I posted a book that was on someone's wishlist.  Before she had a chance to confirm that she wanted it, I PM'ed her to say that I had two other similar books on my bookshelf and would do a 3 for 2 deal if she wanted the whole set.  She responded that she did, but didn't know how to do it.  Being pretty new myself, I gave her three options I could think of: 

-go to my profile and "Give" me a credit, then I would take the other two books off my shelf and send all three

-go to my bookshelf, order one of the other two

-when she confirmed the wish list, go to "Order More from This Member" and order one of the other two.

She took the first option, and it all worked out.  But I was wondering if there is a preferred way of doing deals like this.  Does it matter?  Did I break any other etiquette rules in this transaction?

I've had so much fun on PBS the last couple of months.  It has really inspired me to read more and it has been a wonderful experience.  I've had about a dozen transactions and they have all been great.  I guess I am due for a RWAP or other issue soon, but so far, so good!

Any of the ways you mentioned is fine...I don't think there is a set way you have to do it. 

Most people tell the orderer to order the two books & then will remove the 3rd book from their shelf. 

Welcome to PBS!  It's nice to have a new member willing to offer deals. 

As the orderer of a deal, most people would probably prefer to order the 2 books, that way, they have a way to mark them recieved and/or RWAP, and also, if the books go lost in the mail for some reason, they would get both credits back.

Let's say you have 2 books in the order (3rd free) and mail the package with DC, and it goes lost. As long as the package has been scanned at some point, you get to keep your 2 credits, and the orderer of the books also gets her 2 credits back (from PBS).

If you only have 1 book in the order, because you've made a buddy arrangement for the other 2 books, and you mail it with DC, then you have 1 credit buddied to you and 1 credit from the book order ... and if it goes lost, then PBS will only refund the single credit in the book order to the orderer. You would probably have to buddy the other credit back.

Granted, books going lost is rare, statistically speaking, but you never know ...

--Sara

All three options work and I've done all of them myself.  I guess the safest way for the requestor is to order 2 thru the PBS system, that way they have 2 official orders out there in the system and more backing from PBS if something goes wrong to get credits back. 

Buddying credits works too but you have to trust in your trading partner.  I've never been burned doing it that way but the possiblity is there.