Hi Phyllis ~~

First off - you really can't go by a persons profile in terms of how many books they have listed, etc. I have a profile, but if you look at it, you'll see I only one one book posted.  Some might consider me an unreliable trader without knowing all the facts. When in fact, I only have one book on my shelf because the majority of books I read are WL books that are requested right away or I use them for swaps.  I've been a member of PBS for 1 1/2 years, I've sent out over 500 books and have never had one received with a problem. But you may look at my shelf and decide I'm not trustworthy because I have only that 1 book on my shelf and I have my transactions hidden.  

Are there unreliable traders here on PBS - sure. But that's not the majority.  It's very possible that the book was a) delivered to the wrong person or b) still at the PO.  I had a book coming to me that was showed by DC as delivered but did not recieve it until 1 1/2 weeks later.

What is the date the book will be considered to be lost?  The system won't take action until that date. If you used DC from the PO then you will not recieve your credit back - unless the system shows them as in-active. Here is info from the help center on that

• Contact the requestor from the "lost" transaction in your Transaction Archive.
• If the requestor does not respond to your PM within a few days, contact us and we will look into it.
• We cannot grant credit for DC purchased outside PBS, but we can check if this requestor has become inactive.

Hi Phyllis - One thing to consider...I know some members (I am thinking of myself as an example) didn't know the importance of setting up a profile when they first joined.  I really didn't know why I should do it, so I didn't do it for the first few months I was a member.  So...just bear in mind that information.  In my opinion, it's really, really difficult to know who is "okay" to trade with and who isn't.  I've had bad experiences with members who have sent over 100 books in the past - you just never know.  I'll tell you what else, in over 150 trades, I've never ultimately had a book go "lost" or not eventually gotten my credit.  So, bad experiences/bad members are usually a small minority here.

Hope that helps.

Some post offices scan books as "delivered" when a person has their mail on hold.  It is possible that the recipient is on vacation and her mail is still at the post office. 

Lori--can I ask you something I've wondered about--why do you have your transactions hidden--especially since you didn't mind saying in your post that you have mailed 500 books?  I sometimes think new members are wary of making a profile because it might require personally identifying information, but I never understood making the transaction part private?

I've sent out a lot more books than I"ve received.  So the numbers look really skewered. This is mostly do to a) the large number I read and b) family and friends giving me books to post. I'd gotten several pm's and messages posted to my notebook about my giving out more than I receive - and basically being accused of being a credit hoarder. So in order to get them to stop - I just hid the numbers.

I think we should all have the basic profile...a basic barebone one should be required...and you can add more if  you want to.

I'd gotten several pm's and messages posted to my notebook about my giving out more than I receive - and basically being accused of being a credit hoarder.

I find this fascinating.  In that "wow, look at the car crash" kind of way.  Having grown up (as much as I plan to "grow up") being taught that giving more than you get is GOOD, as I'm sure many have been taught... I'm baffled by the thinking. 

I get the whole limited-number-of-credits issue from PBS's standpoint but by the same token, if you choose to keep what you've paid for - or give them away randomly, or donate them to some literacy group, or just print out the number and post it on your fridge to look at over your bowl of cereal! - I can't see why it matters to anyone.  People can be so weird.

But it's not really true.

I agree way more than you could imagine.... I only threw it in there to avert the potential argument that THAT was why hoarding was bad. 

What also bothered me about the PM's, aside from it being no one's business, is that these people made assumptions by the numbers they saw. They had no way of knowing that  a) the majority of my WL books haven't been released yet - b)  that  I had given a bunch to my friends - just because they're my friends and I like to share,  c) that everyone I know gives me their books when they're done with them and d) - and most importantly - I donated 50  credits  back to PBS (and will doing so again in the very near future).   

Wow, I can't believe that people actually sent you critical PMs, talk about having too much time on your hands!  I guess I understand why you would make the numbers private.  I have built up my account to 80 credits, mainly because I buy so many books at thrift and library sales to move into the PBS system.  But my wishlist is at 200, so theoretically they could all be gone in a short time if a bunch of wishlist books came in.  I'd love that!  When I hit 70 credits a few weeks ago I figured it was finally time to buddy back my 3 credits to PBS.

Wow Lori, that's really mishegas.  Why should anyone care about another person's credits???  Like it hurts anyone even if you were "hoarding" credits?  They're your credits.  If I were going to make any assumptions based on just those numbers, I'd think "wow, what a cool person, they're sending out all these books and not wanting a lot back in return."

As someone else said, some people have way too much time on their hands.

I actually wish there were a way to see how many credits people have, only so that we could buddy credits to people who really need them.

If I were going to make any assumptions based on just those numbers, I'd think "wow, what a cool person, they're sending out all these books and not wanting a lot back in return."

And you'd be right Jeanne. Ask anyone here that knows me and they'll tell you I'm a giver (the random credits here or there or a WL book for their birthday - or posting a book right to them that I know they've wanted forever)  - that I enjoy doing things for my friends.

It's the same people with too much time on their hands that go through and randomly put thumbs down to everyone's reviews.

I wish I could hoard credits!  As soon as I get a few, they start "burning a hole in my pocket" and I end up spending most of them.  I can't believe people would send you pm's about it.  I'm sure there's something better they could be doing with their time.

As far as the original topic, nah, people shouldn't be required to have a profile any more than they should be required to have a wish list or use the forums or anything else beyond the basics.  Some people just want to do straight trades and that's what they come here for.

 edit to add:  Anyone who complains about someone else having too many credits is probably just jealous  ; )

First of all, I'm one of the people that can confirm that Lori is indeed a giver.   I've seen the evidence many time and been the recipent of her generosity.  :)

Second of all, I qualify as a credit hoarder, too.  Looking at my current stats, I've mailed 407, received 296.  It would appear that I have in excess of 100 credits in my account.   Well, I do have a lot, but it's not nearly as unbalanced as it looks.  I've given credits back to PBS and friends who were running short.  I've given credits and books to people restocking libraries after Katrina and putting books into teacher's classrooms.  

But the main reason I have a lot of credits is that I just don't need to order books right now.   My TBR is huge, I get a lot of books playing in elephant swaps over in the games forum, so I don't make too many direct requests any more. 

The way I see it, this puts me on the good list, not the bad one, since I'm still spending money to send books to other members when I don't really need the credits, but based on multiple previous threads in this forum, not everyone would agree.  

I have a question. I'm in no position to give credits away or back, (I have one right now) but why would you give them back to PBS? I don't understand how there could be a limited number of credits available here.

Angela, some people will give back the 3 credits (or 2 if they are newer) that they received when they joined PBS.  It is totally optional.

I grasped that part of it, I guess I just don't understand why! lol. Is itbecause PBS really has a limited amount of credits available?