I have a new fan. My new fan has purchased and returned
eighteen of my books over the past five weeks. How do I know this? I watch the
numbers on Amazon’s Author Central. I rarely have a return, but I started
seeing them in late August. First one book and then another; one every few
days. Of all these returns, not a single
book has had more than one return. Therefore I conclude someone is buying a
book, returning it, and then buying the next. I expect to see him/her work through
all thirty two I have published.
So, my dear new fan, I am pleased that you are enjoying my
work, for there are many years worth of effort gone into those you have read
and returned. I hope you tell your friends about how great they are, I hope
they buy them for themselves (since they cannot borrow your copies), and I hope
they have the decency to keep them once they have read them.
Oh, just in case you’re interested, here’s one you missed. I
think it is one of my better works. Just follow the link.
So, here’s the thing. I have a big problem with Amazon’s
return policy. That’s what the free pages are all about. You have a chance to
read some of the book for free then you decide to buy or not to buy. If you go
to a restaurant and eat the meal, do you suddenly get a refund? If you
walk out after the movie is over do you get your money back?
Talk to me folks, am I wrong here? Am I out of line with
this? It’s not the money so much as it is the theft of my work that bothers me.
What do you think?
Posts
I am guilty of an amazon return. Just one. And I did not read the book in its entirety. Only the "foreward" was available in preview, and the subject material was offensive, cloaked under the guise of "historical fiction.". But to buy, read, and return multiple works by the same author is clearly theft. I'm surprised Amazon hasn't flagged the user, honestly, because when I returned the one book I did, they asked specifically for the reason and it was my impression that all of that information was taken into account before the return was processed. Sorry to hear about your experience, it's a clear abuse of a policy.
ReplyDeleteYeah, well you expect one once in a while, but this is crap!
DeleteI have a huge issue with Amazon's return policy. Mostly because I write a lot of novellas and they can easily be read and returned within their seven day allotment period. I actually admire sites like All Romance/Omnilit and Smashwords where you cannot return a book.
ReplyDeleteI can understand if it is an accidental purchase but if you read an author's novel, whether you liked it or not, you should write a review to express your pleasure or displeasure. Not return it because you can.
I agree with Smashwords. You get to read a section of the book before you choose to buy. After that, you bought it, you got it.
DeleteI think it's smart and customer-focused to recognize that people sometimes hit "buy" by mistake, but giving people 7 days (sometimes more) to return a downloaded book is BS. They don't let us return software, music or movies, do they? This is clearly abuse and you'd think Amazon would do something about because they're losing $$ too.
ReplyDelete