Today I have a notice that I requested a book. Except I didn't request it, it doesn't show in my transaction archive, and I don't seem to be out any credits. (I haven't been keeping strict attention but it seems right) The sender says it showed up as a request just like normal. It looks like a book I'd like, actually, so I told her to go ahead and send it. No one has popped up to say they're gifting me anything. So...how did that happen? I changed my password right away, just in case..

How odd, Cyndi! Is it at least a book you would like to read? What's your adorable dog's name? He brought me an afternoon smile. 

Cyndi, you can check your Credit Registry, which is linked from the yellow bar at the top of your main My Account page, to see if you paid a credit for the book. (The book won't go into your Transaction Archive until you've marked it received. The Archive doesn't contain any current transactions.)

Usually if you get a "surprise" book coming to you, it means that you placed it on your Wish List -- sometimes years ago -- and set the wish to auto-request. Auto-request means that you want your account to accept the WL offer automatically when the book is offered to you, without asking you to confirrm that you still want it. This book won't be on your WL now, because it has been offered to you -- when it was offered to you it would have moved from your WL to your main My Account page -- but you can look at your WL to see if there are other books on there that are set to auto-request -- auto-request books will have a green background. If so, that's the most likely explanation.

I try to remember to check over my Wish List every month or two to be sure I still want all the books there, and to turn auto-request on or off for specific books.  I also have a book on its way to me that was a surprise -- I'd forgotten I'd auto-requested it -- but I'm looking forward to reading it!

Yes, Patty, I autorequest so few books that's it's easy to forget I have a few still on AR. But with my WL at max of 500, I dont frequently review the entire list. 

Thanks Patty P - but it remains a mystery. I know how to do all that. All my 200+ wishlist books are on auto-request, but I also keep my own file by downloading the wish list every week or so, and it isn't there. I looked at the request details and it was requested at 8:30 pm on a Sunday night; I'm never on my PC then.

It is a book that I might like, so for a while I wondered if I'd requested it and forgotten. If true I've got bigger problems. :-) in the end, not a big deal, I got the book and gave the credit, changed my password, and we'll see if anything else weird happens.

 Cyndi, send me a PM with the ISBN, and I'll be happy to get some info on it for you, if you still want to try to figuriei it out.