Authors are protesting Amazon's 'read and return' e-book policy

[ZodWallop]

I didn't realize Amazon had such a generous return policy on ebooks. It seems ridiculous.

I have returned two ebooks that I accidentally bought by clicking the 1-click button.

I'd be okay if they did away with ebook returns and turned off forced 1-click purchasing of ebooks.

From the article:

Authors are protesting Amazon's e-book policy that allows users to read and return

Earlier this month, Lisa Kessler, a paranormal romance author, logged into Kindle Direct Publishing to check her earnings from the previous month. On her publishing dashboard, she saw something she had never seen before in her 11 years as an author: a negative earnings balance.

The reason for the negative balance? Kindle e-book returns.

"I don't really understand why digital movies and digital music aren't returnable, but digital books you have a whole week to read that book and return," Kessler said. "That doesn't make sense to me. It's still a digital product."

Kessler, Givens Kurtz, Creel, and other authors also suggest Amazon limit returns based on how much of a book a customer has read — say, after reading 20% of a book, it can no longer be returned.

[ZodWallop]

There's a petition linked in the article, encouraging Amazon to reconsider their return policy. Given the slant of this board, I'd recommend others sign it

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

There's a petition linked in the article, encouraging Amazon to reconsider their return policy. Given the slant of this board, I'd recommend others sign it

I wouldn't, recalling an author who didn:t correct "lead" to "led".

And Amazon UK allows 14 days, not 7 and print books can be returned.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

I wouldn't, recalling an author who didn:t correct "lead" to "led".

And Amazon UK allows 14 days, not 7 and print books can be returned.

Just to be sure I understand correctly - you're saying you support the current policy because of a tiny typo left uncorrected?

[haertig]

There was just an article in today's Denver Post newspaper about large retailers who are implementing, or thinking about implementing, a "no return return policy". In other words, if you don't want something, let the retailer know that you want to return it and they will refund your money, but you don't have to return anything. They say "just keep it".

In a practical sense, that's pretty close to Amazon's eBook return policy. In other words, not a return policy at all. Just an invitation to fraud.

I thought Amazon's eBook return policy was something like 15 minutes. I used it once - scrambling to return the eBook I had just accidentally purchased. Somehow, I was looking at a book, decided I didn't really want it, then clicked on "Buy It Now" (or whatever the button says) when I really meant to click the X to close the window. Talk about an embarrassing brain fart! The book returned just fine and I wasn't charged for it. But I was under the impression that the return window was very short - minutes, not days.

Amazon has some really strange policies regarding eBook payment to the authors IMHO. Another one of their weird ones that I have read about on these forums, is some kind of "pay per page read" scheme. If that's truly the case, then authors never get paid a penny for my eBook purchases from Amazon. Since I keep my Kindle in Airplane Mode 100% of the time, Amazon must think that I never read any of the books that I purchase. I guess Amazon keeps all my money for themselves - screw the authors. This isn't fair to the authors, but I am under no obligation to allow my Kindle to connect to the internet. If the authors aren't paid because of that, that's an issue they should take up with Amazon, not me.

[maddz]

Huh, I don't even read my purchases on a Kindle - I mostly read on a Kobo. I think it's been over a year since I last routinely read on a Kindle app - I find the iPad too heavy to hold for an extended period and the iPhone too small to read on (like reading on a Palm). I occasionally read sitting at the computer if it's a series I want to catch up on and the book is on the short side.

If I go for a refund on a purchase, it's always within minutes and it's because it's an accidental purchase. I don't return books because of typos or bad grammar - I might flag them as a 1- or 2-star review. I would if the file was badly munged - especially where I have a print copy to compare it with, but I don't think that's ever happened to me.

[Pizza_Cant_Read]

It is my understanding that this is for their subscription service, not an ordinary purchase: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201541130

Originally Posted by haertig

Amazon has some really strange policies regarding eBook payment to the authors IMHO. Another one of their weird ones that I have read about on these forums, is some kind of "pay per page read" scheme. If that's truly the case, then authors never get paid a penny for my eBook purchases from Amazon. Since I keep my Kindle in Airplane Mode 100% of the time, Amazon must think that I never read any of the books that I purchase. I guess Amazon keeps all my money for themselves - screw the authors. This isn't fair to the authors, but I am under no obligation to allow my Kindle to connect to the internet. If the authors aren't paid because of that, that's an issue they should take up with Amazon, not me.

[drofgnal]

I don't think you should be allowed to return an ebook. Seems ripe for abuse. I wonder if there are some restrictions on that? Like the book must not have been downloaded for USB transfer? It'd be easy and take about 2 minutes to download via usb and load onto a kindle with wifi off and claim a refund or download and remove DRM and load onto any reader and claim a refund. Seems a dumb policy.

I accidentally purchase a book once with the 1-click button, and just kept it. Fortunately is was a kindle deal of the day book for 1.99. No great loss.

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I don't think you should be allowed to return an ebook. Seems ripe for abuse. I wonder if there are some restrictions on that? Like the book must not have been downloaded for USB transfer? It'd be easy and take about 2 minutes to download via usb and load onto a kindle with wifi off and claim a refund or download and remove DRM and load onto any reader and claim a refund. Seems a dumb policy.

Under these circumstances, the purchase should be verifiable - with 1 click purchase there must be a right of return.
In addition, there is a 14-day right of return for Internet purchases - you can't try it (read and browse in the shop).

[John F]

... Earlier this month, Lisa Kessler, a paranormal romance author, logged into Kindle Direct Publishing to check her earnings from the previous month. On her publishing dashboard, she saw something she had never seen before in her 11 years as an author: a negative earnings balance.

The reason for the negative balance? Kindle e-book returns. ...

That doesn't sound quite right.

... When an Amazon customer returns an e-book, royalties originally paid to the author at the time of purchase are deducted from their earnings balance. Authors can end up with negative balances when customers return books after the author has already been paid by Kindle Direct Publishing, an Amazon spokesperson said.

There you go.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I don't think you should be allowed to return an ebook. Seems ripe for abuse. I wonder if there are some restrictions on that? Like the book must not have been downloaded for USB transfer? It'd be easy and take about 2 minutes to download via usb and load onto a kindle with wifi off and claim a refund or download and remove DRM and load onto any reader and claim a refund. Seems a dumb policy.

I accidentally purchase a book once with the 1-click button, and just kept it. Fortunately is was a kindle deal of the day book for 1.99. No great loss.

Most people don’t know how to download and convert their Kindle purchases. There should be some protection for readers who buy an ebook by accident; for readers who realize the book is some kind of scam (plagiarized text, book stuffing, etc.); for readers who find out they already bought an earlier edition; etc.

[pdurrant]

If an account abuses the ebook return policy, I suspect Amazon would take action. Up to and including closing the account.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Critteranne

Most people don’t know how to download and convert their Kindle purchases. There should be some protection for readers who buy an ebook by accident; for readers who realize the book is some kind of scam (plagiarized text, book stuffing, etc.); for readers who find out they already bought an earlier edition; etc.

Amazon offers Look Inside and free sample download. Searching the author isn't hard. There should only be returns on paper for physical damage /unreadable print (Just once I saw a Grishon paper back so over inked as to be nearly unreadable) and none on ebooks.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by John F

That doesn't sound quite right.

There you go.

The authors are also being charged additional fees when they publish via Amazon — such as the Kindle delivery fee IIRC. So the negative amount isn’t just the refund but any additional fees on top of that.

Authors are also reporting an uptick in returns. Some are linking it to TikTok creators promoting “read and return” as a money-saving “hack.”

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

If an account abuses the ebook return policy, I suspect Amazon would take action. Up to and including closing the account.

I'd have thought so. They will close an account (and block access to your Amazon Cloud library) if there are too many physical returns. They don't say anywhere how they decide.

Yet I read people actually boasting how they often return ebooks.