As I blogged last week, the +0.1 points you get for leaving feedback when receiving a book no longer occurs.

This change applies only to feedback left from this point forward: any points you earned in the past are unchanged.

-john

-_-

Thankyou.

Imho any incentive to "good behaviour" in BM is welcome.

As I mentioned in another post there are other "good behaviours" which should deserve a reward as well (like having a high amount of positive feedbacks, describing the book status as it really is...) while on the contrary "bad behaviour" (like not replying to mooch requests, having a high amount of negative feedbacks, taking eternal vacations...) should be penalized somehow. I think this could improve a lot the system "health".

Personally I'm convinced that the loss of the +.1 for feedbacks will affect negatively not the amount of feedback left, but rather the global amount of mooches, since BM system as a whole will be less attractive to users than before - let's see.

ETA, whoever smooched me thanks, wasn't looking for that, but thanks either way.

I really, really wish I had not mooched a box of 500 bookmarks just before all this happened. I'm not terribly inclined to give them to my friends any more.

Sorry for my long story, but I'm just a selfish Canadian trying to get my hands on some of those American books.

For example, I liked that we received email alerts when a book on our wishlist became available. I like the feeling of seeing a 0.1 rather than a 0.0 because I've sent promptly or packaged carefully. It feels good to give a 0.1 to others.

I've not seen what is happening to international points, but the generosity of people sending to other countries should not be penalised. I feel there should be creative incentives to encourage people to send internationally - my frustration is often seeing a great book and finding it's 'not to your country'.

It's not about reducing points or incentives to loyal bookmoochers but finding new creative ways to bring more listings.

Like others I felt john respected fellow moochers with consultations, now all the most enjoyable aspects keep getting changed.

Don't lose the essence of Bookmooch! It's unique.

If you're that desperate for that 0.1 point, post more books for people to mooch. You'll get your 0.1 and at least 1 more when someone mooches it. 3 if you send it out of the country. I mean come on. This is silly.

I am looking forward to the change regarding the costs of international mooches. When I started listing books I had mooches from all over the world and shipped in all directions. That was quite costly. I didn't think the two points I got were adequate. At the same time, many books I would like to mooch are inaccesible to me, because they are not for sending abroad. I am willing to lash out an extra point if that means I can get hold of a book.

Thank you Bookel, for the link to the angel network :-)

I made a decision at the beginning of the year to transition my inventory (going forward) from here to GoodReads BookSwap, first and foremost because I save postage using that system. I have accumulated so many points at BookMooch over the last couple of years that I will mostly likely never be able to redeem them. At GoodReads, I can still give away books, but at least it doesn't cost me postage to do so.

I know I'm defecting, but I've been very disappointed in the selection of books available for mooching from BookMooch.

Any incentives geared towards increasing inventories at BookMooch are greatly appreciated. I will monitor the changes and hope for the best.

I for one will stop mooching internationally as soon as the 3:3 change will take place. Just not worth it.
Will also set my account on "domestic shipping only" and progressively reduce my inventory, since it's useless to accumulate points through int'l deliveries if afterwise I cannot mooch from anybody in my own little country, and it will be too expensive to mooch from abroad ( it would be a nonsense to give away 3 books + pay the corrisponding domestic shipping fees, which all together make the cost of a new book, to receive just 1 used book! ).
Such a pity.

I have NO problem with the loss of the .1 feedback points.
I have NO problem with the international mooch incentives.

This is for several reasons. First of all, a standard paperback novel, sent via USPS media mail, costs about $2.75 to mail. Have those of you who are complaining tried to send one international? Three points plus or minus is about the value of what that costs to send a book overseas. Plus you have paperwork to fill out. I find it fair, and have no problem generally spending that sort of points/money to get a book that can rarely be found in the US. I do not mooch common novels from overseas. I mooch academic tomes and publications, usually that would be more expensive to purchase here, and novels that are not easily obtained in the US.

I never have more than 10 points in paperbackswap. I mooch books there as often as I send one out - nearly. I have 40 points in bookmooch, because I am rarely able to beat other moochers, and because although I have 1k books on my wishlist, they are unusual enough that they rarely come up.

When I do find something I want, I don't care if it is international or not, I mooch it.

I do think there are more points available than books, and at my current rate of mooching, it will be years before I spend the points I have.

My two cents,
Julie

I think Elizabeth Shorely makes a good point. I haven't been a member long, and already I'm not using this site much. So many people take FOREVER to send out their books, it's really kind of turned me off. A couple weeks should be plenty of time for people to get to the post office, if it isn't they should take some or all of their books out of their inventory so they don't build up such a huge backlog of books to send. If I have a book I really enjoyed I'm more inclined to ask a friend or family member if they want it.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SMOOCH!! :-) That made my day.

If lots of long-time users of the site have 200+ points and aren't able to spend them, they have no incentive to post new books, and that decreases the selection of books for everyone. Reducing the number of points in the system is intended to give people a reason to post more books. More books available will be good for everyone, right??

As for the elimination of 0.1 point, there's no reason for moochers to mark the books received anymore. Well, there are a lot of us I would say, very happy giving feedbacks, like telling the sender how happy we are that we received the package good and sounds or even just telling the sender that the package had been torn up or the book is wet, etc. But there are a lot there too...in which I've encountered many that won't mark the book received unless you ask them and just leave no feedback.

Well, more loss for international moochers.

1 - YEAH! more inventory = more books = more reading!

2 - Feedback is NOT always fair and there should ALWAYS be a way to reply to it. I try hard to note a condition of a book if maybe in WELL used condition (opinions vary cuz if I can read it I am happy but KNOW others expect very good condition) RECENTLY, I had a book labeled READING CONDITION ONLY and the feedback left was: Book in fair (but readable) condition (creased spine, torn cover) which was truer but didn't indicate MOOCHER knew the condition when they MOOCHED it - perhaps other's may think ALL books that way

3- I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but... There may be reasons why some don't immediately accept a Mooch - I myself with as many books as I have like to put my hands on the book first

Been awhile since I ranted but like the news!

Take Care,
Center

Bookmooch seems to be in danger of suffering overkill.

And as for people who think John is being 'mean' - he's sunk years of his life into this site and I imagine a lot of his own money. He wouldn't be making these changes unless it was for the long term future good of Bookmooch.

How is having 'excess points' a problem for anyone? You've lost me on this one. I don't get it.

People who don't like all those points in their 'bank' are certainly welcome to smooch me all over the place. :-)

Thanks for the site, John. Bookmooch is genius! I have close to 10 interested moochers in Houston for my upcoming mooch-a-palooza! WOO HOO!!!

As NinaBryna said, "we can take it or leave it". If all these changes will be implemented especially the 3:3 ratio I'll be out on Bookmooch faster than the plane. Amazon will be a nice place to be and hitflip for those who live in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Hitflip.de has a transaction cost for 0.99€ if you order a book/CD/DVD and 0.85€ for sending, it is still 5 times cheaper than Bookmooch international.

But I love bookmooch...and this is the only thing that's keeping me here for now...
Thanks John for the effort! a 3:4 or 5:6 international ratio would be fine for me as a compromise to lessen the inflation.

I've also been wondering about another beneficial side effect of these changes. Like Ylef said, it'll be more expensive to mooch from abraod soon. So since all this started I've been making a concerted effort to expand my wishlist and mooch books. I wonder if others are doing the same and this is adding liquidity to the system?

0.1 point make a big difference especially if you have 0.9 point and there's a book available that you really wanted *grin*. And it is not being an adult here, it's all about incentives.

...and making the international ratio 3:3? It will kill us international.

I like the idea of a charity to donate points to people oversea finding the increase from 2 to 3 points too much.

Maybe it is time to supply a txt/sms service so that when a users wishlisted book becomes available the user is alerted (for a charge)? This would probably make things fairer.

Thanks for this service and there are a lot of good books in your system it often just takes some searching to find one.

I personally always gave feedback not only for the .1 point but because I might want to mooch from this person again, to show appreciation and finally because it makes me feel good to acknowledge someone else's effort.

I'm not bothered about not getting the 0.1 point for feedback. I give feedback to thank the person for sending the book and to keep my pending page up to date so it's easier to track what books I have received and which ones I am still waiting on and will continue to do this. I think most people will do so too.

The other site I belong to has no incentive to mark the book as received and leave feedback other than keeping your pending page up to date. Out of 114 swaps I've done only 3 people didn't bother to do this.

I can only think of ways to swap points for priority wishlist status, (i.e. you could trade points for an increased possibility of getting the books on your wishlist) but this is an unfriendly idea.

You could try keep some really desired books in the system by giving them "library status". That is Mooches would be encouraged not to keep these books for themselves but to pass them on after reading. I think this is a good idea but my girlfriend disagrees with me.

Any really good ideas out there? The dropping of the 0.1 point and the equalising of the international mooching/giving points is to stop this situation from getting worse but is there a way to make it better?

a good idea...good to implement? no idea. I could run it...you finance?

Absolutely it is only courtesy to acknowledge receipt of books; why in the world anyone would expect to be "paid" to do so is beyond me.

PBS does not have 'sales' of members books --- the "PBS Market" is selling publisher's new overstock copies. In essence, they are in competition with the members who are swapping books. I have no objection to this, but recognize it for what it is.

I don't see the value in Nicole's suggestion that we "donate some books without expecting points" -- I assume she is talking about books that are already in the system (or owned by members and thus could/should be). All that would do would be to take books OUT of the system -- by putting them in the hands of readers, of couse, but out of the system. Maybe I am missing her point ??

** Gar - why do you recommend that "people that have more points than they know what do do with" should be encouraged to list more books ?? -- isn't the object to have EVERYONE list more books? Why single out this group ?

I actually have no problem with the (current) elmination of the .1 point for acknowledgement, or the (feared) elimination of the .1 point for listing a book -- which results in your getting 1.1 point for every book that is mooched. Since the .1 listing point is an incentive for some, then the 1 point for mooched books could be revised to .9 -- which equals 1 point total (or 2.9 international for total of 3.0).
Why should we expect to 'spend' 1 point to receive a book but be 'paid' 1.1 for each one we send ?

My plan to increase the number of books available is to tell as many people as I can about this service and encourage them to use it.

The current system basically allows members to receive up to twice as many books as they send out. The solution to this inequality is to reduce the allowable ratio -- otherwise the system will inevitably become "bookrupt" - unless a large number of people are willing to receive many fewer books than they send. How many of us are ?

I do support a cleanup of the system to either purge or re-animate dormant accounts --- those people and books are not really available anyway and should not be counted in the "assets" of this enterprise.

Add two more books and you'll have 47 points. I still am at a loss as to how you guys think having "excess points" a problem? I wish I had 47 points built up!

Most of my WL books aren't offered on Bookmooch, either. That's not the fault of Bookmooch, folks, that's because members aren't offering those particular books on the site at this time, and they may never be offered.

I often find books while browsing when I need a gift for someone or a donation to our community center, and I give a lot of gifts, so I'm usually without points. I've been adding magazines to build up a point when I need one.

Remember - this is a free service. I have no complaints, except I'm one of those who greatly benefitted from the 1/10th point for leaving feedback, which, I admit, I leave anyway. It was a nice little bonus, though.

When I get a notice that a book I want is available, I feel like I won the lottery, and I didn't even have to buy a ticket.

I'm all for first come, first served, but I do wish there was a way for maybe the first 10 (or some number) who listed the book on their WL first, get notified a couple days before everyone else. Is that possible?

I personally like to keep my pending area up to date so will continue to mark books received and provide feedback to the person who sent me the book(s).

And why post only books that are wishlisted ? Even a 1000+ wishlist is still a pretty tiny sliver of books that I could be interested in, and would probably mooch when finding them along with a wishlisted item in someone's inventory.
The only books that truly are no-brainer direct-to-charity cases would be those in countries that already have a silly number of copies, and posted by someone who won't send abroad. But even if they get posted, I don't think they harm anyone or anything and John calculated in an earlier post that there wasn't such an huge amount of them anyway.

And at least with low or modest numbers of wishlisters, a book being wishlisted doesn't always mean it will be mooched immediately, depending on wishlisters' activity, country book is posted in and willingness of out of country moochers to spend 2 (soon to be 3) points and of owner to send abroad, condition the book is declared to be in, how highly the book is desired over others also available at the same time, etc...

I wouldn't mind sending a postcard picture of my village or local site of interest just as a way of saying thank you. I know this would cost but what a nice way to get a collection of thank yous from all over the world!

It's an added 'incentive', just as there is an incentive for adding any books. Since people are complaining about banked excess points, and that there aren't enough WL books online to spend points on, it only makes sense to try to post the most popular books to get them in circulation.

ESPECIALLY for those with low points (me, me and me) - the incentive would be to post books first that moochers want, growing my point base quicker, followed by whatever else I have in inventory I want to post.

How does that hurt anything?

PS, thank you Nicole and two other wonderful anonymous souls who sent me smooches. You rock!

I think that condition notes should be mandatory. I also think that a feedback comment of some sort should be mandatory as well. Neither of these would take much time, but would immeasurably improve morale, & increase members, & hence books.
If you think this suggestion is strange, I see it as just the Australian way. Friendliness, laid-back, gratitude for things others do for you.

{ } new
{ } slightly used
{ } very used
{ } dog-eared pages
{ } underlining
etc....
with a comments box, of course.

I think this would be a great improvement to the condition notes, and facilitate use.

And, as always - thanks John for all the hard work!

So I guess it won't be coming back from the dead, unless maybe ways are found to make it reasonably foolproof.

Maybe making it work only for books with a suitably high # of listed wishers, but that would make the thing even more US/english language-centric than it already is, because they probably are the only ones that often attain the dozens+ wishlister that would be hard to fake.

Comparatively, a book in some other less circulated language with 5 genuine wishlisters is already a somewhat desired one, so shouldn't the poster get some reward too ? Yet 5 artificial wishlisters wouldn't be something very hard to fake by giving a holler to a few people who may have a inclination to scratch the lister's back.

It also makes any proposals to reward people for posting WL'd books worthless, because even books with hundreds of copies in the system have someone wishlisting them... just someone who would never actually mooch them.

If I want an unavailable book that badly, I'm going to go buy it, likely through Amazon, since they make it so easy and BM gets a percentage. I haven't felt the need to do that yet, but I appreciate the service.

Overall, I've received far more than I've paid in shipping, time and a one-time donation, so I have nothing to complain about.

In fact, after following this thread, I don't care if all the bonus points are removed. I'm still ahead. For an unemployed booklover, that says a lot. I never could have afforded all the books I've received or given as gifts otherwise.

It's all good. Thank you again, John & friends.

PS - I forgot to applaud whomever posted the term "bookruptcy". Very clever. Thanks for the grin.

PS2 - @Aude - I found the stats forum. Sorry, I'm behind on reading forum stuff...

I really like the "aaaaaaaa" for condition if it is made mandatory -- I must remember that one. Sometimes books are very good, sometimes not so good and I think most people will mention those --- but truthfully most used books are just used books.

As John pointed out, the extra points for wishlisted books became a problem and was discontinued; I can easily see how that happened. I personally don't think I would go to that much trouble, but some people are just more energetic about working a system than I am.

Since Ethel Mertz is willing to pay for comments, maybe I'll have to check out her inventory.

Becca makes an interesting comment, too. I have seen a number of books with one or more copies in the system and yet they are on multiple wishlists. I have sometimes looked at those wishlists and seen that some people have hundreds of books WL'd yet they have opted not to mooch them (yet anyway).

1. If BookMooch could start a txt/sms service for wishlists notifications.

2. Mooches would have two price plans they could use for this service:
2.1. Pay a single charge per txt/sms (eg. $0.40)
2.2. Or pay a smaller charge and give some bookmooch points (eg. $0.20 and 0.5 points)

3. Bookmooch could then check which books have a large enough group of people wanting it so that it would make a profit if it purchased a second hand book from Amazon and made this available to the system.

4* This book would be given "library status" (i.e. a note would be inserted into the book encouraging uses to forward it on and a comment added to notifying Moooches about it's library status before Mooching it)

* Would be optional but I feel the this idea needs this to work properly

People put their inventories on vacation for a number of reasons. Sometimes it is done as a result of a mooch request going unanswered, but other times its a voluntary thing done by that moocher to prevent them getting more mooches then they can handle. That is a legitimate use for the vacation feature.

People are often complaining about users delaying books for to long, recently I've seen sentiments similar to "If you cannot afford to post it now then don't add it to your inventory" written on the forums with increasing frequency lately.

So, users can do the right thing by vacationing their own inventories when they are not in a position to send out books. Why should /that/ user now miss out on wishlist notifications? How is /that/ fair?

It seems a lot of people are thinking about what changes would make BM better for /them/ and not what would make BM better for /everyone/.

Rob

I think ultimately there needs to be different categories of vacationed accounts. I agree that a responsible bookmoocher who has actually sent books and earned their points should still get WL notifications while on vacation.

However, from what I have seen, most busy/overwhelmed moochers don't put themselves on vacation, they put long delays on their requests. Which is fine as long as they clearly communicate this.

Given the current broken system, disabling WL notifications for vacationed accounts is the simplest solution. Long-term, the entire approach to "vacationing" accounts needs to be fixed if John is serious about the health of the system.

Unfortunately he is too hung up on point inflation being the cause of what's "wrong" with bookmooch instead of listening to the actual complaints that his users have.

Personally I joined bookmooch to give books a good home that I'm ready to part with. A perk is getting other books. I didn't join for .1 point. I've shipped out way more books than I've received and that's perfectly fine with me, because I can donate points to those who need them more than I do. I'm a voracious reader and have been blessed by having more books in my library than I think I'll ever be able to read. Sure there's one particular book that I added to my wish list back at the very beginning that I still haven't seen, but I look at all my full bookcases and know I got the good end of the stick.

This is John's site. You pay nothing to join/participate. He does in fact always ask for our opinions, but as it's his site, his money, his time, the site will be run as he sees fit - and you have to be honest with youself - he does seem to know what he's doing. :-)

And is seems from everyone's comments that they'll continue to leave feedback, so if everyone still plans on doing it, I guess there is no complaint that everyone stops leaving feedback and acknowledging receipt.

Just my $0.02.

Still, thanks John for the effort.

As jacquie had suggested, broaden your horizon. We have already a lot of fun here and we know what to expect from other members. Maybe you need tutoring?

Oldfan, I hope you stay. Going to check your inventory now. I got a few more anonymous smooches and I gotta spend 'em!

OK, everyone, repeat after me:

it's just a bookswapping site... it's just a bookswapping site... it's just a bookswapping site...

Ok, THIS was my last post. I've got to go find a job. :-)

PS - thanks to everyone who sent me smooches!

I do, however, find that the 0,1 point for listing a book should stay. This is the only way a newcomer can ever start getting points, as the first ten books give them the 1 point needed to ask for their first "homeland" book :-)

I understand what Frank is saying - when I first joined, I added any and everything to generate points to start mooching, knowing some of them would likely never be mooched. Then I had all these unwanted books taking up much needed space. I've removed some older ones from the list and donated them, willing to lose cherished points in the process.

Don't know about you guys, but I don't want the clutter of unwanted stuff in my house. I reserve the bottom row of my library shelves for BM and will regularly donate 'old' inventory to local community organizations (retirement homes, day care facilities, etc.)

Would people eventually want some of them? Maybe, maybe not. It's more important for me to be clutter free.

In the spirit of BM, I solemnly swear to relist all the books I mooched for me to read, as well as new books I buy for myself or receive as gifts. Most books and mags that sit here for over three months (a quarter of a year!) are outta here.

We need to encourage more interaction between members, like Meet 'n' Mooches and using the forum to locate titles or genres we seek.

Maybe an automatic reminder feature would be useful. If you have "sent" the book and it has not been "received" after 7 days a reminder would automatically be sent.

It could be seen as a nag feature but would be useful for people like me that occationally forget to "receive" a book.

I have a number of business books that have been listed for more than two years and every once in a while someone mooches one or more of them. Browsers and new members might want a book that has been listed for a long time.

Your suggestion is not a good one, its arrogance aside.

Sorry! I guess I had a senior moment and got the two categories mixed up.

Great story!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry if this is an off topic tangent, I just wanted to make the suggestion.

It's worth noting that if BookMooch "prices" hadn't been fixed we would have probably seen a mild Wiemar-style price bubble over the past year.

Come off it. You are talking through your hat. I don't see where you have a problem; you are ahead of the game at any rate. 12.1 points is hardly inflationary. There are thousands of books out there if you would take the trouble to look for what you want. I refrain from telling what I think of you "historical" analysis, Are you that desperate for attention? Try a Weimaraner.

I've been doing more smooching and plan to give some points to charity because it looks like I will never use up my points. Not because there aren't some books in inventory that I could read but because I have a life outside of reading and even at 75-100 books a year, I'm never going to catch up on my wish list or TBR list.

Bookmooch is a fantastic idea and I can only hope that it continues to function. I've got a lot of points to either use or give away.

Now about e-books...?

Thanks to John!

However, I've recently been approached regarding transferring reference material into e-book format so I've been doing some research and I believe that there is a place for this media, even for we bibliophiles. I could probably do an essay on the subject but, for the sake of brevity:

Can you read an e-book in bed?

- Indeed I can. It's a simple matter to reach over to my phone and open up a book.

In your bath?

- Well...I probably could. Dropping my phone into the bath would be rather irksome though.

During a power-cut, by candlelight?

Again, I could it I wanted to, but the text is backlit so no candlelight would be needed.

Can you shove it in your pocket to read at a bus stop?

I currently have an HTC Desire with about fifty e-books on in my shirt pocket. Useful for the bus journey.

With an e-book I can search the entire text for a particular word or phrase - I can carry hundreds of books at a time - I can think of, download and begin reading a book in less than a minute and, if it should be on Gutenberg, I don't even have to pay.

All that said, I also have a copy of 'One Day' by David Nicholls in my coat pocket. Within the next few days, this will be replaced by 'The shadow of the wind' by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I don't know any serious book reader that prefers digital to analogue - the convenience of electronic cannot compare to the pleasure of the physical.

While I am not a Luddite (except when I eat at The Ned Ludd restaurant in Portland, OR), I am not an "early adopter" either. I wait, for sometimes years, before I adopt a new technology. I have an iPod Touch that was given to me 18 months ago and I'm just starting to find uses for it.

I will not give up my paper and ink books but I am constantly remonstrated by my tech savvy friends for not buying e-books, e-newspaper subscriptions, e-magazines, etc. and displaying them on either an iPad or a Kindle or a Smart Phone. I like my mobile phone but prefer to use it for making and answering phone calls. I recently spent 30 minutes listening to two friends discuss their Blackberries, while I managed to finish a pint of beer. Boring.....

I think the issue here is how can Bookmooch deal with the onslaught of e-books, some of which and maybe soon to be many of which are only published as e-books. I fear Bookmooch might go the way of many daily newspapers and disappear all together. I have no idea if e-books can be shared. I suspect not, except for techies who know how to by-pass protections.

Watching people try to read on a Smart Phone has convinced me, that in the long run, that isn't going to work. Electronic Tablets and Kindles are another issue, however. I fear for Bookmooch and the printing and publishing industry and the quality of reading material produced without editors as this technology grows.

I wish I had a solution to the dilemma but as of today I have a concern without any idea of how to deal with it.

As for me, I just got two books off my wishlist after months of the wishlisted book being gone before I could mooch it so the system is working. I often check the browse section on which books are made available as soon as they are listed. When I list new titles, they are often mooched within hours so some people are getting wishlisted books.

I've not had a big problem with people who do not acknowledge receipt but I seriously doubt that the .01 point is the reason they do not respond. I've had to "force receive" books in the past where the moocher was active and wouldn't even respond to my e-mails. Some people are jerks.

I think the biggest problem is that postage rates are so high that many people, particularly in the U.S., won't ship Internationally. The irony of that is, if U.S. members use Priority Mail, they can ship 3 MM PBs for $12.95. Compared to the EU, Australia and other countries, the U.S. is relatively cheap. I would like to see some incentive for people in the high postage countries to ship overseas. I'm lucky, I live in Hong Kong that still has "surface mail" so a MM PB costs about US$2.00 to 2.50 to ship anywhere in the world. I've started offering more than three points for an International mooch to try to break the logjam.

As I said in an earlier post, perhaps the days of paper and ink books are diminishing and we are feeling it in Bookmooch. The thought that I might be right saddens me.

The International one doesn't really effect me much because I have stopped sending international and also mooching international. None of the books on my WL are so rare that I want them bad enough to pay extra pts for them. I don't have the postage budget to send international and when I did the pts racked up way faster then I could use them here. I've mooched a few books more than what I've sent and so I have no real complaints. But since I get few WL books here, I don't see a reason to rack a bunch of pts when my postage money is super tight.

I wish something could be done to reduce the number of people who delay books for long periods. I get really, really annoyed when I find a WL book of mine finally posted and then the sender is months behind in shipping. I'd like some sort of time frames that have to be followed. Or at least an option to put just an inventory on vacation so people with budget and time issues can still spend their pts but don't have to delete their inventory.

ETA, also I'm with Jackie we should move this discussion elsewhere since it has veered off course a bit. Ed, I could discuss the perils of the book industry, the advent of the e-book and the Border's bankruptcy filing until exhaustion. I did ask in the general discussion forum how the Border's bankruptcy filing is affecting people, if they have less places to shop, etc. I love books so much that if I hadn't had such a traditional schooling, i.e. pre-med and then law, I would probably have gone into publishing.

The issue of delayed shipment is a non-issue as far as I am concerned. I travel and have other interruptions to my routine so I often delay shipment. I always advise the moocher and give them the opportunity to cancel if the delay is too much. Only once has a person mooched and then canceled later, but before I had shipped the books. If someone does not announce a delay and waits weeks or months to ship, you can report them for abuse or just cancel the mooch.

About starting another thread. If we do that we lose all the previous posts so I, for one, can live with being off-topic.