Apple released refunds to all eligible ebook customers this morning, and you may be among the many readers who were both excited and confused. After all, the antitrust case (and eventual $400 million settlement) was way back in 2014. So, today’s refund was a long time in the making…
I know very few readers who are complaining about the refund. (It would be akin to “looking a gift horse in the mouth”.) But, it wouldn’t be surprising if you had no idea what the refund was all about.
If you don’t know about the settlement (or have forgotten the details), here are a few tips you’ll want to review. After all, you may not even know why you’re eligible…
- If you’re eligible, you likely were already credited to the account where you purchased the ebook.
- Eligibility is contingent upon purchases that were made between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. So, you must have purchased an ebook during that time.
- Although most of the hubbub is around Amazon, you could have also purchased from Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble and Kobo.
- The case involves major publishers:
a) Hachette Book Group, Inc.,
b) HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C.,c) Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC known as Macmillan,
d) Penguin Group (USA) Inc., and
e) Simon & Schuster, Inc. & Simon & Schuster Digital Sales, Inc. - You can learn more from Ebooklawsuits.com.
While we didn’t all receive millions in refund/credit, that $6.93 is nothing to sneeze at. If you’ve regularly purchased ebooks in the past, you may have racked up quite a substantial sum over the eligibility period — which means you may also find a nice surprise when you go look at the refund amount.
Here’s hoping the refund money will bring you many more hours of enjoyable reading…