A while back I received a book from my wishlist that I had been waiting quite a while for. The book was in excellent condition except for water damage to the last 1/4 of the book. It's perfectly readable, though. The book is in mint-new condition, except for the water damage.

Since this was a waitlisted book and is rarely ever posted (once a year?), I had no intention of marking it RWAP. I was just thrilled to have a copy.

What would you have done? It wasn't posted under PBS guidlines which irritated me a little, but I had no intention of giving up the book. 

I'd PM the sender to let him/her know it wasn't postable, but I wouldn't ask for my credit back if I was planning to keep it. I would chalk it up to "I paid a credit for a book I want to keep" and leave it be.

I've received three WL books so far that are considered not postable. Unfortunately, they're not books I ever intended to keep. I RWAP'd one of them that was really bad and the sender apologized and refunded my credit. I didn't notice the other two books' conditions right away and marked them ok. My bad.

Funny too, because the only 3 books I received in this condition were WL books. I'm starting to wonder if senders just figure it's ok to send them since they're highly WL'd books or what.

You don't have to give up a book, even if you mark it RWAP. You keep the books you order and are free to do whatever you want with them.

What I do personally is this: If the book is damaged in a way that doesn't bother me (maybe writing or something like that) ... and I was planning on keeping the book anyway, I might send a PM to let the other person know that the book was damaged, but I don't ask for my credit back. Or, I might even mark it RWAP, but not ask for my credit back.

However, if the book is damaged and I was planning on trading it again, then I would absolutely RWAP and ask for my credit back. I always do this is the damage is very obvious. Sometimes when I find subtle damage that the sender could have easily missed, I might just let it go.

In your case, where you are planning to keep the book, but the damage is very onvious and the sender should have known better ...I would probably have marked it RWAP, but made it clear that I wasn't asking for a credit back, since I was still able to use the book and I wasn't planning on trading it again, anyway.

I would have marked it RWAP, but let the seller know that I wasn't asking for my credit back--and immediately mark the RWAP resolved.  That way, it's on the record for PBS--in case the sender makes a habit of doing this.

I always mark problem books RWAP. Period. The only thing that varies at all is if I ask for my credit back or not, and I usually do (unless maybe if it was part of a deal that I feel I came out of well, or maybe if the damage is very easy to miss). People shouldn't be allowed to send problem books with no consequences just because the book is wishlisted. You're under no obligation whatsoever to return a book if you mark it RWAP, so I don't view that as a reason not to do so. The sender most likely knew the rules, and deliberately broke them. They aren't done any favors by being allowed to get away with it. And if they didn't know the rules, that does them even less of a favor, since often the only way to learn and have the lesson stick is by having some type of serious consequence (a permanent mark on your PBS record, having to pay credits to fix a mix-up or refund for a problem book, etc.). Plus, if problem books aren't reported, how can PBS track them?

It's one thing to agree to an unpostable book for a credit, it's quite another for someone to just send you one through the regular system. If I didn't agree to receiving a book in unpostable condition for a credit, I wouldn't hesitate to mark the book RWAP, regardless of how long it was on my wishlist.

PBS is self-policing. If we let other members get away with breaking the rules because we don't want to cause trouble or whatever a person's reasons are, then people will keep breaking the rules because they'll get the impression they don't actually matter. I really don't want that to happen.

ETA: Trying to fix my tone into what is actually intended, but it's not working, so believe me when I say I'm stating this as a matter of personal opinion and a partial statement of fact. There's no hostility/accusation/anything else negative intended. :-)

Like others, i would have marked it RWAP. You aren't required to give the book up in doing so. I personally would ask for my credit back--even if it's readable, and you do read it, you can't repost it to get a credit back for it.

Cheryl

The only way to get rid of bad senders is to mark books RWP even if you don't ask for you credit back.  If it was a one time thing then your RWP won't hurt their account. But if it's a habit with them, your RWP could help get them out of PBS.