ebook return rates

Recently I was asked if I have problems with returns on ebooks sold by Amazon. Amazon lets people return ebook purchases for any reason with (I think) 7 days. This is sometimes a cause for concern for writers, since they fear people are buying their book, reading it, and then returning it.

I don’t really worry about it. Frankly if someone is unhappy with one of my books, I would prefer that they be able to return it. There are people who do the “read and return” thing, but they’re a tiny minority. The more likely explanations for people returning a book are:

-They bought it by accident – it’s easy to buy ebooks by accident on Amazon.

-Their kid/girlfriend/boyfriend/dog got a hold of their phone and bought it by accident.

-They bought the book, realized that they couldn’t really afford it, and returned it. For many people $3.99 is money they can’t spare.

-They started reading the book, decided they hated it, and returned it rather than finish it.

All of these are good reasons to return an ebook. I think it’s better in the long run for a site to have a generous return policy, since it’s more likely to bring repeat business, and Amazon does eventually delete the accounts of serial returners.

That said, what are my return rates actually like?

On Amazon US in August, FROSTBORN OMNIBUS ONE had a return rate of 0.003%, and GHOST IN THE WINDS had a return rate of 1%. At that level, it isn’t really a problem.

-JM