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I have a feeling a few bad actors will force them to rescind this policy. Something similar happened with REI: They used to offer a lifetime no questions asked

I have a feeling a few bad actors will force them to rescind this policy. Something similar happened with REI: They used to offer a lifetime no questions asked guarantee. I knew people that would return hiking boots they used for 5 years, and claim they were faulty because a shoelace broke or the tread wore too far.

packetlost 7y ago
REI was in a much worse position though, as they first had to pay for the physical product from the manufacturer. Digital goods have little to no upfront overhead (provided the network for distributing and payment already exists), making this kind of return policy less unfavorable.
clarry 7y ago
I don't think so, because they reserved the right to reject refunds on a case by case basis. They can reject a few bad actors. Admittedly I'm a bit concerned about botting new accounts, buying one game, downloading it, and then asking for refund.. I'm afraid they might cancel the policy instead of figuring out a restriction that (perhaps unfairly) would prevent new users from getting full refunds.
- anon73044 7y ago
  There'd have to be some kinds of checks in place to keep automated accounts from bulk buying and refunding games. Say, an account that's been open for several years and has already made several purchases without issue, or accounts who are active on the forums. (Even though GOG's entire catalog has been posted on the torrent sites for years now)
rhn_mk1 7y ago
A physical goods company pays a significant cost for every item sold, so each return always turns into a loss. While I don't exactly know the arrangements GOG, I suspect that they have insignificant costs for creating copies of many of their games (certainly the ones they made), so a refund eats only bandwidth costs. Additional publicity will cover those bandwidth costs as long as there are some customers who buy and don't return.
- zaksoup 7y ago
  The costs associated with this policy seem much more likely to be based on decreased sales if folks buy a game, play it as much as they want (within 30 days), and return for a full refund. Less that they spend bandwidth/compute costs they can't recoup with the return.
  - rhn_mk1 7y ago
    This presumes that those who buy a game and then return it wouldn't have returned it without the new policy, and that there's more of them than those who come because of the extra publicity and buy without returning. Considering the rampant piracy of GOG games I think the first group is rather small.
  - thecrash 7y ago
    All GOG games are easily available on the pirate bay and other free sites. Anyone who just wants to get a game without paying already has an easier path than buying and requesting a refund. This is in line with GOG's anti-DRM policy: No matter how restrictive your systems, people who don't want to pay won't. So why have systems which punish and inconvenience the people who do want to pay?

packetlost 7y ago

REI was in a much worse position though, as they first had to pay for the physical product from the manufacturer. Digital goods have little to no upfront overhead (provided the network for distributing and payment already exists), making this kind of return policy less unfavorable.

clarry 7y ago

I don't think so, because they reserved the right to reject refunds on a case by case basis. They can reject a few bad actors. Admittedly I'm a bit concerned about botting new accounts, buying one game, downloading it, and then asking for refund.. I'm afraid they might cancel the policy instead of figuring out a restriction that (perhaps unfairly) would prevent new users from getting full refunds.

anon73044 7y ago
There'd have to be some kinds of checks in place to keep automated accounts from bulk buying and refunding games. Say, an account that's been open for several years and has already made several purchases without issue, or accounts who are active on the forums. (Even though GOG's entire catalog has been posted on the torrent sites for years now)

rhn_mk1 7y ago

A physical goods company pays a significant cost for every item sold, so each return always turns into a loss. While I don't exactly know the arrangements GOG, I suspect that they have insignificant costs for creating copies of many of their games (certainly the ones they made), so a refund eats only bandwidth costs. Additional publicity will cover those bandwidth costs as long as there are some customers who buy and don't return.

zaksoup 7y ago
The costs associated with this policy seem much more likely to be based on decreased sales if folks buy a game, play it as much as they want (within 30 days), and return for a full refund. Less that they spend bandwidth/compute costs they can't recoup with the return.
- rhn_mk1 7y ago
  This presumes that those who buy a game and then return it wouldn't have returned it without the new policy, and that there's more of them than those who come because of the extra publicity and buy without returning. Considering the rampant piracy of GOG games I think the first group is rather small.
- thecrash 7y ago
  All GOG games are easily available on the pirate bay and other free sites. Anyone who just wants to get a game without paying already has an easier path than buying and requesting a refund. This is in line with GOG's anti-DRM policy: No matter how restrictive your systems, people who don't want to pay won't. So why have systems which punish and inconvenience the people who do want to pay?