Amazon is basically giving away Kindles, for free

By Benjamin Rubenstein, Hot! 34

TechCrunch has confirmed with Amazon that they are, in fact, giving select Amazon users the ability to get a Kindle with no risk involved. If you purchase the Kindle through the promotion and, within 30 days, decide you aren't entirely happy with it, Amazon will let you keep the Kindle (and its snazzy cover).

It seems that the special offer is being extended to Amazon users who are regular book purchasers on the site. Amazon's offer says that "Because you've been an unusually active book customer, we're confident you will love Kindle." It's unclear what they mean by "active," but many users who have recieved the offer are those who purchase at least a book a month (some exceptions have been reported as well).

The deal is non-transferable and expires at 11:59 PM on January 25th, 2010.  Below are the conditions:

Terms & Conditions

This is a pretty bold move by Amazon. It seems that regardless of the amount of competition building up in the eBook market (like the Nook), Amazon seems pretty confident in their product. If you take advantage of the deal, what's really stopping you from calling within thirty days and saying you don't like it, even if you do? Unless heavy book readers are known to be, statistically, more honorable than non-book folk, Amazon could take a large hit by offering such a promotion. Will they let you keep the device, but somehow disable it from using the Amazon store, if you request a full refund? The terms of the deal don't mention any sort of catch like that. Perhaps they feel that even if you take it for free, they will still sell you enough eBooks to make up for the lost cost. It will be interesting to see if this works out in Amazon's favor. After all, the Kindle isn't cheap to make ($185 in parts).

Keep Kindle for Free

All images were taken from TechCrunch.

Comments (34)

Reply
ccoltmanm Reply

Here comes a flood of Kindles on eBay.

jerzdawg Reply

dimithrak said,
ok.. im gonna go buy it, and say I dont like it!.. just for the heck of it! - I just hope i get my refund :P

I think it only works if you were offered the promotion. It's not a terrible idea by Amazon if they feel they will make up the price and then some from the e-book sales.

John. Reply

Hmm, I thought I'd have qualified for this offer. Guess not.

+Rudy Reply

Wow....this offer is going to get abused....but I'm guessing they already know that

M_Lyons10 Reply

Rudy said,
Wow....this offer is going to get abused....but I'm guessing they already know that

Yeah, I'm sure it will be...

Simon Reply

But wait, there's more! Order now, and we'll throw in a second Kindle, absolutely free!

RangerLG Reply

Simon said,
But wait, there's more! Order now, and we'll throw in a second Kindle, absolutely free!

Just pay separate processing and handling.

callummr Reply

Simon said,
But wait, there's more! Order now, and we'll throw in a second Kindle, absolutely free!

Do you have a reddit account? I had a desperate urge to upvote your comment and was momentarily confused by the lack of buttons.

vetneufuse Reply

Simon said,
But wait, there's more! Order now, and we'll throw in a second Kindle, absolutely free!

... but I'm still not done, order within the next 15 minutes and get Al Gore's new book, perfect for your bored to death Kindle readers all for only $249.95 and if you don't like it, keep the kindle and we'll refund your money, just pay shipping and handleing

M_Lyons10 Reply

Simon said,
But wait, there's more! Order now, and we'll throw in a second Kindle, absolutely free!

ROFL

JimmyCypherz Reply

Simon said,
But wait, there's more! Order now, and we'll throw in a second Kindle, absolutely free!

lmao

este Reply

There's no such thing as a 'free lunch'

java2beans Reply

este said,
There's no such thing as a 'free lunch'

Just like there's no such thing as "making an honest living."

SuperHans Reply

este said,
There's no such thing as a 'free lunch'

I think you must be a bit confused... they are giving away 'kindles', not 'lunches'.

Scout82 Reply

SuperHans said,

I think you must be a bit confused... they are giving away 'kindles', not 'lunches'.

+1 ROFLMFAO

Mr Spoon Reply

SuperHans said,

I think you must be a bit confused... they are giving away 'kindles', not 'lunches'.


Aw, i was looking forward to a lovely sandwich :P

M_Lyons10 Reply

SuperHans said,

I think you must be a bit confused... they are giving away 'kindles', not 'lunches'.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

vettomwarren Reply

Oh wow. Hope I get this offer. Would be handy.

+littleneutrino Reply

lets hope i get one offered to me that would be great. I spend about $300 a year on just books from amazon :D

java2beans Reply

Do people here hoping to get an offer to try the Kindles or an offer to get a refund and keep the Kindles?

M_Lyons10 Reply

java2beans said,
Do people here hoping to get an offer to try the Kindles or an offer to get a refund and keep the Kindles?

I think the latter... LOL

M_Lyons10 Reply

Frank Fontaine said,
I guess the way that they look at it, even if people do play them on this offer, that they will make money off the users purchases of books for the device

Yeah, maybe it's a pilot program... To see if they could offer the hardware for free (Or discounted) and make up for the loss with book purchases...

akav0id Reply

If you don't like it, why would you want to keep it?

java2beans Reply

akav0id said,
If you don't like it, why would you want to keep it?

Cause you can make money off of it by selling it on eBay?!!

callummr Reply

akav0id said,
If you don't like it, why would you want to keep it?

http://ebay.com

Fulcrum Reply

java2beans said,

Cause you can make money off of it by selling it on eBay?!!

But you told Amazon you wanted it, now you turn around and sell it?

PeterKD Reply

Fulcrum said,

But you told Amazon you wanted it, now you turn around and sell it?

not allowed to change our minds are we? :)

java2beans Reply

Fulcrum said,

But you told Amazon you wanted it, now you turn around and sell it?

People are cruel. What can I say?

+Shadrack Reply

Fulcrum said,

But you told Amazon you wanted it, now you turn around and sell it?

No. RTFA. If you tell Amazon you DON'T like it/want it, they will refund your money and let you keep it anyway.

If you don't like it but are still left with it, why not sell it on eBay?

vetneufuse Reply

Here's a question, will they somehow lock your "free" kindle account to your amazon account so you can't sell it?

Skyfrog Reply

Eventually ebook readers will be dirt cheap, just like printers. They'll make their money selling the actual ebooks for them.

acnpt Reply

Doesn't it have a sim card inside, which they could just disable?

I'm sure they also chose the customers very wisely.

M_Lyons10 Reply

acnpt said,
Doesn't it have a sim card inside, which they could just disable?

I'm sure they also chose the customers very wisely.

Hm... Not sure. But I haven't heard anything about them having a sim card... Maybe someone on here knows better? I'm curious now... It just uses Wi-Fi, right? Not cellular towers?

AtriusNY Reply

It uses the 3G network of various service providers worldwide.