Mindconnection Return Policy

We make it very easy for you to return a product.

To initiate a return, just reply to your receipt (e-mailed to you upon purchase) and change the subject line to "Need return assistance" and type a little note at the top saying that you want a return.
Please do not just mail an item to us or to the manufacturer. Doing so will delay, and may jeopardize, your refund.

Now, here are the details for folks who have questions and expect answers (don't feel bad if you are one of those people--you have a right to know).

Return Policy Item	Why
Shipping Fees Not Refunded
The industry convention is not to pay shipping fees for returned items. We follow that convention.	We don't refund the shipping fees. Those fees are for a service that has already been provided. If this policy seems unfair, think of the last time you asked Best Buy to pay you mileage or compensate you for standing in line when you take something back. Was that "never?" Same reason.
Restocking Fees Not Refunded
Manufacturers charge a restocking fee that varies from 5% to 15%. If your return is for a valid reason (see below), we pay that for you and we don't charge you any fees ourselves. If your return is because you simply chose not to read about the product before buying it, then we don't pay this.	We don't have any fine print "gotchas." It's unreasonable to expect us to take a $50 hit because you didn't feel it was worth 5 minutes of your time to to read the information we provided or e-mail us with questions In addition to the handling costs, we absorb c/c charges, incur extra book-keeping costs, and so on--none of which we pass on to you.
Valid reason. If you can show us anything from our presale information that is unclear, we'll pay the restocking fee. We will not pay it for a situation such as you expected an electronic translator to have speech to speech translation capability or be able to do double duty as a transporter device. Either capability is from Star Trek, not reality.
Electronics
1. If the unit is defective: It has a one-year warranty. Notify us via e-mail.	1. The customer should not be at risk for things the customer can't control. Products have a warranty.
2. The factory charges restocking fees, and the credit card company charges transaction fees. Depending on the manufacturer, return fees vary between 5% and 15%. Any return incurs both fixed and variable costs for the manufacturer and for us. Paying these fees once on a return typically means we have to sell 3 more of the same product just to break even (yes, margins really are that thin).	2. We don't get a lot of returns, but when we do get one it's nearly always because the customer chose not to read the information we provided about the product. If we determine the return is due to something that's our fault, we will happily pay the restocking fees and transaction fees for the customer. Otherwise, we won't.
3. If the unit isn't defective: 10-day return policy (from date of arrival). After 10 business days, we can't give a refund. Notes: a. The word "can't" does not mean "won't." If you have had the unit more than 10 business days, there is nothing we can do about a return, whether we want to or not. b. The reason for missing the return time limit does not allow exceeding it. 10 days is 10 days.	3. We can't return the unit to the factory after 10 days. Let's look at it this way, though. How much time do you actually spend testing a product in a brick and mortar store, before buying it? Don't you really wait until you get home until you put it through its paces? With us, you can read the instructions before buying--something you typically don't do with a physical store purchase.
4. The return period begins on the delivery date, not the order date.	4. That works to your advantage, and it's only fair.
Anything downloaded: e-books, courses, software
Depending on the circumstances, we may offer a store credit within 10 days of the date of purchase, which is generous compared to the industry standard of "all sales are final" on these kinds of products.	Enough folks buy with the intent of getting a refund after the download is on their computer, that we follow the established standards of downloadable products. We incur development costs, so we can't be giving away intellectual products.
Supplements
You can return unopened items, and get a full refund. If an item is opened, we may not be able to issue a full refund. If the product arrives damaged, this is a UPS claim we'll help you resolve.	It is illegal to resell opened food items. Even if it weren't, the safety of our customers is too important to risk tampering.
Third-party items (e.g., Amazon books)
The policy of that vendor applies. If you run your purchase through the Mindconnection checkout, Mindconnection's policy applies.	We don't run other companies and cannot dictate what they do. However, we select vendors who are fair to customers.
Books, tapes, courses that ship physically
Discount on replacement product. Generally, there is no refund for such items. A refund is possible, if there are exceptional circumstances.	To our dismay, we discovered some people were using these items to study for an exam, then returning them when done.

What are Exceptional Circumstances?

If you find a flaw in one of our downloadable courses and give us enough information to allow us to fix it, we will refund what you paid for the course or give you another one for free. This is our way of saying thanks for helping us improve.
If you are serving in a deployed unit of the military (of any NATO country, but especially the USA) or in one of the deployed civilian units supporting overseas military operations, the manufacturer can probably allow an exception to the return limit. We would have to make the case with the manufacturer. We need some kind of auditable chain of events. The same applies to employees of the U.S. State Department, Secret Service, and CIA.
If you bought the item as a gift or as an occasion present, that is not an exceptional circumstance. See our gift tips page, which addresses both gifts and occasion presents. Buying something as a gift or present does not confer an extension of the 10-day evaluation period.

Credit card fraud

If "you" make a purchase from with a credit card addressed in Wisconsin and pay $128 to ship $300 worth of merchandise to Indonesia, we are going to be more than a tad suspicious. In fact, we will void the order. If you see an order on your credit card and didn't place it, please e-mail all details to sales @mindconnection.com right away, with the heading "Need fraud assistance." Do not e-mail us (or anyone else) your credit card number.

Thank you for being a Mindconnection customer. We look forward to helping you enjoy a good customer experience with us.