Your BN.com account must be complete and up-to-date in order to purchase and download paid and free digital content. This includes an email address, default credit card number and CVV code, valid expiration date for the credit card, and a current U.S. billing address. Security measures are put in place to protect all of our customers' account information.
For details about how to update your BN.com account, click here.
The credit card saved to your account does not have to be the same card that you used to purchase your eBooks originally in order to download and purchase content.
Why is a valid credit card required?
Publishers require all eBook sellers to have a procedure in place to protect the publishers' copyrights, even on free eBooks. That procedure is called digital rights management (DRM).
A credit card is required for eBooks to protect the publisher's copyrights, even on many free titles. Publishers require Barnes & Noble to follow their policy for DRM to keep customers who buy eBooks from making them freely available to others, like posting on a website from which others can download.
A credit card is used because it's a number only you, the customer, would know. The credit card deters the unauthorized redistribution of publisher's copyrighted digital content.
Note: When purchasing a free eBook, there is no requirement for a credit card to be stored on your BN.com account. A credit card is required when purchasing free eBooks on the BN.com website. Your credit card number is used only to unlock the eBook and is not stored on your device.
