Did Amazon rip me off?

Ask for the money to be refunded to the credit card you used.

That seems to be a pretty common suggestion on Amazon’s part (which makes sense, they’d rather you reorder than ask for a refund). Check your order history and see if there’s an option attached to that order which meet’s your needs. Or just go straight to customer service and ask for a refund on that order number. Also, make sure it was sold to you by Amazon, LLC. and not simply sold through Amazon, that can change how things get processed (you can find that in the order history), but still go through CS.

Was this Amazon or one of Amazon’s sellers?

I order from – and return things – all the time through Amazon. Refunds are instant. It’s always no questions asked. It’s by the far the best place to purchase things (in my opinion).

However, your story sounds very odd. You ordered a book in August and didn’t get it 2 days later? What happened? Was it out of stock when you ordered it? Just get your money back.

At least in my experience I’m never charged until the item ships.
So, if you never received the text book (if it never shipped) are you sure they actually charged you the $80? Double check whatever account or credit card you used to verify…because in my (frequent and numerous) purchases from Amazon I’m typically not charged until the item is en route to me.

As @geeky mama says are you sure they charged you? This is what Amazon sent to me recently regarding an order they couldn’t fulfill right away.

“You haven’t been charged for this item yet as we don’t debit money from your payment card until just before your items are dispatched. We’ll send you a confirmation e-mail when your items are dispatched to confirm the date, contents and method of delivery.”

It’s strange they normally don’t charge until they ship. That’s been my experience. And I order 3 times a month at the least. Also, recently I ordered a text book for school. I would suggest you use www.half.com for cheap books as well.

Check your bank or credit card statement to see if they charged you. My guess is it was an Amazon seller and not Amazon LLC. Usually if your order was cancelled, it means they didn’t charge you. The only way to find out for sure is to contact the seller.

Even third-party sellers on Amazon don’t charge until the item ships. My guess is that either you assumed that they charged you right away (but they didn’t) or you were dealing with a third-party seller who is breaking the rules.

If it is a third-party seller, check to see if there are reviews from their past clients – what is their rating? If they are in the habit of charging before they ship (and again, I really doubt this), someone else will likely have the same complaint, and they might say what the outcome was, which will give you an idea what will or won’t work, and how long it might take to get your money back,

Any updates?

If you buy an item using a gift card or using a gift card balance it deducts the amount after you complete the order, otherwise it shouldn’t charge your card until it’s about to ship.

Any updates on this matter?

@_whitetigress sorry for the late reply! They credited the card.