ZOS please add an option to refund crown store items TO CROWN STORE CROWNS

altemriel

Dear ZOS,

I know that it is not possible to refund unused Crown Store items back to real money, but is it not possible to introduce an option to refund them into crown store crowns?
This would ensure that the real money would stay with you ZOS and the players would be happier. I bet I am not the only one who would want this.



I have one (of two) mount that I do not use, if I could refund it back to crown store crowns, I would instead of it buy something else.


@ZOS_GinaBruno @ZOS_KaiSchober @ZOS_RichLambert

notimetocare

All purchases have a confirmation, you're asking for refunds for buyer's remorse which pretty much no company will ever do.

Woeler

So you buy 3000 crowns once and just keep changing mounts by refunds? Yea... might want to buy a book about how business works.

altemriel

Woeler wrote: »

So you buy 3000 crowns once and just keep changing mounts by refunds? Yea... might want to buy a book about how business works.

Hmm, I get your point. that would be misusable.

But maybe this could be limited for once or twice a year for one account and one type of item

Saoirse_Siobhan

notimetocare wrote: »

All purchases have a confirmation, you're asking for refunds for buyer's remorse which pretty much no company will ever do.

I agree that it should not be an option for people if they get bored of their purchase after a few months, that's just silly. But there should be maybe a 24h period where you can get a refund if the thing you purchased ends up looking like crap.

kongkim

I do not think this will happen. But they could put a refund timer on the items.

Tyrion87

Imagine, what would happen with not wanted items obtained from the upcoming gambling boxes, if such feature was a thing? This would totally ruin ZOS's plan to draw money out of players as much as possible with these boxes.

Now I know how this forum will look like in November, when the boxes are introduced:
- I want a refund...
- I didn't get what I want...
- Give my money back...
- You're thieves and crooks...
- I'm out, who wants my stuff?

altemriel

Tyrion87 wrote: »

Imagine, what would happen with not wanted items obtained from the upcoming gambling boxes, if such feature was a thing? This would totally ruin ZOS's plan to draw money out of players as much as possible with these boxes.

Now I know how this forum will look like in November, when the boxes are introduced:
- I want a refund...
- I didn't get what I want...
- Give my money back...
- You're thieves and crooks...
- I'm out, who wants my stuff?

yes, but they can add a limitation, that the items from gambling boxes are not possible to refund like this

starkerealm

Tyrion87 wrote: »

Imagine, what would happen with not wanted items obtained from the upcoming gambling boxes, if such feature was a thing? This would totally ruin ZOS's plan to draw money out of players as much as possible with these boxes.

Now I know how this forum will look like in November, when the boxes are introduced:
- I want a refund...
- I didn't get what I want...
- Give my money back...
- You're thieves and crooks...
- I'm out, who wants my stuff?

I honestly thought this was about the lockbox prizes, where they'd cough up crowns on a duplicate, rather than gems.

Asardes

Buying useless vanity pets, mounts and costumes, then crying for a refund is just childish

I've bought just IC and SotH DLCs from Crown Store. I'm still thinking if Orsinium and maybe TG are worth it, and that's mainly because MA and MoL respectively. But I've put 100 CP in stinginess.

Cryptical

notimetocare wrote: »

All purchases have a confirmation, you're asking for refunds for buyer's remorse which pretty much no company will ever do.

Are you seriously ignorant of the many MANY companies that have a return policy? Some use a 10 day return policy with receipt, some use 30 days with receipt, some will refund without receipt but issued in store credit. There is at least one segment of the American economy where the manufacturers commonly have a lifetime repair / replace policy, and I have heard of people getting items repaired or replaced 30 years after purchase.

Heck, the movie industry makes returning things to the store an actual job! Where do you think all those clothes come from, thin air? And did you think they all get tossed into a storage area afterward? Nope, returned to the stores they came from, by the dozen!

Anyone who thinks as you do, or claims the op needs to learn2business, is in serious need of some real world experience.

Cosmetic items and consumables could be made refundable without repercussions. Got a costume that doesn't really look as good as you thought in the preview, return it to the store.

Divinius

Unlimited refundability on all crown store purchases is obviously not a smart thing for ZOS to do, and would be an unreasonable request.

Refunds to crowns of certain cosmetic items (i.e. not consumables or the gamble-boxes) with a limited timer is not an unreasonable request. Even if the timer was only like an hour or something.

Previews can unfortunately do a very bad job of giving you a perfect representation of what any cosmetic item will look in actual use. The pets are a great example, they don't scale the previews well, so pets can be bigger or smaller when in use than the preview seems to indicate. Costumes and mounts have issues too. As another example, there's no way to know from the preview that the doom wolf makes a god-awful noise when it howls, or that your character does some super-lame animation at the same time.

But these are all things you'd figure out really quickly after buying it and using it, so giving people a short window of opportunity to refund the cost back to crowns if they immediately decide they hate the item would be a very good way for ZOS to show some respect for their customers.

Bigevilpeter

well if you can return to crowns then just buy anything and return it once you are bored and biy another instead of paying more real money for the other item, so no I dont think thats gonna be very good businesswise for them

code65536

I'd like to see an option to refund any purchase within a short period of time--30 minutes to an hour, perhaps.

It's not unlike how Google Play has a built-in no-frills refund system for apps within a short period. This basically lets people properly preview items (since the Crown Store preview doesn't let you turn off the helm, doesn't let you test a costume with different dyes, doesn't show you how things look in movement, etc.).

But beyond that short window, I don't think it makes much sense.

AlnilamE

I'd say being able to get a refund on a mount or costume within 7 days or something would not be unreasonable.

Not sure about stuff like the banker/merchant, though. I mean, you could just "rent" them for the time you need them and return, then "rent" them again when you were in a pinch.

Though if ZOS starts with a refund on anything, people would just ask for it to be extended.

I personally have a couple of pets that I bought just because I liked them, even though I hardly have pets out, and I'm ok with that.

Divinius

AlnilamE wrote: »

Not sure about stuff like the banker/merchant, though. I mean, you could just "rent" them for the time you need them and return, then "rent" them again when you were in a pinch.

They would never allow refunds on the "Banker" and "Merchant" because they are both designed as total Bait-and-Switch scams.

For the record, I have no problem with their limited functionality, as I totally understand why they didn't want them to be full-featured versions of the NPCs. I do have a problem with the way they were marketed though, since ZOS was clearly trying to not make their limitations too obvious.

They would have sold a lot less of them if they had made it totally clear (before buying) what those NPCs did NOT do.

petraeus1

Unlimited refunds would be odd, as said above.

However given the amount of complaints I read here regularly of people who feel like the preview options available currently are lacking (especially in movement and animation), I'd argue ZOS would do well to offer a 24h refund policy, or really improve the preview.

KimoBitz

Woeler wrote: »

So you buy 3000 crowns once and just keep changing mounts by refunds? Yea... might want to buy a book about how business works.

Maybe after 30 days or so the item will not be refundable

bertenburnyb16_ESO

never
gonna
happen

Chevie

I'd even take half price for returns ... so something cost 1000 crowns, refund for 500.

I don't see it happening either, as there is no profit in it for ZOS, but its a nice thought! I've bought a lot of items that I thought would look good according to preview, but after trying them out in world, decided they wasn't exactly how I pictured.

BrianDavion

KimoBitz wrote: »

Woeler wrote: »

So you buy 3000 crowns once and just keep changing mounts by refunds? Yea... might want to buy a book about how business works.

Maybe after 30 days or so the item will not be refundable

30 days is waaaay too long. 15 minutes would be all thats needed

Avenias

Cryptical wrote: »

notimetocare wrote: »

All purchases have a confirmation, you're asking for refunds for buyer's remorse which pretty much no company will ever do.

Are you seriously ignorant of the many MANY companies that have a return policy? Some use a 10 day return policy with receipt, some use 30 days with receipt, some will refund without receipt but issued in store credit. There is at least one segment of the American economy where the manufacturers commonly have a lifetime repair / replace policy, and I have heard of people getting items repaired or replaced 30 years after purchase.

Heck, the movie industry makes returning things to the store an actual job! Where do you think all those clothes come from, thin air? And did you think they all get tossed into a storage area afterward? Nope, returned to the stores they came from, by the dozen!

Anyone who thinks as you do, or claims the op needs to learn2business, is in serious need of some real world experience.

Cosmetic items and consumables could be made refundable without repercussions. Got a costume that doesn't really look as good as you thought in the preview, return it to the store.

Why should they? If u can refund ur items back to the store, then u can just keep doing it and that takes away the incentive to buy more crowns.

Trying to compare crowns to clothes is beyond mentally ***.

idk

notimetocare wrote: »

All purchases have a confirmation, you're asking for refunds for buyer's remorse which pretty much no company will ever do.

Very true. Especially with the OPs example. If we buy a mount and later never use that mount because we bought another there is no reason for Zos to defund our crowns.

Additionally, with costumes, mounts and pets there is a preview option that works great.

OP, seriously doubt Zos will move on this for the reasons stated.

Cryptical

Avenias wrote: »

Cryptical wrote: »

notimetocare wrote: »

All purchases have a confirmation, you're asking for refunds for buyer's remorse which pretty much no company will ever do.

Are you seriously ignorant of the many MANY companies that have a return policy? Some use a 10 day return policy with receipt, some use 30 days with receipt, some will refund without receipt but issued in store credit. There is at least one segment of the American economy where the manufacturers commonly have a lifetime repair / replace policy, and I have heard of people getting items repaired or replaced 30 years after purchase.

Heck, the movie industry makes returning things to the store an actual job! Where do you think all those clothes come from, thin air? And did you think they all get tossed into a storage area afterward? Nope, returned to the stores they came from, by the dozen!

Anyone who thinks as you do, or claims the op needs to learn2business, is in serious need of some real world experience.

Cosmetic items and consumables could be made refundable without repercussions. Got a costume that doesn't really look as good as you thought in the preview, return it to the store.

Why should they? If u can refund ur items back to the store, then u can just keep doing it and that takes away the incentive to buy more crowns.

Trying to compare crowns to clothes is beyond mentally ***.

Crowns is a digital money, used for digital products, that have ZERO bulk manufacturing or transport costs.

Return to store is something that works using actual hard cash, with actual tangible objects, even with additional manufacturing AND transport costs. The coffee maker used gas and labor costs to get to the store, but it can still be returned or refunded with receipt.

The idea of refund / replace / exchange functions quite well in an economy that is MORE complicated than the digital crown store. So comparing how returnable clothing functions to how zeni's non-returnable digital clothing is plain common sense.

Avenias

Cryptical wrote: »

Avenias wrote: »

Cryptical wrote: »

notimetocare wrote: »

All purchases have a confirmation, you're asking for refunds for buyer's remorse which pretty much no company will ever do.

Are you seriously ignorant of the many MANY companies that have a return policy? Some use a 10 day return policy with receipt, some use 30 days with receipt, some will refund without receipt but issued in store credit. There is at least one segment of the American economy where the manufacturers commonly have a lifetime repair / replace policy, and I have heard of people getting items repaired or replaced 30 years after purchase.

Heck, the movie industry makes returning things to the store an actual job! Where do you think all those clothes come from, thin air? And did you think they all get tossed into a storage area afterward? Nope, returned to the stores they came from, by the dozen!

Anyone who thinks as you do, or claims the op needs to learn2business, is in serious need of some real world experience.

Cosmetic items and consumables could be made refundable without repercussions. Got a costume that doesn't really look as good as you thought in the preview, return it to the store.

Why should they? If u can refund ur items back to the store, then u can just keep doing it and that takes away the incentive to buy more crowns.

Trying to compare crowns to clothes is beyond mentally ***.

Crowns is a digital money, used for digital products, that have ZERO bulk manufacturing or transport costs.

Return to store is something that works using actual hard cash, with actual tangible objects, even with additional manufacturing AND transport costs. The coffee maker used gas and labor costs to get to the store, but it can still be returned or refunded with receipt.

The idea of refund / replace / exchange functions quite well in an economy that is MORE complicated than the digital crown store. So comparing how returnable clothing functions to how zeni's non-returnable digital clothing is plain common sense.

And how excatly will that benefit ZOS exactly? I can just keep changing whatever the *** i want when i want without paying more.

UrQuan

The only way this could possibly work from a business standpoint is if it was severely limited. For example, if any returns had to be made within 24 hours and if there was a cooldown timer on returns (much like the character deletion timer - maybe you have 3 returns available to you, and when you use them you earn the option to return another item back after 2 full weeks, so if you return 3 items it will be 6 weeks before you can return 3 more) and if some items (consumables, lock boxes, assistants, limited time items and items on sale) were excluded and could not be returned under any circumstances (and of course they would then have to have a warning that all sales on those items were final).

But to set it up like that would be a significant amount of work, it would lead to at least some confusion, and there would be no real benefit to ZOS.

Cryptical

Zeni already got our dollars, and gave us their personal scrip.

It's the same mechanic as me handing a $1000 to you and getting 10,000 pieces of paper you ran through your home printer that says "1 token". Tokens non refundable for $.

You already have my $money, it's never coming back to me. I've already crossed one threshold of non-refundability by that initial transaction. Allowing me to return your product X due to dissatisfaction and get my tokens back so I can put them toward something I like better is attention to customer satisfaction. If I am stuck with your product X - that I don't like - then I am less inclined to hand you more of my $money.

Take the Breton hero costume for example. People bought it based on preview, and found themselves dissatisfied after they got a closer look than preview would allow. If zeni allowed a return of that costume, refund for crowns, then ZERO actual $money leaves their hands. Those people would take their refunded crowns and spend them on something else, transforming them from upset customers stuck with a disliked costume into satisfied customers with other-product-B.

Returns / refunds / exchanges of some sort in the crown store is a customer satisfaction tactic.

But it's that initial transaction of $money for crowns that it looks like most of the naysayers have forgotten. Their arguments are based on a presumption that zeni loses $money if they allow returns... That presumption is wrong.

Graydon

Any refunds spanning longer than a day, I would consider it a free rental. I don't see a good reason why ZOS or anyone would think this be good business.

I do think refunds within a 60 minute window would be a great customer relations move. It's disappointing when you buy a crown store item that fails to meet your expectations. One would think ZOS has enough confidence with their crown store products, that they could implement this feature.

Also, just to avoid all controversy and rage - make the 60 minute refund policy a perk exclusive to subscribers

altemriel

Cryptical wrote: »

Zeni already got our dollars, and gave us their personal scrip.

It's the same mechanic as me handing a $1000 to you and getting 10,000 pieces of paper you ran through your home printer that says "1 token". Tokens non refundable for $.

You already have my $money, it's never coming back to me. I've already crossed one threshold of non-refundability by that initial transaction. Allowing me to return your product X due to dissatisfaction and get my tokens back so I can put them toward something I like better is attention to customer satisfaction. If I am stuck with your product X - that I don't like - then I am less inclined to hand you more of my $money.

Take the Breton hero costume for example. People bought it based on preview, and found themselves dissatisfied after they got a closer look than preview would allow. If zeni allowed a return of that costume, refund for crowns, then ZERO actual $money leaves their hands. Those people would take their refunded crowns and spend them on something else, transforming them from upset customers stuck with a disliked costume into satisfied customers with other-product-B.

Returns / refunds / exchanges of some sort in the crown store is a customer satisfaction tactic.

But it's that initial transaction of $money for crowns that it looks like most of the naysayers have forgotten. Their arguments are based on a presumption that zeni loses $money if they allow returns... That presumption is wrong.

yes!!

UrQuan

Cryptical wrote: »

But it's that initial transaction of $money for crowns that it looks like most of the naysayers have forgotten. Their arguments are based on a presumption that zeni loses $money if they allow returns... That presumption is wrong.

No, it absolutely isn't.

Currently:

• You pay X amount of money to buy crowns.
• ZOS has your money.
• You spend those crowns on crown store items.
• You decide the items you bought aren't as cool as you first thought, but there's nothing to be done about it.
• You see a new item in the crown store that you really want.
• You pay another X amount of money to buy more crowns.
• You spend those crowns on the new item in the crown store that you want.
• ZOS now has 2X worth of real money from you.
• Cycle starts again.

If there was an option to allow returns (without severe limitations):

• You pay X amount of money to buy crowns.
• ZOS has your money.
• You spend those crowns on crown store items.
• You decide the items you bought aren't as cool as you first thought, so you return it.
• You get your crowns back.
• You see a new item in the crown store that you really want.
• You don't have to pay any more money to buy more crowns because you have the crowns you already bought back.
• You spend the same crowns again to get the new item in the crown store that you want.
• ZOS now has X worth of real money from you.
• Cycle starts again and you might never have to pay any more money to ZOS for more crowns.

See the difference? With returns ZOS loses tons of money.

vamp_emily

I've always hated the "no refund" policy some companies have, but I understand why they have it.

I've bought stuff, for example a few mounts, and it looked good in the picture, it looked good in the preview, but as soon as I bought it.. it looked bad.

It would be nice to have a refund when you are not happy with something you purchased but players would abuse the refund policy if they had one.