Epic Games Takes down Fortnite’s New Refund Feature Due to “Issues”

Usually, game patches fix bugs and add new features, but every now and then, a patch doesn’t work as intended.

Fortnite’s V3.6 patch recently launched and added a whole slew of new items and changes, including the Self-Service Cosmetic Returns feature, or just Self Refund for short. As the name suggests, the Self Refund feature allows players to sell cosmetic items for the digital currency V-Bucks, but not without some limitations. Players can only refund items they have purchased in the past 30 days, and they can only refund three items. Not three items per week or three items per month; three items for the entirety of Fortnite’s existence. Moreover, only emotes, gliders, harvesting tools, back bling, and outfits are eligible for trade-in. Players can’t sell battle passes, starter and founder’s packs, loot llamas, and event and weekly items for extra V-Bucks.

While the Self Refund feature was implemented with the best intentions, things didn’t go as planned. Earlier today, Epic Games released the following on the official Fortnite Twitter feed:

https://twitter.com/FortniteGame/status/988760154094088192

While Epic Games has not elaborated on the issue in question, some gamers on the Fortnite subreddit claim the feature unintentionally allowed players to refund battle pass tiers, and many gamers happily abused this exploit. While the battle pass costs an initial 950 V-Bucks (approximately $9.50), it is full of outfits, emotes, gliders, and countless other goodies players can earn at no extra cost. Given the number of rewards, gamers are almost guaranteed to earn one or two items they don’t like and would rather sell for extra V-Bucks if given the chance. Apparently, that’s exactly what they did.

We have no idea when the Self Refund feature will return, but with luck, it will be up and running again shortly. Many Fortnite players have fallen in love with the concept and await its return, mostly because rival games lack a cosmetics refund feature, but that’s a subject for a different article.