Amazon Units Refunded

[Amy]

I was wondering if anyone could clarify for me why a book would be refunded?

Thanks,
Amy

[L.A.]

I have wondered that too. I mean, if they read it and did not like it...too bad. I have read books I was not crazy about but it's not a library. My husband says maybe they thought they were getting something else when they bought it and realized that it was the wrong book. I doubt that. Let me know if you get an answer.

[Amy]

I was also wondering if it had something to do with downloading issues. Or perhaps a glitch in being processed twice?
I would have no problem if someone didn't like my book, but I had a purchase today and within minutes, one refund. So, I'm not sure if had anything to do them not liking the story.

[Beth]

From what I heard amazon has a 7 day return policy so it is possible for people to read and return it... I think the return policy should only be for 24 hours.

[Heather]

It probably depends on the individual. A bit of all of the above, I suppose.

[Shaun]

I read somewhere that Amazon was experimenting with a concept of "used ebooks". Dunno exactly what that means or how it makes sense though.

[Alexes]

If you're just coming off of a promo, you might get a return from someone who hadn't realized the book was no longer free.

[A.K.]

It's a basic return policy. Really necessarily with digital purchases, especially with the ease at which those purchases can be made. There are lots of reasons for returns like that, almost never to do with the book itself. Kids click the "buy" button and parents didn't authorize them to; I've accidentally clicked "buy" when I wanted to just download a sample; Amazon will then refund the book and remove it from your Kindle. No biggie. :)

[Kaine]

Amazon allows people to return/refund an item "in its original state" for up to a week, regardless of what that item is. Sadly, that also includes eBooks. Sometimes, it's for a legitimate reason - accidental double charge, not realizing a promo was over or mistaking the Kindle Prime price for the regular or straight up clicking on the wrong thing - and I suppose that's okay.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of unscrupulous people out there, and so what a growing number of individuals seem to be doing is buying/downloading eBooks, reading them, then "returning" them. Then turn around and buy another. Unfortunately, this ends up being allowable due to the needs of customer service and "blanket" return policies. I do personally agree they should shorten the window for returns - won't weed out ALL the unsavory types, but it'll help and still cover the "oopsies" moments - or maybe just put a limit on the number of times a customer can pull that stunt... just thinking "out loud," there.

If you're interested, there is a petition regarding this very thing, and there's some more info regarding the situation linking from the site, located over here.