Daily Archives: August 3, 2008

Update on the Returnability of Books (With Respect to Breaking Dawn)

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Someone on the comment thread here said it best:

That’s some strong hatin’ when you return a book. There are books that I don’t like, but I’ve never returned one and said, “Here, take this sh!t back! DNW!!”

I’m one of those people, so I’ve never really taken a close look at returns (outside of Amazon’s system for the return of physical goods). This is new territory for me.

Book returns are apparently happening nationwide for Breaking Dawn. People have discovered that

  • Barnes & Nobles will take returns within 14 days, with receipt.
  • Borders still uses the old-fashioned return-within-30-days, with receipt.
  • Amazon.com has an automated return system for paper books, within 30 days.
  • You can call Amazon.com’s customer service (or send email) to return your Kindle e-book version within 7 days.

I have never seen people turn this fast, this ugly, and in large enough numbers to screw Amazon rankings against a popular author whose books they have been devouring for the last few years.

Update: Or immediately start knocking over the Wikipedia page for the book and causing the admins, less than 48 hours in, to lock the edits for the page. Fascinating.

[Not a] Disadvantage of the Kindle: Sometimes Instant Is Not Good (But You Can Return It)

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Update: Karen below corrects me: yes, you can indeed return books on the Kindle, within seven days (as opposed to 30). You have to contact customer support, however—it’s not an automated system as with other Amazon products. Karen also comments below that there’s a rebate program if you buy the book from Books on Board for Breaking Dawn.

At least with a real book ordered online, you have some hope of canceling your order or just shipping the book back unread (of course, it’s likely that even then, desire will have you ripping open the packaging anyways).

With a digital edition, not only is it already there on your Kindle or eReader, but you can’t return it (just like you can’t return books at a bookstore).

Case in point, Stephenie Meyer’s Breaking Dawn. I hope I’m in time to save you from it, but I fear I may not be.

See the hilarious and frighteningly true recaps from cleolinda here:

They’re actually a great replacement for the book.

(No, I didn’t buy Breaking Dawn in any form, but I feel a bit sorry for those who did and weren’t expecting this.)