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Philosophy Regarding Returns
Returns and refunds are critical to our activities here.
They are as important, and perhaps more so, than the books themselves.
Consider that purchasing books from small and self
publishers is highly speculative, as readers do not have access to the usual
resources (critical reviews, best-seller lists, recommendations from librarians
and booksellers) that usually indicate the merit of a book. For these reasons,
if readers know that their purchases can be easily and freely returned, they
will feel comfortable doing business with us, despite any disappointment with
books that they have purchased.
As many of our booklisters are new to Internet sales, an
important point to note:
You are here to make money.
And so are we. Of course, we both are also here to promote
writing, books and the life of the mind, as well. But neither of us is here to
prove who is right; we are not here to argue with customers. We are here to make
money.
There is some loss involved with any business. That loss is
often uncontrollable, or is controllable only through the expenditure of more
money than what is saved.
So plan to withstand some small amount of uncontrolled loss
in your interactions with customers. The pricing and reimbursement structure
through booksXYZ is designed so that you, as a booklister, can withstand
a reasonable amount of loss, and still be quite profitable.
For these reasons, in questions of returns, we will
generally side with the customer. Our belief, and our business experience,
is that booksXYZ will enjoy return business from customers who are
satisfied. While a booklister might (rightly) feel that a customer who has been
unfair will not return to that particularly booklister as a customer, it must be
remembered that some of our future customers will be those whom booklisters and
booksXYZ have made sacrifices to accommodate in the past.
Note well, however, that booksXYZ will track the
reliability of everyone who uses our services, both readers and booklisters.
This will help to protect you in two ways.
First, it will help us identify and respond to customers
who are unreasonable or unscrupulous. This will help us protect you from large
losses in your dealings with customers.
Second, it will help us likewise identify and respond to
booklisters who are unreasonable or unscrupulous. This will help protect both
our reputation, and the reputations of our booklisters. As customers come to
trust us as a highly scrupulous enterprise, who only represents booklisters who
are also scrupulous, we will all enjoy a level of credibility, and a volume of
return business that will benefit us all. |
