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How is this NOT breaking TOS?

19K views 157 replies 47 participants last post by  unkownwriter 
#1 ·
Quote: "To collect $5,000+ in bonuses, enter your receipt on XXX***.com after purchase!"

The bonuses are even mentioned in the subtitle! Best yet--you can pre-order this top of the charts book (and get $5000 bonuses!) for only 99 cents. What a deal. And a lot of high profile authors have went together with this too.

How is this not breaking TOS?


*Edited because original fake website actually existed!
 
#4 ·
Avery342 said:
Yes, but wasn't that about a service she was offering? Good to know in relation to this.

But this book has some very successful and well-known authors as contributors. Surely they know better than this?
*clicks "more"*

*falls off chair*

OMFG. *they* should really know better. OMG OMG OMG
 
#5 ·
Patty Jansen said:
OMG. *they* should really know better. OMG OMG OMG
Ha, ha. That was pretty much my take on this too. Especially as KDP SEEMS to be cracking down on TOS rule benders right now. I would think this is NOT the time to try something like this. But then, that's probably why I'm not as successful as they are. Eye-opening for sure.
 
#6 ·
Avery342 said:
Ha, ha. That was pretty much my take on this too. Especially as KDP SEEMS to be cracking down on TOS rule benders right now. I would think this is NOT the time to try something like this. But then, that's probably why I'm not as successful as they are. Eye-opening for sure.
And not all of them are terribly successful either, not from selling books at any rate (maybe selling skeevy courses). Seriously. Some of those people really should get the hell outta there because they got waaaayyyy too much to lose. You only have one reputation.
 
#7 ·
Yeah, one in particular really shocked me. She's a highly respected author.

I'd like to think she didn't know how the bonuses worked, but it looks like each contributing author had to anti up a bonus. Don't know how you agree to that without prior knowledge.

Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca
 
#9 ·
Content removed due to TOS Change of 2018. I do not agree to the terms.
 
#11 ·
So now I' thinking about all the authors that these authors are connected to. It's disheartening...how about authors just write books instead of figure out ways to [make money from] unsuspecting authors? It seems to be a novel idea these days.

Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca
 
#13 ·
Is it actually a raffle? It looks to me like one of those things where everyone gets the "$5,000+ in bonuses" - which is probably a bunch of discount coupons for over-priced services, perhaps combined with some worthless PDF reports.

That might be against Amazon's TOS too (I kind of hope it is), but it wouldn't be a raffle or lottery as long as everyone who buys it gets the same junk.
 
#14 ·
boba1823 said:
Is it actually a raffle? It looks to me like one of those things where everyone gets the "$5,000+ in bonuses" - which is probably a bunch of discount coupons for over-priced services, perhaps combined with some worthless PDF reports.

That might be against Amazon's TOS too (I kind of hope it is), but it wouldn't be a raffle or lottery as long as everyone who buys it gets the same junk.
Wouldn't it fall squarely under "Incentivised buys"?
 
#16 ·
Content removed due to TOS Change of 2018. I do not agree to the terms.
 
#17 ·
I'm not seeing where this is via Google so maybe I'm entering it wrong. It just leads me back to Kboards? Honestly when I read the OP, it was reminding me of the 'get rich quick' gurus and thought they'd traversed into Amazon.
 
#18 ·
LadyG said:
I feel like the most ignorant, naive little country bumpkin when I find out about things like this.

Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca
Well, as authors we are supposed to have good imaginations. Some of us put that into writing - others put it into, er - other things. ::)
 
#22 ·
Patty Jansen said:
Wouldn't it fall squarely under "Incentivised buys"?
Yeah, that sounds about right. I admit that I haven't spent much time reading the ToS because.. well, I just buy PPC ads, lol. Probably need to anyway.

I'm also thinking that there may be some issue here with.. something like misleading advertising or the like. Now, I'm completely speculating about what the "$5,000+ in bonus resources" consists of, so this might not apply. But I recognize one of the contributors as someone who offers services to indie writers. So I'm half guessing that this book is basically a big advertisement for the services of all the contributors, and that the bonuses are basically discount coupons for their services.

Here in the US, there seems to be some kind of rule governing claims about the value of discount coupons. I think coupons generally have some fine print reading something like "Cash value of this coupon is .001 cents." Presumably so someone can't trick you into paying $100 for a coupon by claiming that it is actually worth $500 - although said coupon may be described (accurately) as entitling the holder to a $500 discount on whatever product or service. So if that's what these bonuses are, they should properly be described as "get $5000 in discounts!" or something clearer. Though that may still fall afoul of Amazon's rules.

Now, maybe it's not discount coupons (or only these) that one gets as a bonus for buying that book. There's nothing illegal about putting together a 10-page PDF pamphlet and declaring that it is "worth $5000!" - as far as I know. But I can't imagine Amazon would be keen on someone offering a 'bonus' of this type.
 
#23 ·
Thanks! I see it now.

Honestly...I've seen this before. Dan Pink and Tim Ferris and others have done this in nonfiction. And it's the exact type of wording you'll see on other nonfiction books about making money when a similar type of book is released. Incentive to preorder so it hits number one on release day.

http://www.pivotmethod.com/preorder/

I don't usually see it on Amazon. It's usually on their websites. Everyone gets one.

And I'd double check with the authors. It looks like they might just be quoted. If that's the case, it *could be those authors have no control or might not even have an idea of these bonuses. They're just being used for their names to draw attention.

I meant to add: Google "preorder and get bonuses" and you'll see what I mean. It's a different ballpark for nonfiction.
 
#26 ·
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