But I didn't WANT a freebie!

Ben Thornton · 03-08-2010, 03:25 PM

Following Richard Herley's thread the other day on the disappointing response to his "experiment" offering an honesty-box approach to ebook purchase, I downloaded his free ebook "The Stone Arrow" free from Smashwords. Eventually, I got around to reading it.

It's JD

So, I decided to get the other two books in the series from Smashwords, thinking that the price of a bottle of plonk was bound to demonstrate to him the wondrous opportunities of the digital age on which he seemed to be casting doubt.

Alas! It is the will of Uvavu that he not be paid!

PayPal sent me a message a couple of hours later saying

Quote:

Smashwords is refunding all charges made between midnight and 8am Pacific time, due to a programming error related to coupons. This is faster and more cost-effective than sorting out who's really owed a refund, as this problem didn't affect all purchases

So, my question is - how can I delete a book from Smashwords and buy it again? I remember seeing on another thread that someone had done this for a freebie that they wanted to pay for having read it.

koland · 03-08-2010, 04:19 PM

I think you can use the tipjar at Smashwords to pay an author whose work you received for free - at least, some authors have mentioned that it exists, but it may require the author to opt it. If that doesn't work, I'd send him the money directly on his web page or just via paypal (but let him know it's coming, first).

dreams · 03-08-2010, 04:45 PM

I was having trouble with smashwords last night as it was showing a difference between the cart and paypal charges. I kept trying to update and it kept changing, so I gave up and went to checkout. Same problem as it showed an entirely different charge. I gave up backed up and left stuff in the cart.

I just went back and my "cart" is empty.

I went to get the link for the donate button on his site and noticed that he has changed the site again and the donate button is gone.

Why not buy a couple more of his? Penal Colony is supposed to be good and I liked Refuge. You can also choose to "buy" 2 copies in order to "pay" more.

neilmarr · 03-09-2010, 06:24 AM

Some folks (no names, no pack drill) are so darned generous they can reduce me to tears. Even when they fully understand the promotional value of freebies and cheapies to authors and publishers during REBW, they still find a way to voluntarily stump up. I guess that's the direct opposite of piracy ... and it's such a breath of fresh air. Cheers. Neil

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03-08-2010, 04:19 PM	#2
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,560 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	I think you can use the tipjar at Smashwords to pay an author whose work you received for free - at least, some authors have mentioned that it exists, but it may require the author to opt it. If that doesn't work, I'd send him the money directly on his web page or just via paypal (but let him know it's coming, first).

03-08-2010, 04:45 PM	#3
dreams It's about the umbrella Posts: 25,112 Karma: 56250158 Join Date: Jan 2009 Device: Sony 505\| K Fire \| KK 3G+Wi-Fi \| iPhone 3Gs \|Vista 32-bit Hm Prem w/FF	I was having trouble with smashwords last night as it was showing a difference between the cart and paypal charges. I kept trying to update and it kept changing, so I gave up and went to checkout. Same problem as it showed an entirely different charge. I gave up backed up and left stuff in the cart. I just went back and my "cart" is empty. I went to get the link for the donate button on his site and noticed that he has changed the site again and the donate button is gone. Why not buy a couple more of his? Penal Colony is supposed to be good and I liked Refuge. You can also choose to "buy" 2 copies in order to "pay" more.

03-09-2010, 06:24 AM	#4
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,216 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	Some folks (no names, no pack drill) are so darned generous they can reduce me to tears. Even when they fully understand the promotional value of freebies and cheapies to authors and publishers during REBW, they still find a way to voluntarily stump up. I guess that's the direct opposite of piracy ... and it's such a breath of fresh air. Cheers. Neil