Frequently Asked Questions About Shopping at Amazon.com

What forms of payment do you accept?

They accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, Japanese Credit Bank, and checks or money orders denominated in U.S. dollars and drawn on a U.S. bank. Checks must have a valid nine-digit bank routing number (ABA code) micro-encoded on the bottom of the check.

Is it safe to use my credit card?

Yes, shopping at Amazon.com is safe. Every credit card purchase you make at Amazon.com is backed by their security guarantee. Their secure server software encrypts information, ensuring that Internet transactions stay private and protected. If any unauthorized use of your credit card occurs as a result of your credit card purchase from Amazon.com, simply notify your credit card provider in accordance with its reporting rules and procedures. If, through no fault of your own, your credit card company finds credit card fraud but does not waive your entire liability for unauthorized charges, Amazon.com will reimburse you for the remaining liability, up to a maximum of fifty dollars U.S. ($50.00). This guarantee applies to credit card purchases made using Amazon.com's secure server.

How much do you charge for shipping? And do you ship overseas?

See the complete description of their shipping policy. Incidentally, when you fill out their online order form, their system automatically calculates and displays the shipping charges for your inspection.

They gladly ship anywhere in the world and have several overseas shipping options.

How do I order out-of-print books?

All out-of-print titles are listed on their site without pricing information. In order to begin the search process, you must first place an order for the out-of-print item. Once they have received your order, their special orders department will contact their suppliers to see if they can obtain a copy of that title; when they locate a copy, they will notify you by e-mail for approval of the price and condition prior to shipment. If you wish to order more than one copy of any out-of-print title, please place a separate order for each copy.

Please note that they cannot actually order the title from our supplier until you have confirmed that you are willing to buy it at the price they are offering. Rest assured that their standard policy is not to charge you for an order until the time of shipment, so you never pay for a title unless you approve the price and they ship it to you. They do require the use of a credit card for all out-of-print book orders. Unfortunately, they have found that the out-of-print book market is too volatile to allow for the extra time required to process a check payment. Because credit card payments are instantaneous, they are a much more efficient method of payment for out-of-print books.

What about your returns policy?

Within 30 days of receipt of your order, you may return:

• any book in its original condition
• any unopened music CD

What do you do about mispricings?

Despite their best efforts, a small number of the 3 million items in their catalog are mispriced. However, they always verify prices as part of their shipping procedures.

• If an item's correct price is lower than their stated price, they charge the lower amount and ship you the item.

• If an item's correct price is higher than their stated price, they contact you for instructions before shipping.

Can you please tell me more about this book? It would be very helpful if I could see a synopsis.

Unfortunately, the only information they can give you about particular titles is what they display on the detail page for that book.

Usually, they have the title, author, edition, publisher, publication date, price, page numbers, dimensions, any U.S. Library of Congress subject categories, and ISBN (the worldwide standard number for identifying a particular edition of a particular book). Often we have a review, a short synopsis, a picture of the book cover, and/or a table of contents.

They know that often the amount of information they have about an item may make it difficult to make a purchasing decision unless you already know something about the book. With help from publishers, we're working hard to bring you synopses, excerpts, and reviews.

Can you tell me the availability of this book? Can you confirm the price for me before I order?

Availability information for the titles in their catalog is listed on each item's detail page. Some titles are marked "Special Order." This means that they must contact the publisher directly to obtain a copy. The publisher then either notifies us that the book is no longer available or sends the book to us. These items usually leave their warehouse about four to six weeks after you place your order--often sooner. Titles that are listed as "hard to find" or "out of print" can take up to six months to be obtained. As they process your order, they will inform you by e-mail if any items you order turn out to be unavailable.

They can't confirm the price until you order the book, but please note that they never charge a credit card for special-order books until they actually ship them to a customer, so you never pay for a title unless you actually receive it.

What format are your videocassettes?

All of the videos sold by Amazon.com follow the 60Hz, NTSC format. This is the video format used in North America. These tapes will not play on most video machines in Europe or other countries that use PAL, SECAM, or other video standards.

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