Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweetpea
Simple: bookkeeping.
For instance: I buy 10 credits for $100 this year, but I don't spend them. Which means that the company I buy those credits from has $100 profit (they got my money and gave me back nothing in return).
So, the next year, I don't spend anything, but those 10 credits I bought the year before. That means the company has a $100 loss. That they made $100 profit last year doesn't matter, that was last year. This year is this year.
Naturally, I'm absolutely no bookkeeper, so I probably put it down waaaaaay too simple, but it is the bottom line.
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This is actually true of gift-cards, too. My mother used to work retail, and she hated how much her company would push gift cards at Christmas time. When people actually used them, she wasn't able to include those as "earnings" because as far as the company was concerned, they already had the money.
Enough people complained and got the law changed to say if you ask a person to give you money today so they can spend it at your store later, you actually have to allow them to spend it when they wish.
I think Audible has always been careful to call these "credits" so they can say that people are making their purchases, they're buying "credits", but credits have a limited lifespan. And they certainly tell you that up-front - I knew it from the first time I signed up for the service (got an Audible gift card from my dad, who did NOT know he was basically signing me up for a recurring fee).
I'm not saying I think it's fair to lose credits. I'm just saying that it's not something that's been hidden in the fine print, and that Audible's legal gymnastics have helped them so far.
It might turn out that they have to work more like "Groupon". You "buy" a credit, which allows you to purchase any audibook, regardless of the price difference between the cost of the book and the price you paid for the credit. But after ... 6 months, 1 year, whatever ... it converts to actual money and you have to spend it $1-to-$1 for audibooks at the member price.