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Amazon / Kindle returns / refunds
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Are books guaranteed to be liked when they are bought? I guess Amazon thinks it's better to give back 3.00 than lose a customer. If I buy a book, I keep it. I could never ask for money back.
It depends for me. If I didn't like the story, I wouldn't ask for a refund. If the formatting was poor, too many glitches, plotting, amateurish writing--yeah, give me my 99 cents back.
Well I've personally gotten refunds on accidental purchases because it was linked on a free thread. I never even opened the books, let alone read them. If I thought it was free, I'm not paying $2.99 because of an error.
That is very understandable. Luckily I've not had that situation.
Shirley wrote: "That is very understandable. Luckily I've not had that situation."It's very easy to do. Unlike other purchases on Amazon, books only require a single click. Even music requires a double click.
That's happened to me a few times. I always wonder about it. If it's a mistake, I can understand, but if someone's that bent on getting a free read (especially when my draft is available for free elsewhere,) that they're going to return a .99 cent ebook, then God love 'em. They need that 99 cents more than I do.
It's still kind of annoying.
Hi everyone,I read your comments with great interest and offer my opinion on this issue as an author. Where sample chapters are provided, as they usually are prior to purchase, the prospective buyer has the opportunity to judge whether or not the style of writing, and subject matter are something he or she is interested in. Having done so, it is reasonable to assume that the rest of the book continues to deliver the same level of quality. That is not always the case, unfortunately, and in those instances a buyer has every right to be refunded.
There are, and will always be instances where people take advantage and abuse the system, and it would be my expectation that in those instances sellers such as Amazon take note of patterns of abuse. That is the message I would encourage you to take to them.
On a slightly different but related topic I have written a blog discussing the issue of authors giving away their work for free. This is a practice being taken by some writers, the reasons of which are clear. It does not however benefit the community. If interested it can be reviewed at www.stuartmurraybooks.com or here at my Goodreads site.
Regina wrote: "That's happened to me a few times. I always wonder about it. If it's a mistake, I can understand, but if someone's that bent on getting a free read (especially when my draft is available for free..."
Well good, bad, or indifferent, if only clicked on something to try because it was free. I'm not keeping it, if it was a penny. I'd rather spend that money on an author whose work I really want. When you read a lot like I do, those $0.99, $1.99, and $2.99 add up really quickly.
Yep, I tried to get it so it would go in my cart instead so the books could be linked together (and therefore, help the authors), but I couldn't see how. :/If I read a book and dislike it, I won't return it. It's my fault for not reading the sample. However, accidents happen. I too once bought a book by accident and returned it a few clicks later. I never uploaded it to my device. Then again, other places don't accept return and if their policy would have been 'no return', I would have understood and kept the book. I still feel bad about it. If it ever happens again, I'll keep it. That will be a small price to pay for the lesson: Always check twice before hitting the stupid one-click button. :(
I think for the most part returns are valid. There might be a some janky people reading and returning books trying to get something free...But those are the same people most likely who bought, read, and returned physical books too (which is allowed by Amazon, and BN by the way).
Couple of things, even if your book was in a brick and mortar store you are going to get returns, I think self published authors now actually see the returns and that is why there is more attention to it. Amazon is trying to crack down on serial returners. There was a blog where this lady was like I don't know why I got banned, I returned 60% because I felt that Amazon was telling us if we didn't like the book we could return it and apparently she didn't like 60% of the books.
I personally have never returned a book, if I bought one then rather or not I liked it I am going to keep it, but mind you I don't buy that many and I tend to only buy from people I know.
If your return rate is between 4-10% then you are doing well. One of the books that I published recently was at 3% in the United States which was good, but 100% in the UK. Every book that we sold on Amazon.UK was returned two to three days after purchase. Since this is a fast read I can assume that the book was read and returned.
I think that if you read the entire book, and Amazon knows if you do since your book is in the cloud and therefore they can track that you shouldn't be able to return it. But if you read 20% and then return it I don't have a problem with that. Not everyone is going to like the book.
Amazon does keep track of why it was returned and I really wish that publishers and authors can see that metadata. If all of my returns were due to bad formatting then I can take that into consideration and fix the formatting, but if they don't leave a review and return the book how am I supposed to know?
Yes! I'd like to know if they bought it by mistake, the formatting was bad, or they just didn't like it for "blank" reason. Then we could take some action if necessary.
Maybe, I'm wrong, but I thought that if you read more than 20% of the book, then you can't return it. I know I read that somewhere on an Amazon policy. That's why we as authors hope that our stories capture the reader's attention to the point they read past the limit--right?Anyway, I agree with what's been said: If the book is riddled with grammatical errors, then I understand; You deserve your 99-2.99 back to purchase one written with better quality.
But, the fact that buyers will spend $200-$300 for a SmartPhone or a Tablet, but then demand their 99 cents back so they can get the book free, or for whatever other reason is hilarious. If you're that hard up that you need your 99-2.99 back, then I agree with Regina--God love you.
But we as authors all know that we're in a career where you just can't please everyone. Your style of writing will turn some off and dog-gonnit they want their refund.
If I see a refund for one of my books, then I just accept that they didn't like the book and leave it at that. The reviews I get tell me whether my formatting was bad, I need to work on my tense, or any other mistakes I may have made.
Did the person get a free read? Since Amazon doesn't give the reason I have no idea why it was refunded.
It doesn't happen often but my books are only .99 to 2.99.
Someone is so , okay cheap, that they demand 99 cents back or $2.99? Even if I absolutely hate a book as a reader I would never think of demanding 3 bucks back.
Curious as to how authors and readers feel about this.