Just had my first problem transaction, says I didn't meet the extra book conditions. (Didn't want any book club editions... how do you tell?) I would refund the credit, but I would like to know this member doesn't make these allegations all the time. I mean, anyone could say something is wrong with a book, but go ahead and read and even re-post it. I know how to check my archive, can I check someone else's?

Thanks!

No, you cannot.

If they had a condition set, there would have been a screen pop up which stated the condition, and you would have had to click through TWO "yes" boxes to accept the order.

You might want to ask them to check their account to be sure they have their conditions set "ON" if you did not get the screen as described above.

Mandy, there's no easy way to tell anymore nowadays (that I know of) when a book is a book club edition. My suggestion to you is to err on the side of caution and not accept RC (requestor conditions) when you're not sure.You are not penalised for not being able to meet RCs.

In regards to your other question, R&R watch out for patterns of behaviour such as you're concerned about.

Hope this helps.

(edited for spacing, as usual... argh)

I don't know if this applies to ALL book club editions but I personally have never seen one with a price printed on it.  You know how the regular market HC books have the price inside the back cover?  BCE (that I have seen) do not have a price printed on them.  Just my observations. 

Thank you all, I did issue credit, and will watch out for that in the future. I would think the requestor would know by the ISBN or publisher that it is not the edition they want, why request it?

I  wonder if they will repost it now and get another credit?

The book club editions often use the same ISBN number as the regular trade hardcover edition.

They may very well repost it and get another credit.  That isn't unreasonable; they will presumably be using the credit you returned to them to order another copy (non-book club edition), and the credit they receive from sending the book club edition reimburses them for the costs of packaging and mailing it.

If I find requestor conditions that I am not sure I can meet, I go ahead and accept the request, but them immediately send a PM to the requestor explaining in a little more detail what I am concerned about.  If I get word back from the requestor that it is okay, great, out it goes.  But if they aren't sure, I ask them to please go ahead and cancel the request as I certainly understand.  I don't want to send anyone a book if they have conditions I am not sure about ~ they won't be happy and neither will I.

Well, for the most part, relying on a PM is a bad idea. By accepting the request, you've actually already stated that you meet the conditions, and there's no guarantee that the person will see your PM. It's best when in doubt to turn down the request. (If the reason is that the conditions aren't clear,  a friendly PM to let the person know so that it can be changed might be in order, though.)

Just wondering..... what is wrong with book club editions? Is there a reason people don't want them? I  belong to SciFi book club and their books are great, all hardbacks though, no paperbacks. Is there a club that has paperbacks, I prefer them anyway.

I think club editions are great too, but some people just don't like them.   The ones I have are a bit smaller than the Hardbacks I see in the stores.   Maybe the paper isn't as good a quality???   Some people want all of a certain series to match.   Personally - I just want a book to read that meets PBS conditions.

Paper is thinner and the font type is smaller and the size (dimensions) of the book is smaller. Doesn't make a bit of difference to me. Many of my newer WL books are ones I've gotten through my book club. I'm sure some are wanting the same type as sold in book stores for the "appearance" on the book shelves. Me, I just want the more durable hardback on the shelf! :)

I don't mind BCE bookseither, but the bindings are not as sturdy as regular hardcovers, and the paper is thinner oftentimes too.  The bookjackets are not as nice either.  If I am buying books for my keeper collection, I buy the regular hardcovers....i don't concern myself over binding when I am looking for books to read once and pass on.

Jane: Well, for the most part, relying on a PM is a bad idea. By accepting the request, you've actually already stated that you meet the conditions, and there's no guarantee that the person will see your PM.

In my PM, I also say that if I don't hear from them by such and such a date, I'll cancel the transaction to be on the safe side.  So I feel very comfortable doing what Joy does if I'm at all unclear: accepting the request, then PMing the person to clarify something about the requestor conditions.  (If they don't respond to the PM, I don't send the book.)

That said, I think Jane is being perfectly reasonable in refusing any condition she feels is unclear.  A requestor condition should be set up so that a PM exchange is not necessary.

Thanks for letting me know why some members don't like book club editions. I noticed they were a bit smaller, but I am not a hardcover fan, I prefer paperbacks, I really don't even like the new trade size they are coming out with now. I volunteer in my boy's school library and I find it interesting to hear from the kids which they like better.

Older BCE's (1970s and before) are harder to tell from the normal trade editions. 

Sometimes they were the exact same quality, size and artwork as the trade edition.  The only differences might be a statement that is was a book club edition (usually on the jacket) and/or a blindstamp in the lower right corner of the back cover, usually in the saddle area.  A blindstamp is a simple indentation about a 1/4" in diameter.  Sometimes a special shape, sometimes just a small square.

I belonged to the SF Book Club in the 70s and early 80s and then, the main difference would be no price on the jacket, and the book size was somewhat smaller.  The uniform size of their books makes shipping etc easier, in addition to reducing costs.  I recently rejoined, mainly to save some money on new books that I wanted right away, but weren't going on the keeper shelf.  Now, the cover boards are much thinner, the paper is thinner, smaller text and even the jackets are of lower quality.  They generally just use glue to bind, rather than sewing them like in trade editions. 

There is one paperback club I know of called the Quality Paperback Club, and I believe it publishes in trade size books.  It is a division of book-of-the-month club, and a google search should turn it up, if anyone is interested.

I think the book club editions are condensed a bit as they usually are smaller and have quite a few less pages.  I don't have any problem with them however  as it seems to be done carefully  and the story line isn't  hurt by doing this.

The book club editons I've gotten are NOT condensed in any way.  The font is just a bit smaller. 

HunterBJ, I have been a member of the Quality Paperback Book Club http://www.qpb.com off and on over the years, and they do often have early edition trade paperbacks.

I belonged to Quality Paperback Book Club years ago.  (I quit when my TBR pile grew to alarming proportions.)  I always found their editions to be very good quality.  They do trade paperbacks, often while the book is still hardcover only at the bookstores.

Mandy, ask them if they set up their conditions using a Mac running Safari.  PBS doesn't play well with Safari, and the settings, which will show up for her when she checks, wouldn't show up for someone else (unless they were also on a Mac, I guess).  This very scenario happened to me when I first signed up here. I honestly couldn't keep almost  any of the books I got at first because my conditions didn't show up for everyone. I didn't find out about this glitch when I first signed up, but I sure found out about it when none of the books I was getting met my conditions and everyone was telling me that there weren't any, LOL. I had go in using Firefox to re-set all of my PBS settings (especially book conditions), and haven't had any problems with people seeing my conditions. 

So, please give her the benefit of the doubt about having conditions on her account until you find out about what browser she is using.  She might think she has conditions showing, and she will even be able to see them when she looks them up, but you can't see 'em.   Carol Ann