Am I the only one discovering that people have requestor guidelines that state books need to be in PRISTINE Conditions ie as a GIFT.  No cracks in spine if paperback etc.  And on and on.  Both I have accepted but sent emails to them encouraging them to return it.  In the past I have turned them down as too fiddly and fussy.  I even suggested to one that PBS may not be the right place to get books.  Frankly I have seen books from book stores be in less than gift condition.  What's with all of this guidelines and how to approach them?

The requestor conditions are there for just that use.  If some members want pristine books, they will probably get very, very few (if any) and that is their choice.

IMO, the only time it is truly appropriate to comment on someone's RCs is when they are confusing and/or too subjective.  If it's clear that they want a like-new book, I personally, would decline and move on.  Life's too short and I'd rather be reading!

You have no obligation to try to fulfill every request, and it isn't impolite to decline. 

Thanks so much for the reply.  The person decided to cancel and I thanked them, saying I appreciated it.  I just hate to think I am turning down say 5 book requests a year.  But the one who wanted it in pristine condition and then in capital letters wrote GIFT was over the top for me.  I will look at them and then move on.

Your books either meet the requestor condtions or they don't. I have books on my shelf that would meet the giftable condition so depending on the book I could click meets conditions. But if it doesn't then I'd click that.

I'm sure with the many holidays this month that may be why some are asking for giftable condition. But members can ask for whatever they'd like knowing the request might not ever get fulfilled.

I don't mind the request of no smoking/no pets/want dust jackets on hardbacks that have them......but PLEASE don't relist on the rules of PBS or you'll proabably get turned down by me.  Had one this week that did that and I sent the book anyways, but everything she listed past no smoking was basic PBS rules.   Also, please don't list words that are subjective like: "good condition" or "like new" because I turned one down this week that said "must be in new shape", well, they lost a brand new/never read/still in the plastic wrap college textbook because of that "like new" clause.  It had 3 other people waiting, so I by passed that person. To loose the price of postage and the book on a subjective descritpion just isn't worth the risk.  

Im surprised by how many used books I receive from here that are in 'like new' condition. I have been a member since '09 and notice during this season it seems a bunch more people want giftable books....which is fine, they just have to understand that it will be rare that a brand new book gets offered here.

I, too, passed up on two books this week where they wanted them in very good or exceptional condition. To me that's just too subjective. Most of my books are in super condition (at least that's what people I send them to tell me) and I don't mind the usual RCs, but some are really way over the top, and I just turn them down.  

I, too, passed up on two books this week where they wanted them in very good or exceptional condition. To me that's just too subjective.

I don't find it subjective at all. I have been in bookstores thousands of times over my life and I am certainly qualified to say if book looks new or not.  How is it subjective? If there is any question ... then it doesn't look new. It's not subjective at all. I have seen and held thousands of books that "look new" in my life.   And, yes, you can get mired down in discussions of how brand new books in the bookstore sometimes don't look new for whatever reason. But ... you can tell they don't look new, right?

I have NO PROBLEM with ANY RCs. I don't care why people have a RC. I don't care what the RC is for.

If I can understand what they want and my book matches ... I send it.

All the books I am mailing out are books I DON'T WANT in my house anymore. I just don't want them They are not keepers. They are not precious babies. I think of them as not-quite-trash which is just taking up room on my bookshelf that could be used for something I DO want instead.

Also ... people with RCs send the NICEST Thank You notes when you send them a beautiful book that meets their RCs.

People send me books that look new all the time. Is it nice? Sure. Do I care? No.

Wouldn't you rather send a "looks new" book to someone who wants and appreciates it ... than to someone like me who doesn't care in the sightest?

Maybe so, Sara.  But (imo) life's too short to bother with RWAPs which are generated simply because my idea of what meets the RCs doesn't agree with theirs.  I have no problem with donating books to my FoL - ok, so I don't get a credit, I also don't pay postage.  Pretty much a wash, imo.  I love PBS, but I also know what I am and am not willing to deal with...  Thankfully, we're all different - how boring it would be, otherwise!

But (imo) life's too short to bother with RWAPs which are generated simply because my idea of what meets the RCs doesn't agree with theirs.

Well, Sure. I've never gotten a RWAP due to not meeting a RC, and I send to all of them that I can. On the other hand, I have received countless "thank yous" from people with RCs.

So my experience is that I think that is likely to be pretty rare, and people with RCs are not "fussier" than other people ... they just have some extra conditions for their books that the owners of PBS did not make universal.

I'm also not afraid of getting a RWAP ... if I did, I would answer it and that would be that. "Sorry we don't agree". Done in about a minute.

I'm glad to know that you haven't had problems, because I've read some swap stories here that made me shy away from rc's that aren't cut & dried.  Which probably means I'm not as confident about my books (or my judgment?) LOL . You've certainly swapped LOTS more books than I have...

I have requestor conditions that reiterate the Golden Rule of PBS. Before I added the conditions, I was receiving books that were heavily marked up and highlighted, making them unusuable for my study purposes. Since adding the conditions, about 25% of all my requests are canceled because they don't meet the conditions. That's disappointing because it means people aren't following the rules of what's appropriate to post on PBS--but it has saved time and headache for both me and the listers.

Just to make it clear: markups, highlighting and underlining in books are all allowable at PBS. These fall under the 'textbook exception' which requires senders PM the requestor if their book has any of these things. Then the sender would have to cancel if the requestor declines & lose their place in FIFO. So it's great you have an RC stating what you don't want; these marked up books can go on to be offered to the next person looking for them & you will be offered the next book available, which hopefully is not marked up.

By the way, I don't know what genre of books you're ordering, but there are hundreds of fiction, and non-fiction books too, that can potentially fall under the textbook exception if they are used in a class or workshop.  When I first joined PBS I posted at least a couple dozen classics and a few workbooks which were required in my coursework. I hadn't marked them up too much, but there was the occaisional underline or margin note and over time I was able to successfully send them all out.

I order lots of classics and other books that might fall in the "textbook exception" category. Never mind the highlights or margin notes as those often help with understanding the text!

Like several above I simply refuse to trade with anyone with an RC, other than those who don't want books from smoking environment. Don't smoke, but if they say 'smoke free' I generally refuse if the book came to me via PBS, because who knows where it had been? We have pets, thus those complaining of allergies could be irritated even though many of my books haven't been exposed to our cats. Life is too short. And I don't like to disappoint others. I wish PBS had a refusal category of simply ' no RCs please'.  I do not appreciate having to imply my books don't meet PBS standards. They do.  

Received a request today which stipulated "I only accept books in excellent condition."

So I checked each page, and on page 437, line 13, tenth word in I saw a printing error left off part of the top of the letter 'a'.  So I had to refuse the request.

Actually, the book was in really good condition, but who defines what "excellent" really means.

I had one a few years ago and the person wrote: I WILL NOT accept whatever, and they stated this with about 15 times. I went ahead and declined the request.

Received a request today which stipulated "I only accept books in excellent condition."

Preposterous.  PBS is a place to find used books. 
Books here are often used and handled by many readers. 
You want "excellent condition"??  Buy it new, elsewhere.

Here, you should know what to expect.

I think the strangest RC I've heard of is the one that stated they didn't want any books that had been read in the bathroom. I didn't receive the RC, but someone several years ago said that it was one they'd gotten. How would anyone know if a book had been read in the bathroom anyway?  Just thought it was funny. Pat

Preposterous.  PBS is a place to find used books. 
Books here are often used and handled by many readers. 
You want "excellent condition"??  Buy it new, elsewhere.

Here, you should know what to expect.

It's not preposterous at all.

The book condition guidelines that PBS made up out of thin air are not some kind of univeral "normal people only want this" guideline ... it's just what PBS decided would suit most people. And then, in their wisdom, for people who have additional requirements besides what PBS thinks is needed, they gave the ability to make a RC and say what else you want.

I don't see why people get so bent out of shape over it.

If you don't want to mail to a RC, then don't mail.

Plenty of other people will mail instead.

I have an RC myself, and I can say people rejecting RCs are few and far between ... and if someone rejects it, that's fine, as if their book doesn't meet what I want then I will just wait on another copy. No biggie.

Personally, I am trying to get RID of the books I've posted, so if it a request has an RC and my book meets it, then I send it.  

Actually, the book was in really good condition, but who defines what "excellent" really means.

Excellent probably means like new. I don't understand why people claim not to be able to tell if a book looks like new or not. I can tell just fine, based on looking at the book in my hand and seeing if it looks new.

If there is any question about whether it looks new, then it doesn't look new.

The question answers itself.

I have RCs because having been a member of this site since 2009, I have received FAR TOO MANY books that do not meet basic requirements for a postable book, but also, the potential sender doesn't even send a message to ask about the "textbook exemption", so I end up with a lot of books with heavy marking and/or highlighting, which gives me migraines.

So I post those RCs to reiterate what I am looking for. I don't request "like new" books. I request books that aren't excessively damaged or marked upon. I don't think that's unreasonable and until today, no sender had a problem with it. Today, I received an exceptionally rude response telling me I was essentially "full of myself" because I dared to have RCs at all.

It was 100% uncalled for. If you don't like my RCs or don't want to deal with the RCs due to bad experiences, then just cancel the request and tell me that the book doesn't meet the requirements! That's fine.. you don't need to insult users over it.

I got a long and windy RC today and for the most part I don't look at those but one word stuck out - excrement - Really!!!

If I see a brief one with no pets, I decline it and note that I have pets and when I lived in my old house we had wood stove which I mentioned on the smoking ones but excrement!! 

I had to add an RC reminding people to message me before sending books that have highlighting or underlining (as stipulated in the club rules). A lot of my wishlist are books that are often used as textbooks and I got tired of receiving marked up books without being messaged first. Most of the time I'm OK with a little bit of underlining/highlighting, but I'm much less happy about it when it's a surprise.

Katy, the textbook rule seems to be one that many, many members dont know about-- even long-time members. 

I had a request for a book, that had a RC of no writing.  Which I interpeted to be the standard of writing on pages of text/etc and not include an author's autograph/inscription.  The requestor is now refusing to accept a book in like new condition because of the autograph.  

I would think autographed book in new condition would be acceptable.

But my question to the group is, would you consider the autograph/inscription in reviewing a book for writing inside it?

Went back and checked RC:

*** As per PBS guidelines, I can only accept books which are in good and clean condition...not written in, other than signed by author... stained .. or books from a smoking home. Also, PLEASE add a layer of plastic or paper inside the wrapper for protection.  Please message me if you are unsure . I repost many of my books here on Paperbackswap and prefer to do so with a clear conscience. . .   Thank you for your understanding! ***