These are the possibilities:

1. You submitted one request, and the first sender did not mark the book mailed, but did mail the book.

2. You submitted one request, and the first sender canceled your request (on purpose or by mistake), but still mailed the book.

3. You submitted two requests for the book, to two different senders

Scenario #1 (the most common scenario):

• You submit a request, which goes to Sender #1

• Sender #1 does not mark the book mailed before the deadline, but still mails the book.

• Then the request cancels and gets passed to Sender #2, who also sends the book.

• You end up with two copies.

  This situation (the requestor ending up with 2 copies of the book) is part of why marking a book mailed before the deadline is such an important part of the swapping process. 

  The bottom line here: always mark your books mailed, so you don't become Sender #1!

Scenario #2:

• You submit a request, which goes to Sender #1

• Sender #1 clicks on the transaction by mistake after (or before) mailing the book.
• When she does that, the request cancels and gets passed to Sender #2, who also sends the book.

• You end up with two copies.

In both Scenarios #1 and #2: When you receive 2 copies for a book after submitting only one request, you are not obligated to give a credit for the extra (canceled) copy.  You are obligated to mark the properly sent copy received.

• When you mark the book received from the active transaction on your En Route to Me tab on your My Account page, Sender #2 will get credit. 

• • Sender #2's transaction is the only active transaction for the book on your account page.
  • The transaction with Sender #1 moved into your Transaction Archive when it was canceled, as a canceled transaction.

• You are not obligated to give a second credit for a canceled copy of a book when you submitted only one request
  • You are also not obligated to send the canceled book back (although this is a nice thing to do if the sender is a new member).
  • You are obligated to mark the book received that is on your En Route to Me tab on My Account. 
    • You should NOT refuse this copy of the book or mark it "return to sender" - doing so will cause Sender #2 to have to pay postage again to claim the book.

• If you do wish to give credit to Sender #1, you can mark that copy of the book received from the canceled transaction:
  • Go to  your Transaction Archive:
  • • place your cursor over My Account in the toolbar at the top of the site
    • Click Transaction Archive in the menu that drops down
    • you can also click the link 'Transaction Archive" from the My Account page

• • Scroll down to see the canceled transaction for this book.
    • Check the sender name and Details to be sure it is the correct transaction
    • There are sometimes several canceled transactions for one title
  • Click on the transaction
  • The usual Book Received screens will come up from there.
  • When you mark a canceled book received, the credit is taken from your account and given to that sender.

• Again,  you do not have to mark the canceled copy received.
  • If you like, you may Post the extra copy of the book into the system for others to request.

Scenario #3:  If you requested a book from one sender, and then you requested another copy from another sender, you must mark both copies received when you get them. *see the one exception to this below

• How this happens:

  • You order a book, and then you submit a second order for it.
  • You re-order a book that was declared lost in the Mail, and both copies arrive
    • Because "lost" can sometimes mean "delayed en route to you", we recommend not re-requesting a Lost book until it has been Lost at PBS for 2 weeks. Re-requesting a book before it's been "lost" for 2 weeks means you are risking getting (and having to give a second credit for) an extra copy of the book.
    • You must mark a "lost" book received when it arrives.  To do this:
      • Go to  your Transaction Archive:
  • • • • place your cursor over My Account in the toolbar at the top of the site
    • • • Click Transaction Archive in the menu that drops down
    • • • you can also click the link 'Transaction Archive" from the My Account page
  • • • Scroll down to see the Lost transaction for this book.
        • Check the sender name and Details to be sure it is the correct transaction
        • There are sometimes several canceled transactions for one title
  • • • Click on the transaction
      • The usual Book Received screens will come up from there.
      • When you mark the copy received, the credit is taken from your account and given to that sender.
  • You order a Wish List book, and you are offered another version from your Wish List while the first version is still en route to you:
    • This is an individual choice: members will often request the second version, because they don't have the first one yet, and they want to be sure to get at least one copy of the book
    • If you do this, you must mark both copies received when they arrive; just repost the extra copy.
  • You request a book through both Box-O-Books and using a credit.
    • In this case, of course, you must mark both transactions received.
• *There is an exception for late-mailed books:
  • If a book was mailed more than 2 weeks late without notice to you about late mailing before it was mailed and
  • was already declared Lost at PBS before it arrives, and
  • you re-requested the book after it was declared "lost in the mail"  and
  • you end up with 2 copies, THEN
  • you do not have to mark the late-mailed-without-notice copy received.
    • Note: the late mailing must be confirmed- either the sender has told you this or the postmark on the package confirms it.  Sometimes Media Mail takes a long time, so a late-arriving book cannot be presumed to have been mailed late.
  • The rules governing late-mailing are:
    • If a sender wants to mail a book that has been declared Lost at PBS already she needs to contact you with a Personal Message asking you to confirm that you still want the book from her, and
    • You would need to have confirmed that you still wanted her copy of the book in a Personal Message in reply to hers before she mailed it.
  • The bottom line: If a sender sends a book late without getting confirmation from you that you have not gotten or requested another copy in the meantime, and you end up with two copies of the book, the sender has made the mistake here.  In this case (and ONLY in this case) you are not obligated to mark the lost book received (nor are you obligated to return the extra copy). 
  • You should also contact us to let us know about the extreme late mailing, so that this can be noted on the sender's account.

Related Links:

Swapping Deadlines
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