Help Center - My request was canceled but I already mailed the CD!

If you received an email from SwapaCD telling you that a CD transaction was canceled, but you already mailed the CD, this means you did not mark the CD mailed before the deadline to do so.

• The other possibility for an email cancellation notification would be if the requestor canceled--and the requestor could not cancel once you accessed the address information from the request. 

You cannot get credit from the SwapaCD system for sending the CD, but it may be possible to get credit from the requestor (click here to find out how)--if you act promptly.

If you did not get an email notification of a cancellation, but you cannot find an outgoing request in your account, please see My request disappeared!.

If you didn't mail the cd yet, see My request was canceled--I didn't mail the CD yet.

Why did the transaction cancel?

• If a CD is not marked mailed before the deadline, the SwapaCD system cannot know it was mailed
  • Contents of Personal Messages or emails from the sender/requestor will not affect the deadline
  • The deadline cannot be changed once the CD request has been accepted
• The deadline is determined by the sender's choice of mailing dates:
  • If the sender clicks "I can mail in the next 2 days" when accepting, he or she has 5 more days before the transaction must be marked mailed.
  • If the sender clicks "I can mail LATER" when accepting, and then chooses a later mailing date, the CD must be marked mailed by 2 days after the alternate mail-by date chosen.

If a CD is not marked mailed by the deadline, it will cancel automatically, and the request will be passed along to another member offering a copy of the same CD.  

• If you act fast, you may be able to "catch" the requestor before the second sender prints the address to send the second copy of the CD.
• If the requestor can still cancel the new request, then he or she will not end up with 2 copies, and will probably be happy to mark your CD received from his or her Transaction Archive when your copy arrives.

• If he or she marks your CD received from the canceled transaction, you will get credit for having sent the CD.

To try to get credit for sending the CD: you should contact the requestor as soon as possible using the Personal Message system.

• To contact the requestor, click the on the right of the canceled transaction for this CD, and choose "Personal Message".
  • Your canceled transactions are in your Transaction Archive.
  • To get to your Transaction Archive, place your cursor over My Account in the toolbar at the top of the site, and click "Transaction Archive" in the menu that drops down.
  • Scroll down the list to see the transaction for this CD.  To be sure you have the correct canceled transaction:
    • mouse over the icon at the left to be sure that the popup box says "No response from sender"
    • compare the date of cancellation to the date you got the cancellation email from SwapaCD
  • Click on the right of the transaction when you have verified it is the correct one.
    • Choose Personal Message from the dropdown list.
    • Write a message explaining the situation.  It is important to be clear!  Saying only "CD was mailed" will not help matters.
    • This is our suggested text (of course you can modify it to suit your situation) for your PM:

"I mailed this CD [Insert title of CD] but forgot to mark it mailed before the deadline, and it was canceled. If you have an active request on your account page for [Insert title of CD] it is not with me--it is with a new sender. Your request must have been passed on to that person, and you will get 2 copies of this CD if the new request is not canceled. If you do have an active request on your account page for this CD can you cancel it? You will be getting a copy of the CD from me. You can then mark my CD received when it arrives, from your Transaction Archive. If you are willing to do this I really appreciate it! Just let me know if you have a new transaction on your account page, and if you are able/willing to cancel. I am very sorry about the inconvenience. I am going to mark my CDs mailed before the deadline from now on!"

• If the requestor is able to cancel the new request (or has no new request), and marks your CD received from the canceled transaction when she or he gets your copy, you will get credit for having sent it.

Additional Notes

• If your transaction was canceled because you mailed the CD and then went out of town:
  • Remember, the SENDER sets the deadline, when choosing the mail-by date.
  • You should keep in mind your personal schedule, postal holidays and the like when choosing your mail-by date.
  • If you plan to mail a CD on the way out of town, mark it mailed the morning or the night before you mail it: this is perfectly okay to do.
    • A CD should be mailed within 24-48 hours of marking it mailed.
• If your computer or Internet connection failed after mailing the CD, and you were unable to log in to mark the CD mailed:
  • Any Internet-equipped computer (library, a friend's) can access paperbackswap.
  • If you have an unreliable Internet connection and no access to another computer, you might make a habit of marking the CD mailed just before you mail it; this is perfectly okay
    • A CD should be mailed within 24-48 hours of marking it mailed.
    • If you always mark your CD mailed just before you mail it and your computer/internet crashes, you will not already have mailed the CD and be unable to mark it mailed.
    • If your computer/Internet crashes and the deadline passes while you are unable to get Internet access, the transaction will cancel; you will not have mailed the CD in this case.  Simply repost the CD when you have Internet/computer access again.

• If you made arrangements with the requestor to mail the CD later than the mail-by date you chose when accepting the request:
  • Remember that the SwapaCD computer will not know of these arrangements
  • The SwapaCD system will not adjust your deadline to mark the CD mailed based on alternate arrangements you have made in PMs.
  • You will need to mark the CD mailed before the deadline--even if you haven't mailed it!--to keep the transaction from canceling.
  • Marking a CD mailed more than a day or two before you mail it is ONLY acceptable if you have gotten the requestor's permission to mail the CD later.

Related Links:

My request was canceled--I didn't mail the CD yet
My request disappeared!
Swapping Deadlines
Can I send a CD later?
My CD has been mailed. Am I done?