Apple has introduced a new cancellation feature for digital content in several European countries, including the UK, Germany, and France. The new policy allows customers in applicable countries to essentially "return" digital purchases from iTunes, including apps, music, and books, for a refund within 14 days of purchase. From Apple UK:
Right of cancellation: If you choose to cancel your order, you may do so within 14 days from when you received your receipt without giving any reason, except iTunes Gifts which cannot be refunded once you have redeemed the code.
Apple will issue the refund within two weeks of getting a customer's order cancellation. The change has likely come about thanks to new consumer protection policies in Europe regarding app and game purchases, introduced earlier this year.
Reader comments
Apple introduces 14-day iTunes refund policy in several European countries
uhhh, so when do we get this in the US?
So I can buy a game, complete it in 13 days then get my money back? Sounds a bit silly. Is there a way of verifying it's a legitimate return?
Yeah i guess you can buy a album upload it to your icloud them return the item and still have it?
No as once delivery ie download has started the policy is waived. This article is badly researched.
It's not a return, it's right of cancellation before delivery.
if u get a album on itunes it comes on the Mailbox ?
Essentially this makes the App Store as bad as Google play unless Apple also automatically removes the content from your devices. When there's a refund, developers have to pay the full refund, including Apple's 30% cut. So each refund costs the developer. It's fine if it's because of a genuine issue but when it's just because users want everything for free it soon stops being worth it to release anything that's not entirely ad based.
I think 3 days would be perfectly acceptable, many times you don't know whether an app really fits your needs until you purchase it and try it out. That was one of the great things about Android purchases several years ago, you got a few days to try it out. If you didn't like it, you deleted it within the determined time, and automatically got a refund.
Agreed though, this shouldn't penalize the app developer, but it shouldn't be related to "issues" that justify a refund, any refund should qualify since there is no real "try before you buy" system in iOS.
It's not a return, it's a cancellation. Once delivery commences ie downloads have started, the policy is waived.
Well that's pretty useless then.