Hi,

Someone sent me the wrong isbn of a book I had on my wishlist. I am somewhat confused as to how this happens.  If I have a specific isbn on my wishlist then how does the person with a different isbn version become aware of my wish?  I would think only people who post my specific isbn would be notified of my wish, right?? If they enter their isbn into the system then how does my wishlist book show up for them???  It doesn't make any sense.

I  put specific isbn editions of books on my wishlist, usually versions I want to keep for my personal collection.  This is actually the second time this week it happened and it has happened several times prior.

I am getting really frustrated by this as I feel like I am just wasting credits by not getting the book I requested.  I am not sure what to do.  Do I notify the sender?  Do I mark the book received but with a problem?

Thanks,

Laura

Mark it received with a problem-wrong book.  Ask the sender for your credit back. As to how it is happening the poster is most likely posting the book under the wrong ISBN number.

Laura--

I had this happen myself a couple of weeks ago.  The sender told me that they had matched the book by the cover art, and thought that was enough.  As Aimee said, politely ask for your credit back and mark it RWP -- Wrong Book.

Cheers,

Catt

here's the help center topic that covers this: http://www.paperbackswap.com/help/help_item.php?id=529

this is an 'official' problem, so it should be marked RWAP and wrong book.

sometimes users will just search for the book by title and author and just post it without checking the ISBN even though that's one of the things it specifically asks you to check during the posting process.

What Aimee said. Another way it can happen is the poster you got it from also got it from paperbackswap, and didn't notice it was the wrong ISBN, and then reposted it when they had read it.

I've had it happen the way Rick mentions, they reposted a PBS book they received without checking it. I came close to doing that once myself. I also wondered why people would post them wrong, it doesn't seem that hard to understand. I checked out other books sites and found that two of the more popular ones tell people to find a book that looks close and post it by that ISBN so I think many come here assuming they can do that here not realizing that PBS does not allow that. The only way they learn the rule is to mark the book RWP and tell them. Asking for your credit back ensures that people who are posting by a wrong ISBN purely to hit a WL don't benefit from that and hopefully stop doing it.

I now have an RC to at least make sure that it is the proper binding. I haven't had many problems with turn downs and have had at least 3 people not send the wrong book when they saw the  RC.

Thanks for all of your input.  I have taken your advice and marked the book RWP and asked for my credit back.

Melanie, what does WL and RC mean?? 

It happens a lot when people have books to post and search by Title of the book rather than by ISBN. They don't realize that ISBNs are different from one version to the next and that some people are wishing only for a particular ISBN...I've had it happen to me a couple of times too. They do a search for a book, see that there's 10 people wishing and hit "post this book" even though they have the paperback and the one that's being wished for is hardcover. That's why you should ALWAYS post and search by ISBN rather than just title/author.

RC= Requestor's Conditions, WL = Wish List

Cheryl