16/10/2025
For the time being, I’m asking readers to avoid purchasing Pesky Publishing books from Amazon.com. I can’t say with absolute certainty yet, but there appears to be something irregular in how Amazon is reporting returns, and unfortunately IngramSpark, our printer, has not been able to help trace or clarify the issue.
If you actively use Ingram, I’d really appreciate hearing whether you’ve noticed anything unusual with return figures. In our case, when we add the number of confirmed copies in readers’ hands to the reported returns, the total exceeds the sales shown on our dashboard - which simply shouldn’t be possible.
Through testing, I’ve noticed that a “return” is recorded for every copy sold below wholesale on Amazon. This suggests that Amazon may be selling the book, keeping the proceeds, and then marking it as a return to Ingram to claim a refund - despite never physically returning any stock. Ingram have confirmed in writing that Amazon only sends a count, not the books themselves.
I’m not in a position to claim fraud, but something here is undeniably questionable. With no investigation from Ingram and no way to audit the process, we’ve been left absorbing the losses - one title has lost its entire sales value and more within just five months.
Ingram, I had hoped to resolve this privately, but after our recent failed attempts to address it, we’ve been left with no choice but to speak openly.
Readers, if you’d like to support us through this, please consider picking up a copy of our latest sci-fi title here:
https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=PfmCVNjVcuiTaiMKo173D01eTiswBy8bZawE2NDlxKB
Yes, it’s an Ingram link - but to be clear, I don’t believe this issue originates with them. Our concern lies with Amazon’s reporting. It would take around 20–30 sales just to recover the losses caused by these unexplained returns, so every purchase genuinely makes a difference. Please do share this with friends and family.
