had my fair share of them, ranging from water damaged to stained. And now I can add my first ever ARC sent FIFO to that unfortunate list.

Colleen, I'm glad your experience turned out to be happy one, but I don't think members should be held responsible for damage caused by the post office. While many of us ship in plastc mailers or use plastic inner wrapping, it's not required by PBS, I'm pretty sure. And the member shipping the book had no way of knowing that the post office wasn't going to treat the book in a professional manner. I'm always amazed that we blame the wrong person -- the member instead of the PO, which actually caused the damage.

I do think the problem with RWAP books is getting worse. I've had quite a few over the past year. It's always annoying if I can't repost the book. Not only do I not get a credit, the next person on the wish list for the book will have to keep waiting for a copy  because this one was in bad shape.

Judy, you might want to browse the Help Center -- there are options for "damaged by post office" when appropriate.  But the OP doesn't sound like she's reporting liquid damage that happened en route, she's reporting a book that someone mailed after spilling coffee/water/whatever on, which is most definitely sender damaged.