I was checking my transaction history (curious from another post) and I had cancelled a request earlier today that I had placed yesterday.  I couldn't figure out why they hadn't replied and I managed to find it very cheap at the used book store.  Anyway, so I went and clicked on the user and it said that their bookshelf was on hold.  It is possible that they put that on today, but if they didn't, why would my request go to someone that had their shelf on hold when there are other copies in the system.

very odd.....can only guess they put it on hold after I cancelled my request

You can check under your transactions and see if it was cancelled. I think they show an 'x' across it. I've never put mine on account when I had some being sent out but I have when I was expecting books to arrive and was still able to mark them received.

I think you are right--the request must have gone out just before they put their shelf on hold.

ETA: Because you have one hour of "buyer's remorse" before they are notified that you are requesting the book, there is a small open window when the request is attached to their book, but they wouldn't have known about it yet.  They may have put the shelf on hold during that time.

thanks...I requested it on Sat morning I think and then I cancelled it Sun afternoon.  I checked which is how I knew they had their shelf on hold but don't know when that happened.  could have been a freak thing and just happened when I requested the book during that hour

If a bookshelf is on hold, any books posted after the shelf is put on hold are considered active in the system.  I've seen it mentioned several times in the forums that members will do this deliberately -- wanting a guaranteed credit by offering an autorequest wishlisted book, wanting to control the number of books they are sending out (postal costs), and even one member who stated she posted her wishlisted books while on vacation so she could mail them from where she was at rather than dragging them home.

wow, that is rather odd.....I don't feel bad for cancelling since I don't know what the situation was with that bookshelf and I was able to buy it pretty cheaply at a used book store.