4 ms·

It's not a fiction book you read for entertainment. Books of this nature are meant to be a reference and resource you continue using.

markdown 8y ago
I feel that's beside the point. The vendor can no longer sell it as a new book. You've deprived them of some value, and you refuse to pay for what they've lost. I feel there's in inherent risk in any trade. You rarely know for certain that you'll love what you're paying for, and you should accept that risk. One shouldn't feel entitled to 100% satisfaction when one makes a purchase, and certainly shouldn't deprive the vendor of money just because you decided after the fact that you didn't like what you bought. I suppose this is to be expected from people raised in an environment where multi-billion dollar corporations compete for customers and can afford to offer "just because I didn't like it" returns free of charge. It's foreign to me.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > The vendor can no longer sell it as a new book. Returns generally can be, and usually are, sold again as new unless damaged or returned for defect, AFAIK.
- xxpor 8y ago
  >I feel there's in inherent risk in any trade. And why should the consumer accept that risk and not the vendor?
  - markdown 8y ago
    Because the buyer is making the decision to purchase. It's their choice, and particularly in this case they have very good data to support the decision (actually leafing through the book in a bookstore, reading the countless reviews available online, etc). Caveat emptor. If OP had bought the book from Samin Nosrat selling her own book out of a stall, I highly doubt he'd return the book a week later demanding his money back just because he didn't like what he read... that'd be a shitty thing to do. The reason he felt no shame in this was because there was a faceless corporation between him and the author.
    - lorenzhs 8y ago
      As Tomte noted, EU law requires that you be able to return online (and catalogue, phone, and other distance marketing) purchases within 14 days, exactly because in those cases you don't have the possibility of leafing through a book or having a product demonstrated at a store. Reviews aren't a substitute for that. Full detail can be found at https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/index_en.htm https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/gua...
      - markdown 8y ago
        Thanks for that.
- leetcrew 8y ago
  > I suppose this is to be expected from people raised in an environment where multi-billion dollar corporations compete for customers and can afford to offer "just because I didn't like it" returns free of charge. you hit the nail on the head. amazon has a policy where they will let you get a full refund within n days as long as you haven't significantly damaged the item yourself. they're not stupid; they do realize some people will just use the thing a couple times and return it. so they do the math on their end and figure out what kind of return policy they can afford to offer. why wouldn't you take advantage of this? companies only offer this kind of policy because they expect to make even more money because of it.
  - cyphar 8y ago
    > as long as you haven't significantly damaged the item yourself As an aside, my limited experience with buying "new" books from Amazon is that they are always significantly damaged on arrival.
- ip26 8y ago
  If it just isn't quite for you, sure. But if the product turns out to be garbage, personally I feel like the vendor needs a strong signal saying so...
  - markdown 8y ago
    Agreed. This is a discussion about returning a product because "it just isn't quite for you."
- zhte415 8y ago
  For the OP to have returned the book, the vendor must have accepted the book for returns. By providing a returns policy, the vendor is presumably able to generate increased trust and provide sufficient value by doing so, as a customer may not have made the purchase at all without a returns policy.

markdown 8y ago

I feel that's beside the point. The vendor can no longer sell it as a new book. You've deprived them of some value, and you refuse to pay for what they've lost. I feel there's in inherent risk in any trade. You rarely know for certain that you'll love what you're paying for, and you should accept that risk. One shouldn't feel entitled to 100% satisfaction when one makes a purchase, and certainly shouldn't deprive the vendor of money just because you decided after the fact that you didn't like what you bought. I suppose this is to be expected from people raised in an environment where multi-billion dollar corporations compete for customers and can afford to offer "just because I didn't like it" returns free of charge. It's foreign to me.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> The vendor can no longer sell it as a new book. Returns generally can be, and usually are, sold again as new unless damaged or returned for defect, AFAIK.
xxpor 8y ago
>I feel there's in inherent risk in any trade. And why should the consumer accept that risk and not the vendor?
- markdown 8y ago
  Because the buyer is making the decision to purchase. It's their choice, and particularly in this case they have very good data to support the decision (actually leafing through the book in a bookstore, reading the countless reviews available online, etc). Caveat emptor. If OP had bought the book from Samin Nosrat selling her own book out of a stall, I highly doubt he'd return the book a week later demanding his money back just because he didn't like what he read... that'd be a shitty thing to do. The reason he felt no shame in this was because there was a faceless corporation between him and the author.
  - lorenzhs 8y ago
    As Tomte noted, EU law requires that you be able to return online (and catalogue, phone, and other distance marketing) purchases within 14 days, exactly because in those cases you don't have the possibility of leafing through a book or having a product demonstrated at a store. Reviews aren't a substitute for that. Full detail can be found at https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/index_en.htm https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/gua...
    - markdown 8y ago
      Thanks for that.
leetcrew 8y ago
> I suppose this is to be expected from people raised in an environment where multi-billion dollar corporations compete for customers and can afford to offer "just because I didn't like it" returns free of charge. you hit the nail on the head. amazon has a policy where they will let you get a full refund within n days as long as you haven't significantly damaged the item yourself. they're not stupid; they do realize some people will just use the thing a couple times and return it. so they do the math on their end and figure out what kind of return policy they can afford to offer. why wouldn't you take advantage of this? companies only offer this kind of policy because they expect to make even more money because of it.
- cyphar 8y ago
  > as long as you haven't significantly damaged the item yourself As an aside, my limited experience with buying "new" books from Amazon is that they are always significantly damaged on arrival.
ip26 8y ago
If it just isn't quite for you, sure. But if the product turns out to be garbage, personally I feel like the vendor needs a strong signal saying so...
- markdown 8y ago
  Agreed. This is a discussion about returning a product because "it just isn't quite for you."
zhte415 8y ago
For the OP to have returned the book, the vendor must have accepted the book for returns. By providing a returns policy, the vendor is presumably able to generate increased trust and provide sufficient value by doing so, as a customer may not have made the purchase at all without a returns policy.