Okay, so I just figured out you could put your wishlist on hold. But I've had to turn down several wishlist offers because I didn't have any credits, and I happened to wishlist a bunch of books that came up at the same time. I've also had a few of them time-out because I was waiting on a book I sent to arrive and it didn't soon enough.

Do TPTB keep track of how many of these things you have? And is there any problem with it? I've mailed a whole bunch of books a few days ago so I should have credits again soon, and now I will know to hold the wishlist when I run out of credits. But I don't want to be in trouble for it because I really do love it here and don't want to get kicked off.

Just an FYI Kati,--If you go to the Bazaar and put a request in, many members would be willing to loan and/or gift you with a credit to get your WL book before it times out. Then you can return it when your books are marked received.

I believe they do keep track of it, but I think it hasn't to be a chronic thing for them to take action. Since you're a relatively new member, I doubt it will happen to you. I had a lot of cancellations on my part when I first joined before I figured things out. They never suspended my account or contacted me about it. And even after I wasn't a new member I've cancelled on offered wish list books (before they had the individual hold feature) so I think it has to be a whole lot to raise suspicion.

I think it is more polite to decline the WL book offer rather than let it time out (if you know you won't be getting a credit in time).

You can also place individual books on hold on your WL ... that way, you remain in the WL line, even though you don't want the book at this time. (It won't be offered to you until you take the book off hold). That is way better than losing your place in the WL line because you either refused the offer or let it time out.

If you let offers time out, PBS may believe that your account is not active, and they may suspend it (unless you have other account activity).

Well if you hadn't logged in during that time and had more than 1 WL offer timed out than they might have put your account on vacation.  Not permanately and it would have actually helpd you because it would prevented any more offers and you losing your place in line on more.  I don't know how long they keep an account on vacation before they close it entirely. But it would be more than a few days.  They do this to help weed out the inactive accounts from clogging up the lines.  The fact that you logged in during that time probably prevented that.  Although you may get a warning from PBS if keeps happenign in the form of an automated email. 

I put the wishlist on hold until such time as I have more credits and I've gone ahead and cancelled all the offers I had, so that someone else might have them if they wish. That's about all I can do at this point, I think -- that and try to be sure it doesn't happen again.

You should cancel or ask in the Bazaar to borrow a credit instead of letting them time out. Too much of that could prompt some questioning from the site even if you are active.  Its considered poor etiquette. I think you can cancel as many as you please without them ever saying anything.

Another possibility, if you run into this again, would be to mail any books you're sending out with PBS printable postage.  That way you'd get an instant credit as soon as the book is marked mailed, so you'd have the credit for the WL book you want.  And of course you can buy credits in the kiosk, or from other members in the Book Bazaar.

And the site is very forgiving with new members.  They know you're trying to figure out how the system works.

I am new on this site, so I am not really sure how the wish list works...can someone explain it to me?

Welcome, Lisa!  Just put the title, ISBN, or author's name to find books you are interested in and if they have people waiting (which will be shown on that book's page) then you can click on "+WISH" button, and itwill show up on your wishlist.

Ruth

The wish list is basically a line for a book that's not currently in available in the PBS system.  If a book is availalbe it'll say Order This Book.  If it's WL it'll say Post This Book and you can add it to your WL to get in line.  The listing will say the # wishing. If it says 0 than you would be the only wisher if you added the book. 

The WL works primarily on a first in first out basis (fifo).  But sometimes people bypass the line by posting a WL directly to another member. They do this share books with their buddies or to ship multiple books to people to save on postage. But the majority are done through FIFO.

To find out all you need to know about the wish list, go to the help center at the top of this page and put in "wish list" - that is a great help to all newcomers and some of us oldtimers, too.

Welcome to PBS Lisa!  Just ask if you have more questions.

Kati, it's the time-outs that can cause you to receive negative attention from PBS Admin, so it's good you are learning ways to avoid that when possible