Amazon E-book Returns

I've read anecdotal "complaints" that Amazon tracks serial returners and modifies their return privileges or bans their account. People seem to get away with it for a while, but not forever, and then get pissy with Amazon online. Tarnished silver lining I guess...

I see a few returns, something in the 1 to 5% rate. At first I felt insulted, but then I decided that was silly, since as people have commented the return could be either a mistaken purchase or simply a chronic buy/return person. It may have nothing to do with my book in particular.

Some people get their shorts in a bunch over stuff being returned. But I have a friend who has an ebook that she has sold in about 3 different platforms. Each time she has put the book for sale, she's gotten ticked off about being "ripped off" in one format or another. This last platform she used (I think it was JVZoo) it was about how many people were asking for refunds.

Why do I care? Well when she first launched this product she was in rough financial shape and she was offering affiliate sales. So I invested quite a bit of time putting together some webpages related to her topic. I thought I would get some affiliate commissions. This last round, when she had the product on JVZoo, I made about $60 or $70 and then yes, about $20 of that ended up going back to the refund crew. But i could not for the life of me fathom, throwing out the baby with the bathwater. She pulled the product, so ALL sales stopped, including the ones that were getting returned. Why? Because she felt ripped off.

I am not sure whether she has published on Kindle. I think she has, doesn't matter, the mentality is the same.

It's nice to know that other people with high-quality writing see returns. But don't waste a minute worrying about it. Most people are honest and will rarely return your ebook. Be happy about that and admire the half-full glass.

Okay, that's my 2 cents.

Amazon has not been a problem for me with returns, they come in at less than 5 %; but once on Smashwords, I had a customer pay $99.00 for a pay as you like book. It did not surprise me that the payment was returned, but unfortunately, the incident seemed to trigger a rash of returns.

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