You Might Have Free Amazon Credits Lingering in Your Account
Readers rejoice! But then get a move on, because time is of the essence. In November 2014, Apple settled a class-action lawsuit, resulting in $400 million in free credits for consumers at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers. If you purchased e-books between April 1, 2010, and May 21, 2012, and you haven’t looked into this yet, you may have some shopping to do — and fast, because your credits will expire on Saturday, June 24 (AKA tomorrow), at 11:59 p.m. HST on the dot.
Important things first: You can check to see if you have Amazon credits here. Barnes & Noble will automatically apply credits upon purchase, and offers more information here. These credits would have been applied to your account a year ago on June 21, 2016, so there’s a chance you’ve already used them without realizing it. If that bums you out, remember that the credit was probably a really nice surprise at the time.
You might also consider checking accounts you may have created under different email addresses, as suggested by Inc. After all, 2010 was seven years ago. (Not to make you cringe or anything.)
If you do have credits, the reason Amazon and Barnes & Noble presented you with this gift is because you overpaid for your e-books due to business deals Apple made in 2009. When Apple was trying to break into the e-book world, they made deals with major publishers that essentially said publishers can set their own book prices on Apple’s platform and Apple would only take 30 percent of their sale, but the publishers could not sell e-books on other platforms for less. As a result, the price of many e-books on Amazon and Barnes & Noble jumped by a few dollars overnight. Now, Apple is righting their (hopefully accidental) wrong and paying back the overpaying customers.
What would you buy with an unused Amazon credit? Tell us @BritandCo!
(photo via Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
