I know there is no rule about this, but I'd like feedback. In the past, I have canceled a request after several days so I can order from somone else because I assume most people check their email daily. 

Is three days not enough time? How long do others wait? Patience is not my strong suit, but I do wnat to be fair before canceling and ordering from someone else.

Also, why does it sometimes report the wrong date requested? Has anyone else noticed that?

VJ

(currently reading When Crickets Cry)

If you cancel the order before it times out, when you re-order the book the order will just go to the same person.  I know it's frustrating, but just let it time out. It weeds out the inactive members. Once the order times out, it will go to the next person that has the book.

Also, why does it sometimes report the wrong date requested? Has anyone else noticed that?

I suspect it might be because it has rolled over to the next person.

A sender is entitled to 5 days to respond to the request.

Once accepted, the sender has up to 7 days to mail the book.

Some members wait the full five days to respond the request so that the mailing period will coincide with dates when she/he is able to go to the post office, and will have the funds to pay for postage.

Click here for the relavant help doc

Hi Victoria;

The system will do that automatically for you.  You don't have to intervene.

Dan (for Marilyn)

But I've reordered from a different person by ordering a different publication date, ISBN, etc. Is that fair to do?

AND, how long does it take to time out?

VJ

It times out after 5 days. (So, on the 6th day, it bumps to the next person who has the book.)

AND, how long does it take to time out?

5 days and a few hours.

Since PBS is driven by ISBN, yes--if you cancel one order but order the same book with a different ISBN, that would go to a different person, and it's fine to do it that way if you want.

But personally, unless it's a book I'm really desperate to get, I would just let it time out and move to the next person. I think of that as 'weeding out' the people who are no longer responding, because two things happen when the request times out. 1) the book is removed from that person's bookshelf and 2) if they ignore more than one request their account gets put on vacation hold so the rest of their books can't be requested either--thus hopefully cutting out the wait time for someone else who might request a book that is on their shelf in the future.

There are any number of reasons why people may not respond right away--sometimes active members will let requests go til the last minute to accept because they can only get to the post office one day a week or they're trying to stretch their postage budget til the next payday, for example.

The "wrong date" thing is, as someone else mentioned, either because the request timed out and rolled over to the next person in FIFO, or else the person you requested from initially actually cancelled or declined the request, and in that case the order would also go to the next person. Each time the book is requested from someone new, the new date of request is updated.

Cheryl

OH! Now I see!  thank you cheryl for your very thorough explanation. And thanks to all who answered.