My wife recently went on a research trip investigating the Goodnight-Loving Trail for her third book. Book sales had gone up a bit, which is certainly a welcome sight.
She sells her books through Create Space (for paperbacks) and Kindle Direct Publishing (for e-books). The admin dashboard for KDP shows up-to-date stats of what she's sold on her two books and her short story.
She doesn't get an awful lot of returns on her books — maybe 2% — which is good! But when the returns come in, they're noticeable. The past couple of weeks she's seen a return show up for her first book, then her short story. They were preceded by sales a couple of days before. So, she suspects that someone is “buying” her books only to read through them quickly and return them for a full refund.
The customers that retailers would rather see go elsewhere
Amazon has some of the highest customer service ratings for a major company. So they'll err on the side of the customer almost every time. (This makes sense, because they sell so many different kinds of products, any loss will likely be made back easily with other purchases.)
With major retailers, though, there is a point that it just isn't worth it to deal with a customer who repeatedly abuses a return policy. Buying a dress, wearing it to a party, and returning it obviously worn gets old really quickly, and it's well within a retailer's prerogative to refuse service to such customers. “The door's that way, ma'am.”
Penny-wise and pound-foolish
This practice is annoying for the seller. It's within the rules, but it's still annoying to see someone taking advantage of the rules.
I think more importantly, though, is that this practice comes back to bite people in a couple of ways:
- They don't value their time very highly. Even returning an e-book isn't cost-free if you consider the time needed to do it: “To request a refund and return content, visit Manage Your Kindle, click the Actions button next to the title you'd like to return, and select Return for refund, or contact customer service.” There's a similar policy for returning physical items; it can be done, but there is a process that takes time.
- They're risking having their account banned. In addition to the waste of time, there is the risk that Amazon will ban accounts for excessive returns. Considering how much value Amazon offers, not being able to purchase from them again will be quite costly. The best deal in town often isn't as good as the best deal on Amazon.
There are usually ways to figure out whether or not you'll be happy with an item before you buy it. Some level of returns are acceptable. Things happen. But being a habitual returner is a liability, both in time and possibly financially as well.
I’ve been thinking about this recently. I’ve recently gone through a stretch with Amazon where I’ve had to make more returns than normal. All have been legitimate, but it’s made me wonder about the limits before your account gets banned.
As you note, Amazon offers a tremendous amount of value to our family. I’d really rather not get banned. One would hope that they’d warn you first, but that doesn’t seem to be the case in instances where people have been banned for excess returns.
As for buying Kindle books, reading quickly, and returning them… That’s just shady. Hopefully karma will catch up with them.
It might take longer for people to get banned by returning Kindle books, because it’s shipping electrons rather than atoms. Amazon accounts get banned when there’s clear abuse of the return policy.
(By the way, I just noticed the hands in your logo. Clever!)
I personally consider returns after use as theft.
If you wear the dress it is used period. If you read the book it is used.
Used is not new.
Therefore returning a used item is wrong.
If you want to read the book- buy it read it keep it.
Otherwise you are taking it without properly paying for it.
We all pay for “these people. ”
Stores should blackball these people.
I’m always amazed with how people talk about stores as though they exist without people excusing thir behavior because no person gets hurt.
Businesses have owners, shareholders, families, and other customers. We all pay the price for such bad behavior.
Hi John,
I’m a new reader here (found your site through jonathan’s Mymoneyblog). Your wife sells her short story through kindle direct publishing? How does she promote her short story? I am interested in selling my short stories and this is something new for me.
I’d love to know more about her experiences
recently, costco dot com really screwed up an order for a printer for my one man office. i ordered one that was on sale. it arrived promptly and since i happened to have visiting the webmaster for a major medical school, i asked for her help in setting it up. this printer contained more options than i needed (fax, scanner, color) but it was the best buy. after only a few copies (maybe 20), it was clear that the toner needed changing! what! this is a new computer. my techy friend quickly determined that the drum had been locked (requiring a password and knowledge of how to do that – neither of which i possessed). i called cost dot com, spoke with a very nice customer rep who efficiently set up a UPS pickup for the next day with a new printer heading my way in 3 business days. 10 business days later, no printer. i called and was stunned to learn that the printer was backordered and would be another 10-14 business days. frustration! no way to speak to anyone in charge. believe me i tried. so, i took myself to my local costco where i determined that their least expensive printer was 3 times what i could spend and far larger and fancier than any current or future need imaginable. frustration! i wrote a long comment for the complaint/suggestion box (they are responsive to those complaint cards) after two of the instore personnel had a great resolution for my problem. buy their printer and then when the online printer finally appeared, RETURN THE PRINTER TO THE STORE! planned returns??? these guys were trying to help but i’m appalled that this is the best solution they could come up with. i told them – and later the store manager who called me in response to my complaint card – that i was unwilling to participate in a practice that would ultimately cost me more money because someone (all of us) must bear the cost of such irresponsible resolutions to fairly simple problems. ultimately, costco dot com overnighted me a printer – only after i demanded they do so – and it was a cheapo one that i had no difficulty setting up by myself. this was a bad situation made worse by two young men trying to appease a customer. i was very polite but clearly expressed my frustration. i made it clear to the manager when he called that i would be considering this failure in both standard practice and customer relations when my renewal time comes.