How to Return a Kindle Book for a Refund in 2024: Return Purchased or Borrowed Books
If you’re a Kindle Unlimited subscriber, you’ll have to return a Kindle book or two to avoid hitting the limit on the number of books checked out. Even if you don’t have Kindle Unlimited, you can return books for a refund in the case of accidental purchases.
Written by Aleksander Hougen (Co-Chief Editor)
Reviewed by Jackie Leavitt (Co-Chief Editor)
Last Updated: 2024-08-02T15:51:20+00:00
All our content is written fully by humans; we do not publish AI writing. Learn more here.
If you’re looking for how to return a Kindle book, chances are you’ve purchased a book that you now realize you don’t want to read. Or you’ve borrowed a title through Kindle Unlimited or Prime Reading and want to return it to stay under the limit on checked-out books. This guide will show you how to do both.
Key Takeaways:
- You can get your money back for accidental purchases on the Kindle store as long as you request a refund within seven days.
- If you return books too frequently, Amazon may stop you from returning books in the future or even terminate your Amazon account.
- Kindle Unlimited users can only have 20 titles borrowed at the same time, so you’ll need to return books in order to borrow new ones.
This guide will focus exclusively on the process of returning a Kindle book, so if you’re looking for more information about Amazon’s e-book subscription services, then check out our Prime Reading and Kindle Unlimited rundowns, as well as our Prime vs Kindle Unlimited comparison.
How to Return a Kindle Book and Get a Refund
You can return a Kindle e-book to Amazon within seven days of purchase for a refund or exchange. This is an automated process, but note that if you return books frequently, you’ll be blocked from doing so at some point in the future. Presumably this policy is to prevent abuse of the system by people who purchase a book, read it in less than seven days and then return it.
- Log in to Your Amazon Account
Use a web browser to head over to the Amazon website. Click the button in the top right that says “hello, sign in” and type in your email address and password.
- Go to the Orders Page
Hover over the same button you used to log in that now displays your name, and select “orders” from the dropdown menu. Then select “digital orders.”
- Find the Book You Want to Return
Scroll through the list of orders until you find the book you want to return, then click on the button that says “return for refund.”
- State Your Reason for Returning the Book
A pop-up window will now open asking you to pick a reason for why you’re returning the book. Pick an option from the dropdown menu and then click “submit.” That’s it. Your refund request will now be processed and you should have the money back in your account within three to five days.
How to Return Kindle Unlimited Books
Returning a Kindle Unlimited book is an even simpler process. The reason you may want to do this is because despite its name, Kindle Unlimited does have a limit. You can only have 20 titles checked out at any given time, so once you get close to that line you’ll want to return some older books to free up space.
- Log in to Amazon
Use a web browser to access the Amazon website. Click the button that says “hello, sign in” in the top right and enter your login credentials.
- Go to Your Content & Devices
The button you just used to log in should now show your name. Hover over it and select “content & devices.”
- Return the Book
Find the book in the list of titles and click on the button that says “return this book” on the right-hand side.
If you have a Kindle device, you can also return your Kindle Unlimited books there. This is even quicker, as all you need to do is tap and hold the cover of the book you want to return and select “return to Kindle Unlimited.”
Final Thoughts: Return Kindle Book
That’s it for our guide on returning Kindle books. Hopefully, you now have a clearer picture of how you can undo an accidental purchase for a refund or return borrowed titles to stay under Kindle Unlimited’s limits.
If you have a list of ebooks in AZW3 format and would like to read it on another device, check out our comprehensive guide on AZW3 to PDF to make the conversion process easier.
What did you think of our guide? Is there something we missed? Have you had to return any Kindle books before? If so, what was your experience? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you for reading.
FAQ
If you can’t return a Kindle book, one of two things is happening. Either it’s been more than seven days since you purchased the title, or you’ve made refund requests too frequently and Amazon has blocked your ability to do so. If the latter is true, you’ll need to contact Amazon customer support to return your book.
Technically yes, but we don’t recommend it. Not only are you hurting the author, but Amazon could also ban you from returning books (and potentially terminate your account) if they catch you. No one knows exactly how many books you have to return to get banned, but from what we can tell there’s no appeal process once this happens.