Publisher Settlement Means Amazon Kindle Customers Will Get Refunds

A settlement between several major publishers and U.S. attorneys general will see thousands of Amazon customers receive credit or payment for ebooks bought between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. The settlement comes after a court case alleging that the publishers and Apple Inc. colluded to fix prices for ebook sales. Customers who purchased ebooks published by one of these companies - Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin and Macmillan – within the time period will now be entitled to compensation. Early estimates put the credit at between $0.73 and $3.06 for qualifying ebook purchases. Paper checks will be available on request, although it’s expected that most customers will take the payment as credit on their Amazon account. The credit can be used for ebooks or print books.

We will contact you when the credit is applied to your account.

The refunds will be paid from a $162.25 million pool created by the publishers as part of the judgment. Amazon is now notifying customers of the process, although no direct action is required to receive the credit.

The Amazon notification sent to its Kindle customers reads:

Dear Kindle Customer,

Last fall we notified you that you are entitled to a credit for some of your past Kindle book purchases as a result of legal settlements between several major book publishers and the Attorneys General of most U.S. states and territories. We wanted to let you know that two more publishers have since settled with some State Attorneys General and Class Plaintiffs and these new settlements may increase the amount of the credit you will receive. A formal notification from the Court about these settlements is included below.

You do not need to do anything to receive this credit. If the Court approves the settlements in December 2013 and there is no appeal, a credit will appear automatically in your Amazon.com account that can be used to purchase Kindle books or print books. We will contact you when the credit is applied to your account. While we will not know the amount of your credit until the Court approves the settlements, it is estimated that it will range from $0.73 to $3.06 for every eligible Kindle book that you purchased. To be eligible, you must have a U.S. billing address and must have purchased a Kindle book published by Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin or Macmillan between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. These publishers will provide the funds for the settlements. If you have already requested a check instead of a credit in response to the notice you received last fall, that request will cover these additional settlements and you do not need to do anything else. If you would like to request a check, you may do so by following the instructions included in the formal notice of the settlements, set forth below. You can learn more about the settlements at www.amazon.com/help/agencyebooksettlements

In addition to the account credit, the settlements impose limitations on the publishers’ ability to control eBook prices. We think these settlements are a big win for readers.

Thank you for being a Kindle customer.

The Amazon Kindle Team

The official website for the settlement is https://ebooksagsettlements.com/

Consumers continue to have the right to exclude themselves from the Macmillan or Penguin settlements, and retain their right to sue, although this would remove the opportunity to receive the benefits outlined in the current offer. Exclusion requests must be submitted in writing by October 21, 2013.

The settlement approval hearing is scheduled for December 6, 2013. If the settlement details are approved, then the payments will begin, as set out above, for qualifying customers.