The Newbie BookMoocher Thread #4

This thread has one main purpose: To help newbies to BookMooch!

Everyone in this thread has been a newbie on BookMooch & we've learned a lot about things that can help you to have a fantastic BookMooch experience...

And if you introduce yourself, then we can mooch from you!!!

There's a Wiki page for BookMooching ( http://wiki.bookmooch.com/ )... lots of great info there!!

Some good threads to check out are the "General BookMooch Questions", the "Angels Needed/Offered", "Pimp Your Inventory" and the notorious "Rant/Complaining" thread... and to counter that: "I Just Had A Great Experience on Bookmooch" thread!! (no links because some of these change on a regular basis)

Generally good suggestions to start BookMooching:

**Don't list any more books than you could mail out to start. seriously. Some BMers have listed their books & had almost all books mooched immediately... think $$. Don't get overwhelmed with too many mooches to start.

NEW!!! **Use ISBNs to post your books! The ISBN can be found on the back cover or on the page behind the title page. Using the ISBN assures that you are posting the same edition that people will request. Check the record to make sure that if your book is a paperback, the record says paperback. If your book is older & doesn't have an ISBN, then search to see if there is an existing record for your edition or a very similar edition. Please do not create a new record because more people will see it if you use an already existing record. IMPORTANT: If there is a difference in your edition from the one you use, put it in the condition notes!!!

**Condition notes are very nice. Even if you only put good, very good, or 'the dog nibbled a corner'. Most will choose a book with a condition over one without. You can even offer books that are awful, just put it in the condition notes.. someone may want a book to take to the beach or vacation & not worry about having to bring it back or keep it looking nice!!

**Status Notes: On your profile page is a section called Status. This message is posted with your book every time someone mooches. Let others know if your house has pets or smokers... if you send books immediately or every two weeks or you will be out-of-town for the next five years... anything that you would like to know from others, they want to know from you.

**Wrap your books for rough mailing!! Try to put some type of waterproof & tear-resistant packaging around your books. Tape is good... (don't use scotch, magic or 'office desk' tape) Padding really helps!! recycle your padded envelopes. Pretend that the post office is staffed by elephants & gorillas. (but they're not... really) TAPE IS GOOD!!

**Multiple Mooches If someone mooches two or more books from you, send them in one package!! Yes, it is OK!! They are trying to help you keep your postage costs down per mooch-point!! Plus, they are telling you that you are listing some really great books!! **If there are other books the (current) owner has, but you are out of points, ask them to reserve the book for you & wait on mailing the other books!! That way all the books can be mailed together, making it a very happy day when they arrive!!

**Communicate!!! Keep your moochers informed!! If your books are going to be delayed, let them know... Stuff happens. Thank people!! Smooch if you can, smile when you can't.

**Ask questions. If someone does something that you don't understand or gives you feedback you don't like, ask about it. Knowing that you care enough to ask about a situation will often smooth any ruffled feathers.

**Consider shipping internationally. It is often less expensive per point than mooching within your country... sometimes even cheaper than shipping within your country.

**EMAILS: Some BM emails are caught by Spam filters... Check your Spam Folder & add BookMooch.com as an approved domain. The problem is that the mail comes from the BM servers, but has the BMer as the reply address. Many spam filters don't approve of that.

**The "Abuse" button. This is actually a notification button. If you are having problems with another BMer, you can click this button & explain the problem. There are some volunteers that mediate &/or solve problems that sometimes occur. And if one of those volunteers should contact you, its ok.. they are really here to help you.... and help BookMooch. They don't want you to get into deep problems... they are like lifeguards to help prevent you getting in too deep & drowning in the deep pile of books you might have to send or receive!!
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Enjoy!! Getting a book in the mail is a little spontaneous birthday party. Revel in it.
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(to experienced BMers, PM me with more ideas or post below this. Then we can copy this thread starter onto subsequent incarnations.. and improve BM for everyone... more BMers means more books to mooch!! & more BM friends!!)

**This thread starter will be edited as suggestions are received...
... please remind me if you want any changes to this starter thread...

Here are the two three previous Newbie threads because there is so much good information!!!
Newbie BookMooch Thread #1
Newbie BookMooch Thread #2
Newbie BookMooch Thread #3

and the Newbie Thread/forums on the Bookmooch site
Newbie BookMooch Thread AT BookMooch.com
They do have some good ideas over there!! ;)

and feel free to add ideas to the thread. Share your experience & ideas!! The better & easier we make our mooching experience, the better BookMooch will be!!!

Which means MORE BOOKS for everyone!!

I finally got around to joining BM today. Thanks to the advice of folks here, I started out by listing just ten books in my inventory. One has been mooched already! I've added BM to my "Also on" tag on my LT profile. Come visit ;-)

I added a bunch of books to my BM save for later list and moved the ones in which I'm most interested to my wish list. Any advice on managing those two lists? I don't know if it matters whether I have a long wish list. I guess if I get emails about available books before I have enough points, I can just ignore them, right?

Welcome, Jim!

Wishlist size doesn't matter at all; I personally use save-for-later for books that have copies available, or may have copies come up frequently, and I'm not sure if I really want the book. If you know you want the book, then use the wishlist; You are under no obligation to mooch if one becomes available before you have points.

However, the wishlist-emails are very iffy. It's set up so that only a certain number of people get the wishlist-emails (chosen at random, then the system waits a certain number of hours and sends out an email to another random person, until the book is taken). It's not usually a good idea to rely on getting wishlist-emails. Especially if it's a book you really really want, you should check your wishlist whenever you log into the site (some of us are a bit obsessive and check it 5+ times a day....).

Welcome, enjoy!

>2 Jim53: and now another one, since I just nabbed your Tiptree book.

A large wishlist is an asset on BM. Use LT to find lots of recommendations and add them to your wishlist. The people who can't find many books to mooch have wishlists of less than 100 books. I've read some great books I added them to my wishlist only because it "looked interesting" and then discovered a new author to stalk enjoy.

3: only 5 times a day? ;)

2: the bigger the wishlist, the better in my opinion. It definitely increases your chances of getting a hit.

The desirability of a bigger wishlist seems to depend on having a lot of books that you want. There are about thirty or so books that I really want; I already have a lot of books waiting to be read, and I'm not really looking for a bunch of new books that might be interesting. I guess I'll have to keep checking my list pretty often. I've had four of my initial ten books mooched; I'm inclined not to list any more till I have found one or two to mooch. There's no minimum inventory that I have to retain, is there?

7: Nope, no minimum. :)

No minimum inventory! Some people are frequently down to zero because they only list a few books at a time. I used to keep mine at about fifteen but somehow it's ballooned to about thirty.

I have a number of books on my wishlist that I don't feel all that strongly about, but the local library system doesn't have them so I figure it's better to wishlist them in case a copy comes up. Many of us have a lot of books waiting to be read, too! You'll probably wind up seeing a lot of people reference "Mt. TBR" and the thing to understand is that we are really, really not joking.

>7 Jim53: Another good approach is to post in the A Book Search Among Friends thread – ask, and ye shall receive …

I just grabbed another of your books, Jim - was it an ER book? I'm curious (Dream Lucky). I spotted it on my iGoogle feed of my wishlist RSS - not something I do much, but setting it up was easy and it's a great way to check without logging in all the time.

I started to list a bunch of books recently, and had a batch grabbed at once...so I stopped listing, I have another 40 books to enter but I couldn't afford to send them. When I get this batch out, I'll list a few more.

Cool, I'll make a point of looking at your list in a while, Jennifer. Yes, it was an LT ER book.

In the mean time... I have sent my first five books today; do I need to wait till they're received to use the points? If not, there are one or two books I might mooch. So now I need to figure out how to choose when multiple members are offering the same book. I'm thinking of these factors:

1. condition
2. feedback score (I assume when it's similar to the # of books they've sent out, that's a good sign, right?)
3. do they have another book I want to get at the same time
4. timing is not an issue, so as long as they're in my country, I don't care about location.

What other factors should I consider? Should I prefer to mooch form members who have sent out more books than they've received, or those with lower points, or anything like that? Thanks again for all the help!

I try to mooch closer to home, all other things being equal. As for the rest, your numbered considerations are all good. I wouldn't worry about anything else though.

And, yes, please feel free to mooch away with the points you've earned. Now, if you had just sent out several dozen books, I might suggest that you keep your mooching to a reasonable level until your books start to arrive at their destinations, but you've started so reasonably that you can happily spend all your points. Have fun looking around!

Yes - there have been problems with people who list a bunch of books, have them mooched, and spend all their earned points...some of them are scammers and never send the books, and some perfectly innocent people who fit that basic profile get slammed preemptively by Admin (get their accounts frozen until some of their books arrive). You shouldn't have a problem, since you restrained yourself. But keep it in mind until some of your books arrive and you get feedback (that should keep Admin from seeing you as a problem).

And while I haven't listed my books on Bookmooch, I have listed them here on LT - here's my listing. If you see anything you really want, post here or comment on my profile and I'll list and reserve it for you on BM.

Jim, it's good to look at the numbers on the feedback score, but also take a look at the actual history page. It's nice to see whether people have said anything detailed in their feedback, and also one of the best indicators of any current problems is how much red is on the first page or two. Since red is for lost books, rejected mooches, and +0 or -1 feedback, it's good to pay attention to the red. Most people leave +0 when they cancel, so it doesn't affect the feedback numbers.

... what 15 said. :)

It is usually a good idea to pop over to the book-owner's history page, just to see if they've rejected a lot of mooches, or had a lot of bad feedback. Also, sometimes a quick glance over the feedback can tell you if the books are usually in the condition that was described, if there was trouble with shipping or communication, etc.

Ok, another question. Sorry, I have a tendency to ask loads of questions...

How do you keep organized?

I'm finding that because the 'emails' I might send from the bookmooch site don't get saved in my actual email, and I can't seem to find a record of them anywhere, I'm forgetting who I emailed and who I didn't. If they respond, I have a record of that, but if they never do I am afraid I'll forget I emailed them and send them a repeat message. I am considering getting a small notebook and keeping records of mooches and requests along with status and notes just so I can stay on top of it all. Does anyone do this? Or do you keep track online in some way? Any tips on how to keep it all straight?

I know some people who use notecards or keep those type of things in a word document. Me, I use a desktop program called Stick-It, that I downloaded for free online... It's basically just computer post-it notes. Because real post-its get lost too easily, especially on my messy desk.

I make little Stick-Its for my current shipment, the name and location, so I can see that at a glance... I'll also make a note about any reminders I've sent and when I sent them, etc. And the notes stay on my desktop just like a post-it note would.

#17: I've got a yahoo email addy & all of the emails I get are categorized this way:

**Books that are mooched FROM me: I star/flag them & keep them in my inbox. Very visible.

**Books that I mooch: the requests & "accepts" I put in a folder called books.

**Once I send a book, the email goes into a folder called BookHistory.

**Once I have received the books I've mooched, the emails go into the BookHistory folder as well.

**Any emails I get about books: Once I've read &/or responded to an email (unless I've got to DO something) it goes into the BookHistory folder.

- - - - - -
Another thing that I started doing a few months ago is when I angel mooch, I forward the emails to the person I am mooching for.

Example: Kate (UK) wants the book "Weddings for Dummies" but the BMer who offers it won't send to the UK. When I mooch it for her, I forward the request email to her. When the mooch is accepted, I forward that email to her, too, because it also says when the book is going to be mailed. When I get the "Book is Sent" email, I forward that.

Yes, that is a lot of emailing but it keeps communication open between me (the angel) and Kate (who needs the "Weddings for Dummies" book).

Oh, and when I get the book, I email that I've posted it & reserved it for her.

It's fun to be an Angel!!

#19 Love the example!

Hi,

I also signed up for Bookmooch and listed around 10 books. 6 of them got mooched right away. However, I've been thinking that Bookmooching really is not in alignment with my overall goals: to get rid of the books on my shelves AND save money.

As it turned out I now have to pay around 85 USD to ship the books. On the other hand - even though I have a pretty big wishlist - it seems that there are no books available for me to mooch. And even if there were I will not really SAVE money using the site. Basically I could have thrown my 6 books away and bought 6 brand new titles for less than it costs to send the books internationally. By signing up for Bookmooching I have just recreated the problem: spending money to bring new stuff into my library that I never get around to read. This time I have just no control of what I'm adding to my library. It could be worn books in weird editions etc. That is if I get anything at all in return for the books I'm paying to send out.

That got me thinking and in a moment of panic I just terminated my account. I will of course fulfill my obligations to the persons I have agreed to send books to. Hope I will not get into trouble that way :)

I love the idea of bookmooching but if the main goal is to save money and prune my library it seems like a better solution just to cut my losses, throw the books I don't want anymore away and think twice before making any new purchases.

21: Oh, please don't throw them away! Donate unwanted books to thrift stores or charity or even the library.

I'm sorry you didn't find BookMooch to be rewarding enough to stick around. May I ask how long you were a member? Sometimes it takes a bit of time before wishlist books come up; Having patience can go a long way on BM.

It is true that BM isn't always cost-effective, but it *can* be. If a member sets their account to "ask first" and only agrees to ship internationally every once in awhile, it can be very cost-effective, especially since here in the USA you can send 4 regular-sized mass-market paperbacks in one package for about $3 (media mail).

I think a lot of newbies tend to get overwhelmed, feel that maybe it was a mistake to sign up, and terminate their account "in a moment of panic" as you said. It's sad, because BM can really be a wonderful place to get books.

#22: Oh Heather, I was just trying to stress a point. I will of course not throw books away but donate or give them away.

I'm located in Denmark so it will not make sense to use BM without shipping internationally (EU countries). A very light paperback to the US will cost at least 10 USD to send.

Also, I was searching on BM for hours just to find anything to use my very expensive BM points on. And nothing showed up except: I Am Legend. A paperback in the move tie-in edition. I can get that brand new for around 8 USD including P&P from Amazon.

I have crunched the numbers and it has cost me 85 USD to gain 18 points. That means that every points costs 4.72 USD. As there a very few domestic users in Denmark I will have to use 2 points for every book I mooch. It is 9.44 USD. That's a pretty steep price for a used book in an unknown condition. My basic objection is however, that none of the books I might be interested in seems to be available.

Oooh. Yes, it can get fairly expensive in some non-US places. That is a very common problem on BM.

I really don't know how much you've learned about BookMooch, so please don't think I'm being condescending, just asking a few questions.

Do you know that people add new books all the time? If you can't find anything to mooch at the moment, that doesn't mean there won't be something you want tomorrow, or next week. Searching "for hours" is a very, very short time. When I first joined BM, it took me a few weeks to get in the groove of things, and to find things I wanted to mooch. Now, almost 4 years later, I've mooched over 700 books. Sometimes I'll go stretches of a few weeks without finding anything at all that I want... But patience is key. Those wishlisted books do come up, eventually. And if you browse around you might find books that you would never have found otherwise. But it does take time.

#24: Yeah, I know that books are added all the time. But I just felt a little risky to keep paying for sending your stock (that is in very good condition) out and not being sure if you ever get anything of value in return.

However, my main goal was to get rid of my excess books to free up some energy to read the rest I have on my shelves and in the meantime save some money by not bringing new stuff into my library (or at least controlling the flow). I don't think that bookmooching is in alignment with that initiative. It seems like you have to spend a lot of money, time and energy in order to eventually receive a used paperback that you could have bought brand new for a fraction of the price.

That being said, I do love the basic idea of bookmooching. It just really does not make sense for me with the cost of sending books internationally and with the very limited titles available for mooching.

By the way, Heather, how can you possible read 700 books in 4 years?... :)

Hi!
I'm not sure how postage costs are in Denmark, but maybe you could consider sending books only within Europe, as you'd still get 3 points and usually as the costs are lower it may make more sense per point...

#26: Oh, the 85 USD are for sending the 6 books within the EU :)

And thats before buying envelopes, bubblewrap and boxes to pack the shipments. There's also the hassle of going to the post office that I have not taken into consideration.

Locke, I'm sorry that you had problems finding books to mooch. While I understand that you are in Denmark & there aren't many Danish BMers & that it seems expensive to you to have to send books out....

I've been a member for almost 3 years now. I do send books internationally & I've mooched books internationally, too. Some of my most treasured books are from international mooches. Yes, it can be a little expensive, but I work on controlling my "spending" by not listing all the books I want out of my home. (that's hard to do!)

But, in my three years of BMing, I have mooched almost 300 books a year!! While some of those 300 yearly books are angel mooches & some are for friends or groups I belong to... I have to admit, most are for me... and I have a TBR pile that is more like a mountain that is going to avalanche onto my bed, my desk, my cat and probably bury me. (thank heavens I don't live in an earthquake zone!)

Another quirk I like about being a BMer is the chance to try different books than I might normally read. I feel a little freer to try books because the monetary risk is smaller. I have found books here that I would never have looked at in a bookstore!! and I've enjoyed them immensely! So, for me, there is much joy to be found in the books available.

How do I "maximize" my book searches?

First, I have RSS'd my wishlist. In my case, it is via Google Reader (because I'm lazy). While that isn't as efficient as refreshing my wishlist every 3 minutes or so, I like to go outside & other places without my computer. I do other things beside stalk my wishlist & search the internet for book ideas.

Second, when I mooch from someone, I also check the rest of their inventory. If they have one book that I want, there's a better chance that they may have other books I may want. (good for them because of lower postage costs per book). In fact, yesterday that happened. One of my wishlist books came up & I checked her inventory & found two more books!! I'm a happy moocher.

In that same vein, if I notice that another moocher has posted books in areas I enjoy, I will RSS their inventory page. This way I (usually) get notified any time they add books to their inventory. That behavior feels a little stalkish, but the satisfaction of good books overrides the guilt.

So, finally, I'm sorry that BookMooch didn't meet your needs or expectations, but I have found that any good experience requires practice, patience & learning the best techniques & behaviors. I wouldn't try to learn how to speak a language semi-adequately in a month or a year. I know it will take years to build up knowledge that is automatic to native speakers. I know that as a visitor, I will be noticed because of my accent/pronunciation & because my behavior or looks isn't "usual" to them. While I shouldn't compare BM with learning a language, there is still a learning curve.

Most things worth doing take time learning to do them well.

Again, I'm sorry that BookMooch didn't meet your expectations, but it will still be here if you decide to return.

Good luck with your future book gathering. I hope you find many books to keep you happy & well read.

Hi Skittles,

Thank you for a very informative post :)

I guess you hit the bulls eye with that one. I guess my trouble with BM is not only the financial aspect but also that I don't have the time nor the energy to learn "a new language" right now.

Also, I think that if you need to go into all sorts of strategies in order to use the site it removes the social aspect or the joy of sharing and giving. Take this thread for example:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/89365

Man, did I feel discouraged after reading that thread. I felt like I was paying a lot of money up front just to watch the superusers mooch all the interesting titles for themselves and leaving their crap for the rest of us. That thread was definitely the trigger for me when I decided to terminate my account. Also, all the rant threads takes away the warm fuzzy feeling you get by being able to make another person happy.

Anyway, I'm really trying to cut my expenses AND prune my library to fit my current reading habits. I find that too many books in your TBR-pile can drain you mentally. I would rather read 10 books than have hundreds on my TBR-list. In that particular perspective I think that bookmooching is not really in my best interest right now. That is because I basically increase my spending in order to bring new but somewhat random stuff into my library. My fault, I should have done my research before signing up :)

Again, how can you possible read 300 books a year? Last year I read 27 books and that was a personal best for me.

"Oh, that thread!"

First of all, I block the OP. I don't read what he/she/it says because, IMO, they talk to inflame, not to inform. Some people are like that. They want reaction. I don't provide that satisfaction. I also don't need or want the headache that ensues from reading those posts.

Regarding the "vent/rant" thread: Did you read the first post? Did you see the part that said,

"To the BM Newbie & other visitors: These posts are NOT indicative of the normal BookMooch exchange. These problems arise from differences in standards, languages, abilities & ethics." I would also add, differences in interests.

Yes, some people take advantage of the BM system. Some might say that I do since I "mooch" more than I send, but I go out of my way to angel books & to find books for other BMers. I try to give back to the group. I hope that other feel the same way.

You say you don't want to invest the time BM will take. There are many people here who work more than full time & still manage to find many many books. There are BMers who are housebound & still manage to send & receive books. But, again, it is all a matter of what you choose to do with your time & there are many more important things that BM.

You also live in a large city with many more resources for books than I do. My town has a good but small library. The grocery store & drug store both have a magazine section with a small selection of best selling paperbacks. But no bookstore of any great size. The used bookstore takes special orders, but is very very small. Not good for browsing. I'd have to drive almost an hour to get to a largish bookstore.... an hour and a half to get to the better bookstores. I cannot invest that time.

The condition of the books I receive? It varies and yes, sometimes I am disappointed, but that is a very small percentage of the books I get. Sometimes I really want a book I can take to the beach or the park & not worry if it gets wet or dirty.

Also, I like knowing my books are traveling more than I am... that's why I send books internationally. I like writing PARIS or SYDNEY on my packages. I like tossing books over the US northern border. I like sending books to California or New York City or Wichita.

But you want to prune your library & your budget, and you want to direct your time & resources to books that you know you want. So you are correct; BM isn't right for you.

Good Luck & Happy Reading!

Locke, BookMooch is not for everyone. I joined as a way to get German and French books affordably and have stayed for the culture and because it does make financial sense for me. It is most advantageous for those living in places with low postage rates, many members and/or limited access to the books they want. It sounds like none of these conditions are met for you.

Do you have places that will accept donations of books? If your main goal is simply to get rid of some of your books, a charity may be the best recipient of those books. The charity will benefit and the books will still reach readers. I would hope that you can find a better solution than throwing your books into a landfill! Maybe you could remove the spines and at least recycle the paper?

As for the number of books people read; there are some people on LT who read well over 200 books a year. I'm not sure how they do it, especially since many of the "super-readers" tackle serious and substantial books. It's impressive, isn't it?

As for the number of books people read; there are some people on LT who read well over 200 books a year. I'm not sure how they do it, especially since many of the "super-readers" tackle serious and substantial books.

well, RidgewayGirl, I am 72, retired and AT LAST able to indulge my lifelong passion: reading. Although I am not as fast a reader as many, I still read an average of about 200+ books a year. Although about 1/3 of my reading is history/linguistics and other non-fiction, I can zip through fiction almost as fast as watching a mindless TV series or telefilm and find it infinitely more satisfying. Some of those books were obtained years ago, with the hope that someday I would finally find the time to read them.

I keep a TBR pile of about 100 books to further allow me to pick whatever book or topic that interests me at the moment.. ah, the best of all possible worlds for an old lady whose body is failing, but whose mind is still relatively sharp.

And, as if bookmooch were not enough, I am a dedicated library visitor and regularly peruse the local used book stores and thrift shops for books I always wanted to read, but never had the time. ( and once read, they often go into my bookmooch inventory).

Edited to add: Locke, please keep your account open, even if you don't use it a lot now... think of it as a long-term investment, and eventually those books you would like to have will turn up. They usually have for me. Patience is the name of the game.

Locke, another possibility that you might consider is posting in the Book Search Among Friends thread. If nothing else, it may help you spend the points you've accumulated. Like the others, I'm sorry Book Mooching doesn't seem to be working out for you.

Sooo speaking of newbie bookmoochers, my mom is considering joining!

She has been trying to reduce the number of books she and my dad have, and she thinks I have too many and spend too much on shipping (true statements), so she wants to ship them herself. She's tired of giving them to thrift stores where a lot of them probably just get recycled or worse.

She doesn't want to GET books, but she liked it when I told her she could give her points to one of the many charities on bookmooch.

It probably won't happen until I visit home next which probably won't be until early June. I'll make sure to post in the pimp my inventory thread when she does :)

I received my first two mooched books today! I've sent out seven. I do have the same problem that others have mentioned, not being able to find the books I really want; I have to decide how many others I want to try at basically three or four bucks each, when there are thousands of books in the library. I don't want to list a lot of books and have them all mooched, then wait a long time to find anything I want. I guess my points won't get moldy or stiff if I let them sit there for a while.

ETA: and I forgot the main point of my post--left it out as cleanly as anybody could--which was to say thanks again to all the veterans who have helped me get started. Thanks, y'all!

What is the general protocol for when to email or remind a moocher to ask if a book has been received?

I sent a book on March 14 to someone within the continental U.S., as I am. It was a smallish book, and I am next to positive that it was sent first class. I sent two international books on the same day - one to Malaysia and one to Australia. Both of those have been marked received. The U.S. moocher has logged in as recently as today, but still no mention of the book being received.

Is it too soon to email them and ask if perhaps it arrived and they forgot to log it? Or should I wait it out a bit longer? I really just want to be reassured that it actually did get there. 15 days seems like a long time to go a few states away.

If there's a chance that you sent it media mail, I would wait until a month has passed. If you're sure that you sent first class, then I would send a cheerful and friendly email asking them to check if maybe they missed receiving it in the general thrill of having it in their hands. I've had good luck with that approach, since it doesn't blame anyone for anything other than happiness at getting a book.

In general, a personal email is much friendlier than an official reminder.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will wait a while, then, since I can't be positive I sent it first class.

I just posted a bunch of books a few days ago and most have been mooched already. Now I am looking for books to mooch. I hope the ones of I've requested arrive quickly. There seem to be some "horror" stories about people waiting months to post books on this page!

I just joined book mooch, but I do belong to another book exchange service. I have found that even media mail books *usually* arrive in about 8 days. So perhaps it wouldn't hurt to send a friendly email.

Welcome to BookMooch & LibraryThing, AliceMeg!!

Is it possible to output my wish list as an easy-to-print file?

Jim, in the drop-down menu on your wishlist, there is an "export wishlist" option, and that should create a text file for you. It's fairly far down on the menu, I think. :)

I find it can be a little difficult to read with all the text smushed together, but it has ISBN, author, and title. I think some people manage to output and make an Excel spreadsheet but I've never figured it out.

**bumpity**

I have a problematic situation and need advice from more experienced moochers.

I mooched two books from an American BM'er in January. As of today the books haven't arrived (I currently live in Wales and have received other BM books to this address). The person sent me a reminder in February, and although I remember sending her a reply, she says she never got it and I can't find it in my sentbox either. So, at the end of last month she marked the books as received. I emailed her immediately and apologised for the lost email, asking about a possible cancellation of the forced receival.

She hasn't got back to me, and so I thought I'd ask for suggestions here. Can the mark-as-received thing be reversed? Four points is a lot to a new moocher ... What's more, I'm still expecting the books to come at some point. The FAQ states that the maximum waiting time before marking anything as lost is four months when the BM'ers are in different countries. Four months aren't up yet.

Welcome, Tulimeeria!

I'm fairly sure that forced rec'ds cannot be "undone" but since did 'remind' you, it set a clock starting so she could FR the book.

Look at her feedback & if she seems to have a lot of FR's, then click the "abuse" notification button for them to look at her account. It is not saying that she is abusing the system & you should say that, but that you'd like them to look at her history & see if she is hitting the FR button a little too much.

Good Luck & I'm hoping your book really shows up. When it does, check the postmark to see when it actually was mailed. (I think you can still leave feedback on a FR book)

45: Tulimeeria

I don't even know how she managed that; as you say, a book should not be allowed to be marked 'forced-received' until after four months from the date the book was SENT. Which these aren't.

You certainly could, and most definitely should, contact admin and ask for help - query why the system allowed this before the correct amount of time had elapsed and what to do if you do NOT receive the books.

Another welcome...enjoy!

Thanks, guys -- I emailed support, or whoever it is that reads the abuse reports. Meanwhile the sender has also replied to my email, saying that she's asked about reversing forced receivals before and it can't be done. I noticed she's forced receivals very rarely, except for last January, where there were two other cases aside from me. *taps nose*

She's offering me half my points back, but I dunno. I want to see what suggestions support might have first, maybe the received could be changed to lost instead or something.

OK, I've added info to the first post of this thread.

I've added a request to post books via ISBN. Please read & give opinions. Just because I wrote it doesn't mean it is gospel or perfect or anything else....

Also, is there anything else that I should add?
Is there anything I should change? for clarity or grammar or simplicity?

Keep in mind that my "guidelines" for writing instructions like this are: Keep It Short & Simple, Write so non-native English speakers can understand it, Don't make it too long... people don't like reading long instructions... even when all the information is good & nice & helpful & pleasant to read.

Thanks to all for making this a really helpful thread!!

Nicely said, skittles.

Oh yes, posting by ISBN makes life better for everyone.

i'm not exactly a newbie to Bookmooch since i had an account several years ago, but i just signed up again because i'm doing a massive purge of stuff i don't really need.

i liked BM when i was on before and only deactivated my account because my books were all in boxes and i was traveling. but, now that i'm back on, i'm remembering some of the things that frustrated me.

like everyone else seems to be saying, i'm having almost NO luck finding anything i'd care to mooch. i know i'm a bit edition specific sometimes, but there are also a lot of things i added just because they sound readable and i still only had 1 book out of 142 that was available. i've had 19 books mooched (which i have been very clear to point out will take up to 3 weeks to get sent), and i'm happy to get rid of more books than i get back, but i don't want to spend money on shipping and have NOTHING to show for it...

i think i'm going to hold out judgement for at least a month. by then i will have sent the books that have already been mooched and hopefully some that i want will have become available.

on another note: does anyone know how commonly people post cookbooks to be mooched? i wouldn't guess it was terribly frequent, but hoped someone might have actually noticed something along those lines.

> 52 I posted one for slow cookers that I've never used and was amazed that it was snapped up immediately. I had no idea! Your best bet is to check your wishlist daily and not wait for email notifications. I also turn on twitter and watch the stream of recently added books (only when I'm bored!) and if I see something interesting, I check out the person's inventory and wishlist. Found a great crime series by doing that.

52: Welcome back to BookMooch!

I don't know about cookbooks in general, but I know that they are posted sometimes. Maybe not frequently, though. I always grab some cookbooks to post, when I'm at the thrift store, because they are usually mooched quickly.

It does take awhile for a wishlisted book to pop up, sometimes, but it usually evens out over time. I've had multiple books become available at once, and then a few weeks will go by with nothing. It also largely depends on what the books are, if they are rare, out of print, or currently very popular...

Check your wishlist often, maybe browse around for similar books you might like, and have fun!

>52 leahbird: Since cookbooks are fairly heavy not as many people are willing to post them, but they do get posted. They also go quickly, so it's probably a good idea to do a search for cookbooks whenever you're logged in.

You can always try to get an angel for the books that have been posted but are from domestic-only moochers, since you have a few books that are available from other countries. If you're really feeling picky about editions for those, that's probably the way to go.

Speaking of edition pickiness, though, did you really want a paperback of Summerland, or is hardcover okay? I've only held off posting my copy for money reasons.

>52 leahbird: FWIW, I've recently listed some cookbooks here. No idea if they appeal, but still.

Edited to fix html.

And if you do specifically want a paperback of Summerland, I might have one available.

thanks for all the messages of support everyone! this is why i love LT.

i posted Summerland because it's been lounging in my "to read" wishlist for a while now, but it wasn't something i was actively looking for. so, on that one, i'm not picky about edition. then again, i hesitate to ask someone to post it when i'm feeling so ambivalent.

my mooch requests are now at 34 books in 2 days. don't know if it's just because everyone's checking out a new account or if i magically have really HOT ticket books. needless to say, i'm feeling swamped. i only posted 50 of the approximately 200 books i need to get rid of thinking that would be a safe start. boy was i wrong.

eta: i've now deleted the books that haven't already been requested so i don't get any more. i was very clear when i accepted any requests that it could be a month or more before i get all the books out, but i'm feeling guilty. i shouldn't have accepted half of these but i hate to say no when i know so many people are avidly looking for books and they are just sitting on my shelf.

Yes, that's the hardest thing for a new person -- to really, really, truly not list more books than they can send at one time. Everybody expects only a few to be mooched, and probably that's true much of the time, but I think that we lose newbies who become discouraged at having to pack up and mail out so many books at once.

So don't give up, atlargeintheworld, and keep chipping away at your 'to be sent'. You will be happy for all those points later!

well, thanks to the stupid bookstore chain in my town, i feel better about BM today.

since i was feeling so overwhelmed by the cost of shipping all my BM books, and since i had about 50 movies to get rid of as well, i loaded up 3 boxes of DVDs and books and went to see what i could resell. i had called last night and was told that DVDs were usually bought for $1-$4 each, which i was very pleased with.

first off, the lady at customer service was thoroughly NOT thrilled to see me coming. she was rather short about the whole thing. she told me to go browse and she'd call me "in a while" when she was done "sorting" my things.

so i went and browsed. after about 45 mins, she called me up and offered me $80 store credit or $50 cash. i was a bit shocked, seeing as how i had brought in about 90 books and 50 DVDs.

i asked, "did you take everything?" since there were no boxes in sight. i had really expecting a list of what they were buying and for what prices, but that obviously wasn't happening.

she said "most of it is still in your boxes" and points to my boxes that are now sitting by the door. i opened them and they looked pretty full... and completely ransacked.

so i said i'd just take the cash. i was thinking $50 wasn't bad since they seemed to have only taken a handful of items.

i got home and started checking what was still in the boxes against LT and my movie database. well, THANK GOD I'M A CATALOGING NERD! i was SHOCKED to find that they'd bought 27 books and 35 DVDs from me. 62 items for $80 (since that's the real figure) comes out to around $1.20 an item. but i knew there were several things in that group that had to have brought in quite a bit more than that, so most things must have been very cheap.

i called because i was getting so worked up about the whole thing. the guy i talked to tonight was MUCH more helpful but i still feel like i got ripped off. firstly, the girl i spoke to on the phone was an IDIOT. they buy most things for $.25. had i been told that, i wouldn't have even gone in. secondly, they should have to tell you exactly what they are buying and for how much. i know that if i were that employee that i would have at least asked if they wanted that information. maybe some people don't care, but obviously come people do. how hard is it to jot those things down as you go if your computer program isn't set up for it?

how hard would it have been to say "we're buying 62 items from you today and mostly giving you nothing in return"? well, you know what i mean.

lesson learned: just don't do that again. even though BM can be overwhelming and FEEL like it's costing you a fortune to send books, there will be a return, even if you have to wait a little while, that is worth a LOT more than $1.20/item.

sorry for the rant. i'm still a little miffed.

Wow. That really sucks! I agree, even if they are basically ripping you off, how hard would it be for them to tell you exactly what they were taking and such?

I've had bad experiences trying to re-sell and trade at the local bookstore, as well. The local used bookstore has a huge sign out front "will take all trades" (or at least it did, when I went in to trade...). So I took in a huge box of Mary Higgins Clark books with a few older history novels, and I was told that they won't take *any* of them because they already have too many of that type. They barely even looked at the box!

Same here. I can donate books to charity much easier than selling them locally. That's one reason why I joined Bookmooch....

that's pretty much what i told my mom when i called her all in a fury. the movies i didn't care selling, even pretty cheap (although $.25 is just insulting) but at that price i would have rather donated the books to the library or something. it's the idea of them giving me $.25 for something they are going to sell for $5 that's irritating. at least if i donated them to the library or a charity i'd feel good about it.

I'm posting this here because I'm asking for Aunt Jen... I know how I would handle it but she doesn't feel comfortable with my opinion.

Someone from Canada has mooched from her and when Aunt Jen checked out her profile, she says in her status that as of this year, she won't mail in-country. She has rejected a lot of Canadian mooches with the reason "it's too expensive". I say that Aunt Jen should reject her mooches with the same reasoning but she doesn't want to do that... she wants to write her an email and ask why she feels comfortable mooching from her own country when she won't send to them. I think that's asking for trouble.

Opinions?

Oh dear.

Personally, I believe if you are asking others to do something (like asking Canadians not to mooch from you) you should respect other Canadians and not mooch from them either. I mean, the postage is bad for us all. That is why I always try to find a second mooch, or smooch the person once the book is sent. I ask for two mooches (2 points) so others should also get 2 points from me. It's fair.

Is sending an email asking for trouble? Possibly. But I also think that it could be very illuminating as to her reasoning. I mean it really should be a respect thing. If the moocher knows how bad the postage is, why on earth are they asking someone else to pay out?

The problem with not sending to her because she won't send to you is the rather slippery slope that it sits on. Especially with all those people who will only send to people who send worldwide....

#64: The moocher cannot refuse in-country mooches. She can request an additional mooch, but cannot refuse, even in Canada.

I'm almost with Aunt Jen in this situation. I would email her, but I would accept the mooch & then send a note separate from the acceptance.... although I would be tempted to make the question public.

I would probably say something like:
- - -
Hi! I've accepted your mooch & will be sending it out ****. But, I have a question: If you don't accept Canadian/domestic mooches, why do you mooch from fellow Canadians who have the same postal problems & costs that you have?

My question is not a punitive one, but one of curiosity. I don't understand the why of your actions & I would really like to understand.

and Thank you for mooching from me!!

PS: The book is really good!!
- - - -

I would be really tempted to ask if she thinks that I have more money to spend than she does or if she thinks that she has the privilege of refusing that others don't have. But that would really be asking for a fight!!

Thanks for the great feedback!

Aunt Jen decided that since the majority of this person's points were earned before she changed her policy, she's going to send the books. She's much more laid-back than I am!

I think that's an excellent way to keep your mooch ratio down however :)

Actually you CAN refuse a mooch in-country - in certain countries only like Canada, Australia, Russia and I can't think of the other country off-hand- if the postage is too expensive.

Mark was continually reinforcing this in many of our threads. If local postage is too expensive it is a valid reason for rejecting a local mooch and will be accepted by BM.

It does become a slippery slope if you ask why I think. They may have a lot less income than you to start with...etc...

I suggest: if your Aunt Jen is happy to send, then send; if your Aunt Jen is not happy to send then reject the mooch due to financial cost. Don't get into a ruckus about WHY - it is a used book only and the cost of postage should reflect that. IMHO!

But this moocher is quite within her rights to act as she is...maybe not in the opinions of some but technically she is.

ETA: it is exactly the same as non-international senders requesting from other countries - some find that unfair; others just love getting the three points. I can sympathise with this member as I am in the same situation; but I personally hate long, long delays before a mooch is sent, as I never do that with my requests - except when waiting for a book to send.

It is definitely horses for courses!

66: No offence skittles!!
Not intending to gainsay you...

Everything you say in your post is excellent advice, IMO. I'd also like to know WHY?

Okay, I'm not a newbie or anything but I didn't want to start a new thread for this.

The "give a little" thing on BookMooch. Does anyone know if they accept money orders? The page (http://bookmooch.com/m/give_a_little) shows how to pay by Paypal, and it also says "or mail a check to", but doesn't mention money orders.

(despite all the ruckus and controversial changes lately, I still love BM dearly, and this is the first time in the 4 years I've been a member that I've actually had a little extra money that could be donated...)

Heather, if they take checks I'm sure they take money orders as well.

Hi all!

What's the protocol for giving points back to a moocher when you've offered two books for one point? Do you use the charity feature to give their point back, or is there another way? Also, when do you give it back? I think I get the point as soon as they mooch, so I'm thinking I should return it at acceptance or soon thereafter, but not sure of the accepted practice. Thanks!

73: Charity or two smooches -- either works fine. When I do deals, I always give the point after I have marked the book as sent. Otherwise, there's always the possibility that they will cancel the mooch, and you'll be out the points.

>74 ljbryant: - I hadn't thought about them cancelling the mooch. Thanks so much for the tip!

>73 mlnelson01:

What ljbryant said.

I make exceptions in some cases for returning points early. For instance, if it's a moocher I recognize from here or if it's someone who has solid feedback but is short on points.

Hi, I'm new, and I put up a book, with the status, ask me if I'll ship to your country. Well, today, somene asked if I would ship to the US. (I'm a HS student with no allowence, and all money locked in the bank) and the cheapest I could find was $8.35 and that's if my measurement and weighing were right. Do you think it would be worth it to send this 1 hardcover book to someone who only ships in the US? I'd like to, since I want to get these books off my hands so I can get ones that I want, but I'm not sure...advice?

Welcome to BookMooch!

Many of us here have limited money to spend on postage, and it's a good idea in general to work out how much you will be able to spend per week/month/whatever, and go from there. For example, if you can only afford $10 at a time, then $8.35 for one package may not be worth it. But you *do* get 3 points for an international mooch, so if you can spare the money, you may want to think about it.

I would like to point out that the moocher only shipping to the US is irrelevent. It's against the rules to reject a mooch because of shipping ability/status.

Ok. And since the Canadian post is down, it wouldn't go out yet anyway. So accepted it :)
And I just wanted to mention that, becuase it would make me wonder whether the shipping was worth it or not to me when they wouldn't do so for me. Besides, it's a library discard book that I got for free, so points and requested book being free for me is balanced by the cost of shipping, I think it's worth it. Thanks!

Welcome to the club! :)

This is going to sound really ridiculous, but there is a good chance that it will be less expensive (or about the same) for you to send that book to the US than to send it within Canada, and you'll get three points instead of one. Hooray for Canada Post! If you have questions about shipping while being Canadian, there are a whole bunch of Canadians on the group who have quite a lot of experience between them.

You'll probably run into a lot of people who only send domestically (especially from the United States) but just remember that everyone has their own life situation. In fact, most of the US-based teenagers I've come across on BookMooch only sent domestically because that was all they could afford! Anyway, if you want a book from another country and the person won't send to Canada, there are definitely people who will act as intermediaries for you. That's what the BookMooch Angel thread is about.

>78 Heather19: Heather, it's important for people to know the rules about shipping status, but there's no requirement to give a reason for saying no to an ask first. In fact, I don't think there's even a way to send a message with the response. There are just "yes" and "no" buttons.

80: I know that, but I think it's better to know the rules in general upfront. Especially since the rules aren't exactly obvious on the website itself, and I've seen newbies get in trouble for things they honestly didn't know about. I'd rather just tell them upfront.

Welcome, ipcoolirl!
One thing not yet mentioned – it's perfectly ok to require someone to mooch a second book from you if one is a heavy hardcover. This only helps if your shipping charges aren't based on weight, but it can be a way of making your postage go further.

Anyone else got any tips for maximising the points per postage-cost ratio?

(edited for spelling – earthquake brain.)

>81 Heather19: Oh, for sure. It's just that people also need to know they don't have to explain themselves if they say no to an ask first! I think my brain read in a lot more stern emphasis than you actually intended (as opposed to "hey, heads up!") since I know how strongly you feel about this one. It's been a long week and my brain's kind of going off on its own at this point. :)

Welcome, lpcoolgirl!!

As a suggestion for budgeting & money & shipping costs, think of each BM point as being worth a set amount of money. That is what I do.

In the US, using "media mail" rates for shipping books, sending one book in a package is approximately $2.50 to $3.00 USD. That is the guideline I use in deciding whether I should send a book internationally. Sometimes it is more than that & I may still send it because there are times when I've sent books at a much lower cost/point ratio.

And, as others have mentioned, a good idea is to set a budget for postage for each month or so and only post as many books as you can reasonably afford to send in a month. The suggestion is to start with 10 books, but you can start with less & still be fine! If at the end of the month, you still have books in your inventory & know you can afford to send 5 books that month, add 3 books, wait & then add 2 more a week later. (someone may still want one of your previously posted books, so add books carefully!!) If you've reached your spending limit, then temporarily remove your books from your inventory so you don't have to have give LONG delays! A month's delay is probably fine, but if you find yourself needing longer delays, pull back for a bit. I'm not saying that long delays are bad, just trying to keep you (& others) from getting in over their head.

lpcoolgirl, you can also add a link to your inventory on BookMooch on your LT profile page so we can look & grab the good books you have posted. But this is not mandatory, just a help for you. (and yes, I don't have my inventory linked, but I'm weird & really private... and usually nice, but not always)

and the Canadian moochers here are absolutely GREAT!! and helpful & sweet & just the bestest!! They will gladly help you out & give pointers & suggestions & good stuff like that!!

So, again, Welcome to BookMooch & the BookMooching group!!

Welcome!

As a Canadian, let me just tell you that Canada Post sucks, and not just because I'm not getting my books right now!

Most books to the USA fall into a range between $8.35 & about $12.15. In comparison, sending within Canada starts at about $9.50, and you only get one point. I find that sending mmpb's around the world to be far cheaper than sending within Canada. (I did a comparison on a thread here when Canada Post last raised their rates if you want more exact info).

Advice? I would ask for 2 mooches minimum within Canada, and send away worldwide as funds permit. You get more points, which allows you to mooch from others around the world. With more points, gets you access to more books.

Angels will become your best friends as well. For all those who will not send to Canada, there is an angel who is more than willing to mooch the book on your behalf, list it, and then you mooch it from the angel. It might take a couple more weeks, but you get your book.

Feel free to ask away on here. There are plenty of us who are more than willing to help you out.

Not sure whether this is the best place to ask but how long can mail from the UK to the USA take over-ground? I know it can be a long time but I sent something on May 13th and it hasn't arrived yet and I'm not sure whether to be worried or not. More likely not, but if you don't ask you don't find out!

#86: as short as a week. as long as 8 weeks... or longer.

from may 13th? I'd say keep waiting a few weeks.

sometimes things get backed up... but if they haven't checked in awhile, send them a reminder so you can eventually force-receive it.

Thanks skittles! I thought that was the case, I'll leave it a few more weeks and see how it goes.

My experience for UK-USA surface mail is 6-8 weeks, although small (one-book) parcels to the USA (very rarely Canada) often seem to get on boats with wings and get there in a week.

Yeah, anything other than the lightest of light books seem to go to Mars and back first so I wouldn't worry for another 2 weeks.

And remember this is the time of year when people go on vacation. Add another two weeks, just in case your book arrives the day after the moocher leaves for two weeks on the beach.

how do you deal with a moocher who you've sent a book to and they have put their account on vacation? i sent them a reminder AND an email. it's been a month since i sent the book and all the others i sent at that time have been received weeks ago. i don't want to mark it lost because i feel like it's not lost, but i don't know how else to get this out of pending. advice?

Have you sent an "official reminder"?

Just send one & then approximately six weeks after, a "force received" button comes available & you can click that & get it off your pending page.

Frustrating? Yes, but everyone who joins BM, learns patience ..... whether they want to or not.

@92 A while after the last BM reminder you sent (you must have used the "official" reminder function), you'll see a button appear next to this book in your pending page, to force receipt of it.

Further communications in the meanwhile should be held through emails as new reminders reset the clock. And while this allows you to keep your point and close the exchange, you still don't want to do it if you can avoid it, as this book won't count toward your ratio of given books.

thanks for the tips. that is really annoying. that was one of the heavier books i've sent too, so it cost me more $$.

i did send an "official reminder," so i guess i just need to wait for the button to pop up. i waited 3 weeks before reminding the moocher, but well after all the other books were received i sent the reminder. that was 11 days ago, so i guess it's going to be a while before i can clear it.

Just be patient. It might even be that the moocher hasn't marked it received because they are actually on vacation. It doesn't hurt to wait.

#96 by RidgewayGirl> i thought that at first (and it may still be the case) but then i read her status message and got a little worried. apparently she had just reactivated her account because she was a student and didn't have time/money for sending out books. now she has 4 pending books from that period in early July right after reactivation (a couple of which are books that she's agreed to send out) and her account is back on vacation.

i'm not really upset if she's bailed, so long as i get the point for sending the book. i'm just frustrated at having to look at it on my pending page for so long. it's one of the few things i'm anal about and it's irritating me. i understand that people deserve time to get around to updating, but i'm impatient in a case such as this.

i will have to try to be more zen about it...

What's more zen than wanting a nice, blank, pending page?

I have a question/problem: Due to finances, I have to be "ask first" on Book Mooch. I weigh requests when they come and look up the prices on Canada Post and see how my budget is.

There are quite a few people who ignore the "ask first" aspect of the process. They "ask" but then they mooch. In the past I've just been rejecting those requests with the reason that I didn't have a chance to think about it but then I got concerned with all the rejections on my account. I reported each person who did it to the admins and they told me to ask the people to cancel, rather than reject.

So last night I did as they told me to do and the person left my first negative feedback!! I was really upset so I hit the abuse button. I ended up getting back a really long letter from the admins telling me that I was reporting too often and reporting long-time members who had never had a problem before.

So because of this, I get negative feedback that can't be changed? Does this make sense? Now I'm scared to contact the admins again over anything but I've seen people lose their accounts. I have around 170 points.

I love book mooch because I honestly do like sending out books and knowing others are enjoying them. I just don't understand why someone can break the rules, leave negative feedback when they are told about it and I end up in the wrong. Any help would be appreciated.

Don't fuss about negative feedback. Most of us have some & know that sometimes negative feedback is unjustified.

Put in your status that sometimes you do send internationally, but you have to check the costs first but you will reject if they mooch before you have replied to them. Say it nicely & most will read & listen & obey.

It is sad to say that, on a site dedicated to books & reading, PEOPLE DON'T READ!!

Good Luck & Happy Mooching!

Definitely agree with skittles. It's really sad and frustrating, but a lot of people DON'T READ and DON'T THINK on BookMooch. Admin has stated multiple times that it is NOT okay to mooch an ask-first request without hearing from the book owner. The ideal would be to get them to cancel the request, but rejecting because of that will not affect your status on BookMooch as long as you note in the feedback why you rejected.

I also don't get the whole admin saying you were reporting too often thing. It sounds like someone was grumpy! I report fairly often myself, and I've been blessed to only have good communication with them. Reporting someone who is breaking the rules or leaving unfair feedback is NOT a bad thing and should never be discouraged, imo.

>99 olegalCA: If you haven't already, go back to that transaction and leave a feedback note saying that the member mooched without waiting for the ask first response and that you requested that they please cancel. If it is clear what happened, anyone looking at the feedback will realize you were not in the wrong in this case. In the future, go ahead and reject, don't worry about the numbers, and be sure to leave a public comment stating that the member mooched without waiting for the ask first response. If you have in your status message that you may reject mooches from members who don't respect the ask first, no one will question the number of rejections.

99 I'm sorry to hear that. Some moochers just don't listen to reason- or read, apparently!

#103: or they think the rules don't apply to them, just to everyone else.

(okay, totally not a newbie, but....)

Is it considered a no-no to put in the condition notes "prefer to ship international" for a particularly heavy book?

I have 3 books that would cost $4 or so each to send domestic. That's definitely more then I usually spend on domestic, and I'd rather ship them international to feel like the cost/point ratio is worth it. But I have no idea if that's allowed or not. I wouldn't reject a domestic mooch, of course, but...

105: I don't think so, but I don't know. I've seen plenty of people say that they will only send a certain book within their country due to weight. So I don't think there would be a problem with the reverse... and I know plenty of Canadians who do say international only.

>105 Heather19: I do this with big trade paperbacks (which would be $11 to mail domestically for me). Sometimes people respect that request.

I would guess no, because at least within the US, we can't require extra points or multiple mooches. You can try, with the risk of someone who wants it and isn't international notifying abuse.

>105 Heather19: I don't think that's a problem if you still leave some option to allow for local mooches, like having the heavier books be part of a 2 or more books mooch.

The heavier books I prefer to send international OR not alone if to own country, so far everyone has been playing nice.

>105 Heather19:, 108
But doesn’t it still get tolerance under the ‘you may refuse on the grounds of postage costs’ rule?
That certainly seemed to be TPTB’s attitude when I had a run-in with someone who refused my local mooch on postage cost grounds (and then left retaliatory feedback … but that’s a whole ’nother bottle of blood pressure medication.)

TPTB don't seem to care much, I highly doubt you could get in any sort of trouble for that.

**bumpity bump bump bump**

man oh man, i just had a such a stupid issue. don't know why i assumed that the mass import would put books on my WISHLIST but i just accidentally added 63 books to my inventory. within about 2 hours, 29 of those had mooch requests. i'm totally going to end up getting flagged for abuse after rejecting 29 mooches in a row...

113> I knew so many wishlist hits at once had to be too good to be true. ;)

>113 leahbird:

You're definitely not the first person to do that. Make note of it in all of your rejection notices, I doubt abuse will do anything terrible to you. The best thing you can do for the people who requested your books is communicate with them. It's not so bad when someone lists a book by mistake and then immediately rejects the request. It's bad when they hold on to the request for a month, spend the points, then reject it!

#113: It happens... we are human after all and computers make life easier but more complicated....

but just remember:

you did make people happy for a short time...

even if they were slightly disappointed later...

they were happy! you did make people happy.

bella- i know! i was so sad to have to cancel all your mooches!

skittles- thanks! that's a positive spin.

i did explain why i was rejecting in all the notes. a couple people have emailed me since, bummed but appreciative of the situation and that i got back to them quickly.

It's not like it's something new - that's way too easy an error to make (and not only for newbies). Quick catch and quick cancel are appreciated.

can anyone tell me how to deal with receiving the wrong format book? i've tried to find the info on BM, but i'm not having any luck. not only did i get a paperback instead of a hardcover, but it's spine is in TERRIBLE shape and the endpapers are plastered with someone's name. i know i can rate the transaction -1, but i'm pretty upset and would really like my point back. is that possible?

>119 leahbird:

Only if the sender decides to send it back I believe... There is no automatic way that will refund you the point (besides marking it lost but this is cheating the system)...

You could email the sender and ask for your point back. If they don't respond quickly and appropriately, you can give the transaction -1 and explain in the comment exactly why. But do give them an opportunity to make it right first (and if they do give the point back, you could rate it 0 or +1 and again mention in the comment why).

>119 leahbird: double check that there wasn't anything in the condition notes indicating a different edition. Then I would email the sender and explain your disappointment. See what they say.

I triple checked. There were no condition notes at all.

I sent him a message and he agreed to smooch me the point since he didn't realize that he had used the wrong isbn and therefore the wrong format. And then there was a lengthy note about how the condition of the book shouldn't be a problem as books are free and should be welcome however they arrive (I've seen this opinion many times on BM) and that if I was looking for "like new" books I shouldn't be looking on BM. I tried to make the point that it's common practice (and curtsey) to list information on condition if a book isn't gently used, but I didn't beleaguer the point.

"free books"!!

BAH!!!! GRRR!!!!

)&*%#$!@$^$@*&^&!!!!!!!!!!

exactly my sentiments. alas, some people seem to think postage doesn't costs anything.

eta: i can, i guess, understand their point and if those are the books they want then that is perfectly fine. but what's the harm in condition notes and letting people make informed decisions about which books to mooch? it takes little to no time at all.

*haaaaates that excuse*

Yeaaaah, I usually can't be polite when it comes to that, and usually end up saying something like "Free, really? Would you kindly show me how to ship books out for free?? I'd love to get in on that! I've been spending $20-40 a month to earn these points!! You mean there is a free way?!"

.... Yeah. I'm not good at being polite when something pushes a button like that.

It's rare to run into inaccurate condition notes, but I just received a book whose condition notes mentioned only that this was an older book, which I knew. What was not mentioned was that the book is falling apart and that the cover was ripped off and refastened with a piece of brown tape. It's a book that really should have just been thrown away.

Why on earth misrepresent a book in the condition notes?

#127: so someone will mooch it & get it out of the person's house/apartment/massive-book-pile. Some people think that since they will accept a book in any condition, that everyone should accept a book in any condition. "a book is a book is a book is a book..... "

*grumbles* Yeah, been there. I've left feedback to that fact before, as well, basically stuff like "condition notes said "great condition" but failed to mention the cover was coming off and there was pen-markings in the book" and such.

I definitely don't get why anyone would take the time to put condition notes, and yet *not* put *accurate* condition notes. I get the whole "a book is a book" thing that some people have going on, but then why put condition notes at all?

I have been getting quite a few emails from BM bounced back to me over the past week or so. I have found that by forwarding the message on to the intended person, using the same email address in the undeliverable email, works just fine.

Not exactly sure what is up with that, but hey... whatever works!

#130: Same thing here. I mooched some books from the same person & I got the bounced email back. I PM'd her here & all is well.

But, yes, weird!!

131: There was a thread on the BM forums about people not recieving notifications of mooches or ask firsts. I'm wondering if this is related. Either way, I sent tech support an email asking them to look into it.

Huh. Sounds like people are marking BM mails spam - and some email providers (receivers) are believing that and auto-bouncing. Sigh. If that's the problem, need to find out which spam-lists are blacklisting BM and get them to whitelist it (or at least take it off the blacklist).

It is simply BM sending from the name of a valid mail - which for most servers is considered not kosher. So when they put the restrictions a bit up, the BM mails start bouncing. So I doubt it is really a blacklist - it just goes in cycles like that

Nope. Emails from BM have suddenly stopped reaching me. I have not touched my spam filters, except to allow all traffic from BM, which I did some time ago, and all my BM mail was reaching me in my inbox -- I do check my spam folder regularly. So I opened an account just for BM mail and have not received anything there.

I'm waiting for BM to get back to me.

>135 RidgewayGirl:

Not yours - the generic ones on the servers. I am in yahoo mainly, I do not touch my spam filters for the most parts. Occasionally when they upgrade something, half the mails I had been receiving just fine before that start landing in the spam folder or being rejected (because they are considered spoofing). Might still be BMs server of course...

136: Well the reply I recieved from admins blamed my hotmail, which is sending and recieving fine.

The individuals I have encountered problems with all have vastly different domains. I would point the problem towards the BM servers. It just seems more likely than several different companies changing their filters at the same time.

Unless the several different companies all rely on the same spam-lister, who has put BM on the list. Dunno, but it gets seriously annoying...

*is now all worried that she may have missed BM emails that got bounced back*

Very strange, how it's happening to so many people at once.

I had one request, six(?) months ago - that I never got an email on. It was just luck I checked my Pending page and saw the request there. We then emailed back and forth, directly and through BM, and never had a problem - but it was very disconcerting.

I've had it happen in the past where I don't get request emails at all, but I usually check my pending page pretty regularly, so it hasn't been a problem thus far. It just really stinks for those who don't log in often.

Admin got back to me and told me that it was a problem with my German-based email provider, but then told me in a subsequent email that the new email address I opened specifically for BM stuff is with a site that also does't work with BM. They have suggested using only gmail or yahoo, which is just annoying.

that is too funny; i have a gmail account and experienced issues with not getting BM emails as well

Okay, personal experince with admins regarding this issue. If you have any problems, report it and include any undeliverable messages in your report.

Until they hear from people other than RWG's domain, they will not accept that there is a problem with any of the larger domains.

Thank you.

WOW!! This thread had almost disappeared. I'm glad that I had a question to ask the group!!

A book on my wishlist popped up & (darnit) it was already reserved for someone!!

The member with the book is set to "ask if not my country" with the notes in her status saying that heavier books cannot be sent overseas.

My query for the group is that this book is a trade paperback (set of short stories) and I am tempted to email her to say that I would like it if she doesn't want to send it over an ocean.

I would like feedback from US AND non-US members. (I am sure that non-US members would be miffed to find out someone did this to them)

I wouldn't do it. Wouldn't it be the equivalent of asking someone to cancel a mooch and send you the book? If they decline, you can hop right on it.

You _might_ send an email saying you're interested and if the person it's reserved for doesn't take it you'd love to mooch it... not trying to snitch it from the person it's reserved for, but I've picked up a couple when a reservation expired with no mooch, and missed more (because I didn't notice when the reservation expired and someone else got it). But no, I wouldn't say anything that sounded like I was trying to grab it out from under a reservation.

#146: I agree, that's why I was asking here... the temptation is too great!!

#147: That sounds like a great way to word it!!

I'll check again tomorrow to see if it was accepted for mooching or not, then I'll send the nice message....

Well - sometimes a book that is heavier still can make it over an ocean if the two members work out an understanding - involving another mooch, a book coming the other direction and so on... So I would not do anything with a reservation still valid

Annie, you are right... it is better to wait, so I will.

I don't think there's anything wrong with letting the person know that you are interested in mooching if the other transaction falls through. If you want to be absolutely scrupulous, you could suggest ways to make the existing mooch request work, like those suggested by #149.

**bumpity, bump, bump, bump, , , BUMP!!**

**bump bump**

And wow... clicked on add books today by accident and found the following message... has this been there long?

"On average, about one-third of the books added will get a mooch request within a day.
If you don't want to have to postal mail too many books at once, consider adding 10 books at a time.

An email will be sent to people whose wishlist matches books you are giving away. "

I'll add my advice to bump this up:

If you have a lot of books to add to your inventory and are deciding which ones to post, add them by topic, So all books that fit are similar get posted at the same time. This will get you more multiple mooches, saving you postage and possibly getting rid of books that are not wishlisted if a moocher goes through your inventory.

This generally works only once in awhile, but if you are lucky, you will find one person mooching all your recently posted books.

And, no matter how many books you have and how excited you are to join or how much experience you have with other book trading sites, put no more than ten books up on your inventory to begin with. While you may only have a few books requested from you at the start, it's equally likely that you'll have most of your inventory requested within a few hours of signing up.

Do not list more books than you are prepared to package up, take to the post office and pay postage for.

**bumpity**

just to remind ourselves that we were once a newbie, too...

"been there. done that, too."

Not a newbie to LT at all, but I just joined Bookmooch. On LT, you'd know me if you're in the 12 in 2012 challenge, I used to do Books off the Shelf, What are you reading now, and a few other groups but have found I don't always have enough time to be active in a lot of groups. I'm a dog trainer and have a lot of dog behavior books - but those won't go on bookmooch - I hoard those. :) At first I didn't think I had bookmooch questions, but yes I do.

1. The browse function seems weird. When I list a new book, it doesn't show up on the recently added twitter feed. Does it show up, but doesn't list it for me since I'm the one that added it? Second, the Topics browse seems to list some books in odd categories and leave out some books that definitely belong. Do I have any power over getting a book listed in a certain topic area?

2. Friends - how do people use the friend function? Is it mainly a way of bookmarking people with similar tastes that you like to trade with?

3. If I have a book on my list that people haven't wishlisted, how do people find out about it?

Thanks! & I'm waving hello!

The browse function is something I've only used a handful of times, but a book you've listed may not show up there if anyone has it wish listed. The wish lists of inactive members is left active, so that doesn't mean your book will be immediately mooched.

BookMooch is rewarding, but requires a lot of patience.

Friending someone lets you check their inventory easily. And it's friendly.

People will find your book when they read about it somewhere and go and see if BookMooch has it, or they find it when they look at your inventory -- after I've mooched one book from someone, I often look through the inventory to see if they have anything else I'm interested in. Ordering two (or more) books from the same person lets them save on postage.

I'm glad you're here, although I should wave my finger at you and point out that your TBR is large enough! Start adding any books you think look interesting to your wish list. The larger the wishlist, the more often you'll have books pop up for mooching.

Oh yes, my TBR is tremendous!!! And so is the WL. I've been slowly adding the WL as "save for later." Right now, I only have one point to play with. :) Thanks Ridgeway.

welcome cammykitty. The twitter feed isn't always working especially if you try to view it through your browser and not through Bookmooch. We can't do anything about topics, they come from the Amazon database and tags that private sellers put on books and make little sense. Most people looking for books have more luck searching through Amazon. If you have some interesting books that aren't on any wishlists you can always post a message in the inventory plug thread here or in the forum on Bookmooch. Happy mooching!

Twitter has been doing modifications regarding how third party websites could interact with it, John Buckman had kept up with some but a few months ago it seems he either gave up for now, or it's no longer possible at all to replicate what he was obtaining earlier.

Also, the subject categories are drawn from some subset of Amazon data. Unfortunately not the relatively clean categorizing that is predominant when you browse their website, or what they use to recommend similar items with (usually) a fair degree of accuracy.
Amazon second-hand resellers putting whatever and all they can in the subjects and categories of their items for sales in hope of showing in searches has apparently nastily muddled that data BM can use.

Edit : Ninja'd for taking forever to complete and post my answer lol.

I was wondering why I wasn't getting any suggestions and the categories seemed so strange when it looked like that information was coming from Amazon. Thanks 160 & 161 - that makes a certain, pathetic amount of sense now. No wonder we have a lot of active threads about bookmooch over here. Sounds like we need them!!!

Also, if you are adding your wish listed books to the save-for-later, you won't get any messages (emails) that books are available; you only get messages on your wish listed books. So you have to actually look at your save for later list to see if any are avail. If you wait for an email that the book is available, you may not get very many. I tend to stalk my wish list a couple of times a day just to see if anything on my list has been added and is avail.

If you have an RSS feed reader (I use google reader), you can 'watch' your wishlist that way... a little more reliably than waiting for the emails.

I browse BM via keyword searches, not subjects. I will also browse LT and then take the ISBN or title & search BM with the title. In fact, I will double check my searches, since not all books are shown correctly.

I did a keyword search yesterday for a Norton Critical Edition and found a book listed without ISBN & not on a wishlist!! Great book, but I don't need it. Other editions were wishlisted. (also think it was listed incorrectly from the condition description)

Re: Forum on LT vs. Forum on BM. I like the group here because it is easier to watch, read, and browse.

I agree - I never go to the forums on BM

Ha! I hadn't even found the bookmooch forums yet. I'm much more likely to hang out here though. It's already a habit, and it does look more organized. Their newbie thread looks more like a problem-solving thread than a hello, what should I know thread.

One more question - Someone reserved a book from me, but the reservation has expired. I hit "remind" and it looked like a reminder went out to everyone. Is that what it is supposed to do? I'm assuming if I want to ask just that one person if they still want the book, I need to find their email or use the "email a member" function. That's what I should've done, right?

So what is the etiquette on an expired reservation. Do you usually send an email asking about it, or do you assume they are no longer interested? Do you have to hit "cancel reservation" to let someone else get it?

Thanks!!! I looked in the wiki and couldn't find the answer.

>167 cammykitty: the reservation has expired, so you don't have to cancel it so someone else can get it. You could email the member privately (go to their member page and there is an email button) if you want to do them the kindness of double checking to see if they still want the book. When I was set to "ask first" I would do a follow up email if the person didn't mooch immediately. But if someone else mooches the book or emails you about it in the meantime, I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks carod!!!

Hi folks! I'm sandydog1 and am not really a noob. I've been mooching regularly for 2 years.

I've a newbie question however. Unlike PBS, BM browse categories are, well, horrific. Select "Outdoors and Nature", and you'll get selections that have absolutely nothing to do with Outdoors and Nature. Select "Nonfiction", and you'll get suggestions for all sorts of fictional drivel. Why is Prey Jewish American Literature? And, unless BM has a huge Chilean, Latvian, Somalian or Mongolian membership pool, Cold Mountain is not really a World Literature title. And, what makes the Da Vinci Code Gay & Lesbian literature? What do Magic School Bus titles have to do with Business & Investing?

Remind me, why is the BM browse feature such a total, unadulterated nightmare?

LOL - Sandydog - the answer I got to that was that it is based on Amazon's used book suggestions/categories, not their regular retail book suggestions. Pretty lame, huh? I'm sure Amazon could do better by us if they wanted. I personally think there's some ghoulish Amazon employee-alum who programmed all of the suggested further reading boxes to pop up with Snow Flower and the Secret Fan just for giggles.

>170 Sandydog1: Just thank some used book re-sellers for stuffing the dictionary in the keywords or categories or whatever for their items... that's the data BM is allowed to use, not whatever apparently cleaner categorization they have going on for Amz's own website.

> 171 172,

Thanks for the response!

Truly amazing. A tool that has been rendered totally useless. The personal BM recommendations are adequate/ok, as are all recommendations and categories over at PBS.

A trained monkey could make the distinction between Fiction and Nonfiction.

Sigh...

Sandydog1, I use LT for recommendations, which supplies me with a far longer wishlist than I could read in this lifetime! Sometimes a non-functioning tool is a blessing.

Amen to that. 'Preaching to the Choir. My TBR pile is well over 1,000 and my TRR-Owned is over 600. My BM list is about 800. I know there are many LTers, that are a lot worse off, than that.

Gee, thanks LT!

And...the irony is, it's not like I live in Dalandzadgad. I'm surrounded by dozens of wonderful town libraries.

It's tough being a hoarder with BM credits!

170 - 173> Rather than use Amazon's data, why not allow owners to list their own categories, maybe from a drop down list? It couldn't be any less useful.

'Thought I'd share a funny story about BM features. When I joined BM, I hand-transcribed hundreds of titles (but that's another BM features story) into my wishlist.

For months I would scroll through pages and pages of my wishlist titles. I must've spent hours doing this.

Until, one day...

I noticed a little drop down on the wishlist window. Lo and behold, there it was: "Your wishlist - moochable now."

DOH!

I thought I might refresh this thread by posting a message. Just in case any of the new members to Bookmooch who have joined from PBS recently wander over this way.