About ten days ago, I requested a W.E.B. Griffin book. I paid little attention except to note that it had been shipped four or five days ago. Today I got two copies of the same book. I have no knowledge of why the second book was shipped. (I did note a couple of days ago, an odd e-mail saying that my request had timed out.) I think it is pretty clear what happened. However ....

What do I do now?

You only have to mark one of them received - the one that was still on your My Account tab.  The other, canceled request that's in your Transaction Archive can just be ignored.  (That sender forgot to mark the book mailed and the system canceled it.)

You have an extra copy now, so you can just post it.

I know. Even if I give the credit I eventually get back to the lady from Texas, I am out postage, and sweet man that I am, I am not willing to do that.

You won't actually "get" a credit back.  The credit you "spent" to request the first book rolled right on over to the second person who actually marked the book mailed.  You are under no obligation to return the book or the credit.  Just make sure to mark the correct one received and leave the other alone. 

What to do with the extra book? Post it to your bookshelf. With any luck, it will be ordered and gone by the time you read the other one so you can post that one too.

I'm also a nice person, but I can't abide people who don't follow the rules, so I mark the book received for the person who marked it mailed and look at the other book and say, "Free book! Cool beans!" And then I usually give the credit away to some schmuck in need or to a new PBS member. :)

Cheryl

From the help docs:

These are the possibilities:

1. You submitted one request, and the first sender did not mark the book mailed, but did mail the book.

2. You submitted one request, and the first sender canceled it by mistake, but still mailed it.

3. You submitted two requests for the book, to two different senders

Scenario #1 (the most common scenario):

• You submit a request, which goes to Sender #1

• Sender #1 does not mark the book mailed before the deadline, but still mails the book.

• Then the request cancels and gets passed to Sender #2, who also sends the book.

• You end up with two copies.

  This situation (the requestor ending up with 2 copies of the book) is part of why marking a book mailedbefore the deadline is such an important part of the swapping process.

  The bottom line here: always mark your books mailed, so you don't become Sender #1!

Scenario #2:

• You submit a request, which goes to Sender #1

• Sender #1 clicks  on the transaction by mistake after (or before) mailing the book.
• When she does that, the request cancels and gets passed to Sender #2, who also sends the book.

• You end up with two copies.

In both Scenarios #1 and #2: When you receive 2 copies for a book after submitting only one request, you are not obligated to give a credit for the extra (canceled) copy.  You areobligated to mark the properly sent copy received.

• When you mark the book received from the active transaction on your En Route to Me tab on your My Account page, Sender #2 will get credit. 

• • Sender #2's transaction is the only active transaction for the book on your account page.
  • The transaction with Sender #1 moved into your Transaction Archive when it was canceled, as a canceled transaction.

• You are not obligated to give a second credit for a canceled copy of a book when you submitted only one request
  • You are also not obligated to send the book back (although this is a nice thing to do if the sender is a new member).
  • You are obligated to mark the book received that is on your En Route to Me tab on My Account.

• If you do wish to give credit to Sender #1, you can mark that copy of the book received from the canceled transaction:
  • Go to  your Transaction Archive:
  • • place your cursor over My Account in the toolbar at the top of the site
    • Click Transaction Archive in the menu that drops down
    • you can also click the link 'Transaction Archive" from the My Account page

• • Scroll down to see the canceled transaction for this book.
    • Check the sender name and Details to be sure it is the correct transaction
    • There are sometimes several canceled transactions for one title
  • Click  on the transaction
  • The usual Book Received screens will come up from there.
  • When you mark a canceled book received, the credit is taken from your account and given to that sender.

• Again,  you do not have to mark the canceled copy received.
  • If you like, you may Post the extra copy of the book into the system for others to request.

John, as the honest person you are, I know you feel a little uncomfortable about the free book.

As Farazon says, I just don't like that part of it. A nice, fellow native Texan, made a careless mistake and lost a book, and there is not much either of us can do to fix it. Locating her out of more than 10,000 members would be problematic.

I'm a nice honest person too and I wouldn't mark it received and give a credit for it. Because I'm also a single mother with a limited postage budget.   Yes you get the credit back when you send out the extra book-but you have to pay the postage to get that credit.  Plus any packing supplies you have to use.

A simple PM on the part of the first sender might have prevented this-if it came in time for John to cancel the 2nd order. Or if it came in time for him to be on the look out for it and refuse delivery. Then they'd have the book back although if media mail they would have had to pay return postage.

If the transaction progressed enough for her to get your address, then locating her would be easy.  It'll be in your transaction archive.