Guild Wars 2

If someone JUST purchased an item, and it goes on sale within a week after purchase, can you, like, do a partial refund?

This happens to me ALL the time, it’s beyond infuriating.

My friends originally talked me into this game, I caved in and bought it, and a WEEK later they go on sale and put it up for $10 dollars! (And then said friends go and get involved on some other game that had a major update and I’m left alone here ._.)

You could say it’s entirely my fault for not waiting for a sale, well I waited months for one to happen and it never did. Also, the last sale I bought something on was like 50% off, I buy it, and then 2 hours later it upgrades to a 90% off…

All I’m saying is that it really feels like you got ripped off when the thing you just bought immediately goes on sale after you get it… thoughts?

PS: I should add that I’ve had enough enjoyment from this game that I don’t mind that I payed full price for it, though I would have preferred to have that extra 30 dollars available in gems for character slot upgrades…

If you want an official response from ArenaNet you’ll need to submit a support ticket, stating what you bought, when and for how much and when it went on sale.

The staff who post on these forums are mainly community managers (aka PR people) and the occasional developer, none of whom would be able to answer this for you.

Weylin.6478:

If someone JUST purchased an item, and it goes on sale within a week after purchase, can you, like, do a partial refund?

This happens to me ALL the time, it’s beyond infuriating.

My friends originally talked me into this game, I caved in and bought it, and a WEEK later they go on sale and put it up for $10 dollars! (And then said friends go and get involved on some other game that had a major update and I’m left alone here ._.)

Only if you can get a refund on friends who talk you into something but don’t buy it for you as a gift. I mean, if I talk a “friend” into playing some game, I usually buy it for them, because they are friends. Then I kill them in-game repeatedly because caring is shari… decapitating.

Weylin.6478:

You could say it’s entirely my fault for not waiting for a sale, well I waited months for one to happen and it never did.

This is how it works in the real world. Businesses have promotions to increase sales at various times of the year. It could be to close out a quarter with higher figures. It could be tied to a holiday. It could be tied to a sporting event that the company supports. It could be at the whim of the CEO’s mood.

What you need to do is ask yourself the following: Were you satisfied with the item you purchased at the time you purchased it? If the answer was yes, then there’s no problem.

Some companies might offer a refund of the difference, some might not. It’s like if you bought a laptop from Dell, then the same laptop goes on sale the next day. You’re not entitled to a refund of the difference. Now if you purchased a Gem Store item, and it goes on sale the next day, submit a ticket with Anet Customer Support, I’ve heard claims from others that Anet will refund the difference. That might be on a case by case scenario, so there’s no guarantee that it’ll work. Doesn’t hurt to try though.

If you purchase something from a store and they had a sale the day after you would not be entitled to a refund or compensation. You made a decision to purchase said item, and then a sale happened. You weren’t ripped off.

You aren’t entitled to a sale. It doesn’t matter if you waited for one and it didn’t come – the reality is that it did come and you just chose to purchase the item beforehand. That was your informed decision and you did so fully aware that the item could go on sale at a future point.

It’s no different with a digital item. You made the choice to buy something. You’re not entitled to compensation just because it went on sale after you purchased it. If you followed that logic then people would be perpetually getting refunds when sales happened and stores would probably just stop having sales…

I mostly agree that the price is what it is when you buy it. However, if the seller pushes you to buy it right before it will become useless, well, then refunds are in order. Right before they instituted the wardrobe system, like just two weeks before when they knew full and well they were making that change, they had a month long daily sale of usually unavailable items. I pounced on two more Rox’s Quivers when I already had one, so I could put them on more alts … and then poof, I had the skin available to my account forever and 2 extra skins I’d paid money for. Not to mention all the town clothes getting wrecked.

Well, that time ANet refunded everyone who had excess outfits, skins, and useless town clothes. I forget how many gems they handed back to me — 9000 or 19000? numbers do NOT stick in my head, though it was certainly a large amount since I’d bought most every gem store offering, often multiple times for my alts — but they lasted me a good while.

Cash refunds are likely more problematic than gem compensation, however.

FlamingFoxx.1305:

If you purchase something from a store and they had a sale the day after you would not be entitled to a refund or compensation. You made a decision to purchase said item, and then a sale happened. You weren’t ripped off.

Actually, many stores would offer either a full refund or a refund of the extra amount paid, as long as it was within a certain time frame. The major chain stores I’ve worked for in the past would definitely honor it if it had been less than 48 hours since the initial sale and the customer had a receipt, as well as the item they purchased, with them.

If you bought the game through buy.guildwars2.com, you can request a refund through support. Doing so will however permanently ban your account. I doubt they offer partial refunds, though in special cases, they have allowed people to apply a new serial key to an existing, but banned, account.

If you buy something off the gem store and it went on sale, I’ve heard of them offering refunds.

Please be so kind and buy a character slot so it goes into sale next week!

I’m waiting for a sale way too long.

Neox.3497:

Please be so kind and buy a character slot so it goes into sale next week!

I’m waiting for a sale way too long.

I already did a few days ago, 2 actually, shouldn’t be too long before it goes on sale.
You’re welcome?

Weylin.6478:

Neox.3497:

Please be so kind and buy a character slot so it goes into sale next week!

I’m waiting for a sale way too long.

I already did a few days ago, 2 actually, shouldn’t be too long before it goes on sale.
You’re welcome?

If it goes on sale within 14 days, Ill send you the difference of 1 character slot you purchased before and after the sale, as a thanks :P
Feel free to PM to remind yourself if thats the case

RoseofGilead.8907:

FlamingFoxx.1305:

If you purchase something from a store and they had a sale the day after you would not be entitled to a refund or compensation. You made a decision to purchase said item, and then a sale happened. You weren’t ripped off.

Actually, many stores would offer either a full refund or a refund of the extra amount paid, as long as it was within a certain time frame. The major chain stores I’ve worked for in the past would definitely honor it if it had been less than 48 hours since the initial sale and the customer had a receipt, as well as the item they purchased, with them.

That’s because of the store’s return policy. It’s easier and you don’t have to deal with returned stock if you simply credit them the difference in price. And while it sucks to buy an item only to see it on sale the next day/week, you did have use of that item for longer than you would have if you waited and got it on sale.

Within a week? I can solve this for you. Simple don’t buy anything until a Tuesday. 95%+ of the time this is when sales are going to occur if they are going to happen. Then by the next week the sale will be over or maybe something else will be on sale. But as long as you buy on Tuesday you won’t have to worry about it.

Andraus.3874:

Within a week? I can solve this for you. Simple don’t buy anything until a Tuesday. 95%+ of the time this is when sales are going to occur if they are going to happen. Then by the next week the sale will be over or maybe something else will be on sale. But as long as you buy on Tuesday you won’t have to worry about it.

Because it’s so much better if the item goes on sale after 8 days.

It doesn’t hurt to ask ANet for a post-purchase discount. They haven’t offered it in the past and I don’t think they will in the future.

Sure, some businesses do this regularly; then again, plenty never do. There are so many reasons why it might (or might not) make sense for any particular business that it’s really hard to insist that it ought to be a rule for commerce.

As others have noted, one of the problems ANet runs into is: if they offer a retroactive discount if someone misses the deadline by 12 hours, then why not by 24 hours? (after all, that’s only 12 hrs more than the first 12). If it’s after 1 day, then why not after 2? They have to draw the line somewhere.

One of us might draw it at 7 days, someone else at 1 day. So far, ANet has drawn it at 0 hours after the sale ends (although I’m sure exceptions get made behind the scenes).

If you don’t want to pay full price, then wait it out, subscribe to their newsletter and RSS feed, and keep an eye on the guildwars2 subreddit. Then, just wait it out.

There are a bunch of things I like in the gem shop right now, but not for the prices currently charged. So I’m waiting for them to be offered in some sort of pre-expac or 3-year anniversary sale.

RoseofGilead.8907:

FlamingFoxx.1305:

If you purchase something from a store and they had a sale the day after you would not be entitled to a refund or compensation. You made a decision to purchase said item, and then a sale happened. You weren’t ripped off.

Actually, many stores would offer either a full refund or a refund of the extra amount paid, as long as it was within a certain time frame. The major chain stores I’ve worked for in the past would definitely honor it if it had been less than 48 hours since the initial sale and the customer had a receipt, as well as the item they purchased, with them.

Except that you’re not buying a game. You’re buying access to a game. It’s more like a health club membership, than a physical product. You’re buying access.

And I’m not sure how many of those companies would act like a retail store.

I’ve seen a couple of threads where they’ve given the sale price but in each case it was when the purchase was very close in time to the sale, about a day iirc. If the purchase was more than a day before, you can always ask support but I wouldn’t advise optimism.

Neox.3497:

Andraus.3874:

Within a week? I can solve this for you. Simple don’t buy anything until a Tuesday. 95%+ of the time this is when sales are going to occur if they are going to happen. Then by the next week the sale will be over or maybe something else will be on sale. But as long as you buy on Tuesday you won’t have to worry about it.

Because it’s so much better if the item goes on sale after 8 days.

Sorry I was being somewhat sarcastic. The Op’s problem is just life. That is how it works in real life too. Although it’s still better to buy on a Tuesday rather than like Monday just incase for this reason.

Neox.3497:

Please be so kind and buy a character slot so it goes into sale next week!

I’m waiting for a sale way too long.

I have tired of waiting and started deleting level 80s.

sigh I need a life. :/

I have requested these refunds before and have always been denied.

Vayne.8563:

RoseofGilead.8907:

FlamingFoxx.1305:

If you purchase something from a store and they had a sale the day after you would not be entitled to a refund or compensation. You made a decision to purchase said item, and then a sale happened. You weren’t ripped off.

Actually, many stores would offer either a full refund or a refund of the extra amount paid, as long as it was within a certain time frame. The major chain stores I’ve worked for in the past would definitely honor it if it had been less than 48 hours since the initial sale and the customer had a receipt, as well as the item they purchased, with them.

Except that you’re not buying a game. You’re buying access to a game. It’s more like a health club membership, than a physical product. You’re buying access.

And I’m not sure how many of those companies would act like a retail store.

I’m not agreeing with OP’s suggestion. I was only correcting the poster I quoted when he said stores won’t give you refunds if you pay full price for an item right before that item goes on sale.