customer fraud and e-publishing

[xiombarg]

I thought the following link might be of interest to y'all:

When Your Customer Commits Fraud

In essence, it goes over your rights, as a writer, regarding your customers, when they are dis-satisfied. It's written with more "mainstream" writing in mind, but I think it applies very much to RPG publishing as well. It's certainly something I'll be thinking of when I finally produce the PDF version of Unsung.

I'm not sure if a firm "no refunds" policy is the best thing to do in a market as small as ours, but I certainly think being aware of this sort of individual is a good idea.

[DevP]

I'm unaware of any PDF sales that DO allow for refunds - "no refunds" is a very reasonable policy in this case, since your product is also not exorbitantly pricey. I think you'd only bother your potential consumers with overly obtrustive encryption/document protection/etc.

[xiombarg]

I'm unaware of any PDF sales that DO allow for refunds - "no refunds" is a very reasonable policy in this case, since your product is also not exorbitantly pricey. I think you'd only bother your potential consumers with overly obtrustive encryption/document protection/etc.

Oh, I totally agree. I have a few PDFs like that, and they're annoying.

But I can also totally see a customer trying to get a refund in order to get free product.

Has anyone actually had this happen to them in a RPG context?

[Valamir]

I don't have any PDF products at the moment, but I don't give refunds for Uni as a print book, I can't imagine doing it for a PDF.

I'll send a replacement copy free of charge, but I won't refund a purchase price.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

This is one of the reasons why I like to handle each order individually, rather than an automatic-authorize button of some kind. The message from Paypal has to come to me, and I have to get to it, read it, and then either (a) go to the Bookshelf and authorize a download, or (b) forward the order to the warehouse for shipping.

The vast majority of orders are no-brainers: click-click, done. But the few hassles justify the slightly slower, more hands-on approach - if the address looks messed-up, if there's some kind of irregularity with how the money gets processed, if it's an e-check (which must take time to clear) rather than a flat payment, or whatever. A lot of the time I can spot a potential problem and contact the person to solve it (or learn that it's no big deal) before the process of actually getting product to them is under way.

Best,
Ron