From Amazon's Board: ''Price Guarantee On Books-No More''

[Leslie]

I called them and they were more than generous, giving me a gift certificate rather than doing the refund.  However, he suggested this was a one time offer. I don't blame them, I could read a book within 7 days and return every book I buy; that would not be fair at all.

Yes...

I posted somewhere else...here in Maine, we have LL Bean with the most generous return policy in the world: return anything purchased from Bean's at any time. Unfortunately, people abuse that. Folks will go to yard sales and buy anything with an LL Bean label (Bean boots are popular) and return them. Bean's takes them back but they have a registry of "return abusers" whose return privileges are revoked. They don't talk about it but they are very aggressive about keeping returns under control. I am sure Amazon does the same thing.

L

[sharyn]

I bought the latest J. D. Robb book the day it came out (the 4th), for $20.76 -- unheard of for a Kindle book, but I paid it anyway because I love the series.  The *very next day* the price was $14 and change.  I emailed Amazon asking for the difference to be credited to my card and they emailed back, saying they couldn't do that but I could return the book and buy it again at the new lower price.

So I returned the $20.76 book (well, deleted it from my Kindle and YML)...but in the meantime my mother had already bought the book in print edition so I'm reading hers instead.

Sharyn

[CS]

I bought the latest J. D. Robb book the day it came out (the 4th), for $20.76 -- unheard of for a Kindle book, but I paid it anyway because I love the series.  The *very next day* the price was $14 and change.  I emailed Amazon asking for the difference to be credited to my card and they emailed back, saying they couldn't do that but I could return the book and buy it again at the new lower price.

So I returned the $20.76 book (well, deleted it from my Kindle and YML)...but in the meantime my mother had already bought the book in print edition so I'm reading hers instead.

Sharyn

Great to see another J.D. Robb fan on here!

I'm waiting for the new J.D. Robb to go down in price as well. My guess is it'll be $9.99 soon enough.

[ScottBooks]

In my email this evening was a notice from Amazon that my order had shipped (Obviously I didn't check all of my pre-orders!). This particular book Ender in Exile doesn't yet show a Kindle version. They also pointed out that I had saved $x.xx because the price had dropped since I ordered it.


"Pre-order Price Guarantee

Amazon.com's price for not-yet-released items sometimes changes between the time the item is listed for sale and the time it is released and shipped. Whenever you pre-order a book, CD, video, DVD, software, or video game, the price we charge when we ship it to you will be the lowest price offered by Amazon.com between the time you placed your order and the end of the day of the release date. A pre-order price guarantee message will appear on your Order Summary during the checkout process. If you use 1-Click ordering, pre-order price protection will be automatically applied. The order summary in Your Account will reflect the lowest price within 24 hours of the price change.

Terms and Conditions:

    * Pre-order Price Guarantee applies only to items sold by Amazon.com, and not to items (or prices) offered by other sellers on our site. Does not apply to any products purchased at Amazon.com's other sites, including Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.co.jp, Amazon.ca, or any other web site operated by Amazon.com or its affiliates.
    * Pre-order Price Guarantee applies only to not-yet-released books, CDs, videos, DVDs, software, and video games sold by Amazon.com. It does not apply to other product lines or to items that have already been released.
    * Pre-order Price Guarantee applies only to qualifying items displaying the offer message on their product detail pages. Items that do not display the offer message do not qualify, regardless of the nature of the items.
    * If your order enters the shipping process before the release date and the price is lowered before the end of the day of the release date, we will automatically refund your credit card for the difference between the price you were charged and the release-date price. If you did not use a credit card to pay for your order, please contact Customer Service."

Now I'm more confused than usual (which is saying something!). And I have no conclusions to make or points to add.

[Betsy the Quilter]

If the price drops before it is actually "shipped" (I have quotes around "shipped" as they mean when the shipping notification is generated.) they will charge you the lower price, since they don't charge your CC until the item is shipped.  What has changed, apparently, is an unofficial policy Amazon had to refund money within 30 days, I think, if the price dropped after shipping

[mompres2008]

After yesterday and the J. D. Robb book kerfuffle; I have to cancel those pre-orders and mark my calendar with their release dates instead.

  Kerfuffle is my new favorite word!!!! And it's perfectly used here since it makes as much sense as the pricing policy!!! Thanks.