BookMooch discussion

So I wanted some opinions from you guys about canceling a request. I have had a few books that I requested that I have had to cancel the request later. For example I requested a book and after three months of the trader not responding I cancelled the request or another time I cancelled a request after a trader accepted but their account became inactive. How long do you wait to cancel a request after not getting a response from the other trader and at what point when canceling a request do you put -1 in the feedback? Also this past week I received a book in the mail that the trader marked mailed in May but the postmark on the post office label said the postage was paid for in June. I am not talking about a few days between when the trader said they mailed and the book was actually mailed but a month between when the book was marked mailed and when it actually was mailed. I gave the trader a +1 in the feedback because I did receive the book and the book was in good condition. Do think I should have done something different?

I wouldn't have given that last situation a +1- no way in hell. Sorry. LOL No way in hell. That's just plain rude and ignorant and a lack of common courtesy. I would have maybe given them a nuetral and specified in the comment section exactly when it was marked sent and when it was actually sent and then (for the slow ones out there) commented on how much time that actually was.
Besides that, I go by a time by time basis. It just depends. I won't and haven't ever waited three months. That's crazy. You're way too nice Arica! LOL I usually will wait about a week and a half and then send a reminder for a few days. Like one every two days for three times or so. Then cancel if I don't hear anything. Usually, if that happens and I hear nothing they get negative. There's no reason for it. It I had a reason I wouldn't but hey, there is no reason to NOT respond to someone. They should reject the mooch so you're not sitting, waiting, and missing the book elsewhere.
If someone doesn't want to have respect for me then I'm not doing them any favors. Plus, when you think about it, by leaving positive feedback for this kind of thing all it does is leave other future moochers in the dark about what kind of person they might mooch from. I always look at feedback and if I see a bunch of negatives and cancellations I won't mooch. I'll buy the book first. Or mooch from someone else. I'd rather not mooch from someone so ignorant so I depend on truthful feedback.
Don't get me wrong- I know why you hesitate to leave negative, I used to also. Until a friend and I were talking, about what I said just above, and I realized what I was doing was, in effect, hiding bad transactions from others.
What do you think? LOL

I have to agree with Eva! Fortunately, I haven't run into any of those kinds of situations yet. Of course, I'm still pretty new to Bookmooch. :-)

I have only left negative feedback once. It involved a personal pet peeve of mine - trading in books that have had the covers ripped off of them.

While I don't want to encourage bad transactions, I also don't like to leave negative feedback. It least I can change it back to neutral or positive without much red tape.

I'm pretty patient. I've waited nearly six months for a book that I finally reported lost. Since the sender's account when inactive about a month after I requested the book, my suspicion is the book was never sent.

Wow Jon- that's a long wait! That's far too ignorant IMO for the person you mooched from. I don't think not leaving negative feedback actually encourages bad transactions but I do think it stops others from knowing the "true colors" of who they might mooch from. Like if I was going to mooch from you and you had positive feedback I wouldn't have a problem. But if Werner and Arica and some others both had bad transactions with you but felt bad and left positive anyway then I'd be in the dark as to who I'm mooching from.
Of course, it's not at all technical since no one is always honest, everyone has different thoughts, etc. but I used to always leave positive also. If it was very bad I'd leave a +0 but then I started thinking about how no one else will know that this transaction was bad on the part of the sender and that's the whole point of the feedback! So I started being more "honest" for lack of a better word.
But....I still much prefer to leave positive of course and I will go out of my way to overlook some things. Waiting months for a book isn't one of them. Don't list the book if you can't send it for a few months. They list the book to get the listing and mooching points (so they themselves can use YOUR point to go mooch a book(s) for themselves) yet can't send your book? No way!

As far as I know you can't change negative to anything else. Once you leave negative it stays negative. BM will get involved in very serious situations but it has to be very serious from what I was told.
I was left negative once from someone and in it she said why she left it. The only problem was the reason she stated was right there in my condition notes so it was obvious what she was trying to do and that was get her point returned to her.
I was in a forum and was posting about it and an admin stepped in and handled it and took it off. The admin did tell me that it's not something they do a lot and it actually is hardly ever that they'll step in. They need proof and that's hard to come by I suppose. If she hadn't specified the reason for the negative feedback and if I hadn't had the exact notes explaining said issue I would have been out of luck I'm sure.
But you can change anything else I think and all you have to do is go to the transaction in your history. Either from your given/received list or any other way you want to get there, from the other persons page, etc. Then after clicking on that specific transaction you'll see a button for 'change feedback' or something similiar to that. The other person does get an email saying it's been changed and what exactly was changed also.

Sidenote- I am so surprised people are waiting that long for a book. I would never accept that kind of treatment from a store where I bought a book or anything else. While BM isn't a store, it's still something I put my money into and expect good service. If I get bad service I let it be known. I think you guys are too nice! LOL

So you would wait about a week for a trader to respond to your request and then if nothing then you cancel an order. Would you wait longer if there was only one copy of the book in the system or would keep to the same time table add the book to your wish list and hope that someone posts the book in the future?

If you're asking me I would maybe wait a little longer. I'm not set to a week automatically. If you really think about it, seven days is far long enough for someone to click on reject or accept. Even if they don't get on BM that much. I barely get on there anymore myself (I'm getting tons of books on PBS now and hardly any wishlist hits on BM- I think people are heading over there and you get the added bonus of no one taking advantage of people) but if it was the only one in the system and I wanted it pretty bad I'd wait two weeks probably. Not longer than that without hearing from the person. If people would just communicate it would all work out better. Shoot off an email saying 'hey, I don't know if I have this yet but will check and get back to you' or 'hi, sorry but I'm very busy and I'll check soon'. Something like that takes a matter of seconds.
Plus, whatever book it is, no matter how obscure, it'll probably get listed again eventually. Or you can do what I do and check the price on amazon if you want it that bad! I'm heading there now! LOL

I am glad to hear your opinions. I am newish (about 2 months) to BM and so far have had a great experience. About a month ago, I mooched two books from one person. I was told there was going to be a delay, but I havent heard anything in over a month. It seems that most people on here believe it is my right as a moocher to bug this person until they send the book, or else cancel the request. I am glad to hear this, because I have been growing impatient, but I have not been sure what the waiting "etiquette" is on BM. I am going to send a reminder right now!

A month with no communication is far too long IMO. Like someone said above or in another thread, it only takes a second to message someone- that's just flat out rude and ignorant. Why list the book then? I would cancel but that's just me!

I am thinking about cancelling. When I first mooched the book, the person warned me that it would be at least 2 weeks. I thought giving them 4 was fair, but 4 weeks with no update is inconsiderate.

by cancelling and leaving your comment why it helps other members to decide whether they wish to mooch from that person or not. I always look to see their history. we need to weed these negative members out, ones who post books but won't send, or who delay and delay, leave negative comments! I wish management would just kick them out of the BM system so the good members wouldn't have to waste time waiting and wondering.

I couldn't agree more- that's a huge part of what BM lacks where PBS doesn't. You get kicked off PBS if you do that sort of thing too many times and you don't get to keep points for supposedly "lost" books!

i have no requests to cancel!