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http://news.msn.com/science-technology/amazon-will-sell-you-things-before-you-know-you-want-to-buy-them
Amazon is trying to patent (or has already patented) the idea of sending people things before they order them. Huh? What? What? They are clearly aware that US federal law says that if anybody sends you anything you didn't order you are not responsible for either paying for it or returning it. The article even mentions they'd consider unpaid-for items as promotional gifts. But....
The thought of patenting the idea is absurd. (Guess what. There are official patents issued that aren't worth doo-doo, and wouldn't last a day in court.) There have been 'approval' services that have done this for ages. In case someone doesn't know what an approval service is, you ask an approval company to send you a selection of things you might be interested in buying, agreeing to send back anything you don't purchase. If you keep sending everything back eventually they'll stop sending you things, or you can request to end the service. So let's say you've been a valuable customer. You drop the approval service and in order to get your business back a few months later they send you a few things as a flyer in hopes you'll be nice and buy a few things or return it all, knowing full well you can legally keep it all. The trick is once you've paid for something sent to you, whether you know it or not, you've essentially agreed to an approval service, they can send you any damn thing they want and until you give them written instructions to stop you are responsible for either purchasing or paying to return anything they send you! Subscription services like the old Book-of-the-Month club aren't quite the same thing. They depend on a lot of people forgetting to send in the don't-send-me-this-one cards to get people to buy things they don't want. Approval services mostly prey on people with weak sales resistance. Yes, they want to send you things you want to buy, but they also want you to realize that returning things time after time is a hassle, so perhaps you'll just pay for things you wouldn't ordinarily buy and keep them instead.
This is a very bad sign for Amazon customers.
Amazon is trying to patent (or has already patented) the idea of sending people things before they order them. Huh? What? What? They are clearly aware that US federal law says that if anybody sends you anything you didn't order you are not responsible for either paying for it or returning it. The article even mentions they'd consider unpaid-for items as promotional gifts. But....
The thought of patenting the idea is absurd. (Guess what. There are official patents issued that aren't worth doo-doo, and wouldn't last a day in court.) There have been 'approval' services that have done this for ages. In case someone doesn't know what an approval service is, you ask an approval company to send you a selection of things you might be interested in buying, agreeing to send back anything you don't purchase. If you keep sending everything back eventually they'll stop sending you things, or you can request to end the service. So let's say you've been a valuable customer. You drop the approval service and in order to get your business back a few months later they send you a few things as a flyer in hopes you'll be nice and buy a few things or return it all, knowing full well you can legally keep it all. The trick is once you've paid for something sent to you, whether you know it or not, you've essentially agreed to an approval service, they can send you any damn thing they want and until you give them written instructions to stop you are responsible for either purchasing or paying to return anything they send you! Subscription services like the old Book-of-the-Month club aren't quite the same thing. They depend on a lot of people forgetting to send in the don't-send-me-this-one cards to get people to buy things they don't want. Approval services mostly prey on people with weak sales resistance. Yes, they want to send you things you want to buy, but they also want you to realize that returning things time after time is a hassle, so perhaps you'll just pay for things you wouldn't ordinarily buy and keep them instead.
This is a very bad sign for Amazon customers.