Comments on: Price-Fixing Case Against Apple, Major Book Publishers Mushrooms

By: Jeff Sturman

Jeff Sturman — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 20:02:05 +0000

I don’t think ebook readers will purchase used paper books as you argue, especially the longer they use their ereader and become accustomed to the conveniences.

By: Carradee

Carradee — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:43:06 +0000

As long as the wholesale pricing actually is wholesale pricing—as in, the retailers are paying publishers a specific amount per e-book sold no matter what the retailer price is—I have no problem with wholesaler pricing. I actually prefer its precedent to agency pricing, but I fear that the wholesale pricing scheme would end up modified if forced upon retailers, with retailers only paying content providers a percentage of whatever retail price the retailers choose.

By: wanorris

wanorris — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 23:31:33 +0000

It’s standard practice for retailers to offer loss leaders (i.e. products sold below cost) to get customers into their store and buying.

By: rosemary

rosemary — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:31:04 +0000

The big publishing houses are very shortsighted. They don’t seem to realize that their real competition in today’s market comes from the sale of used books which are very cheap and easy to find and buy on the Internet. Why don’t they realize that when people feel that the price of an ebook is too high that they will buy a used print book instead?
I suspect that very soon most authors will self-publish ebooks and hire the professionals they need, like editors, to help them. When that happens, it will be another nail in the coffin of the traditional publishing houses. I laugh when they say that the cost of producing ebooks is the same as print books ignoring the cost of paper and shipping while pointing out the cost of things like cover designs. How many ebooks have cover designs? Maybe half of those I’ve read. How many ebooks include photos? Very few so far but I suspect and hope that changes soon.
Unless publishing houses wake up and realize that the marketplace has drastically changed, they will be left in the dust. Not too long ago my town had a camera store that sold and developed film. That is long gone. I suspect the same will happen soon with bookstores and most of the traditional publishing houses.

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 15:59:48 +0000

You’re right, of course. We’ve fixed, thanks for pointing it out.

By: ampressman

ampressman — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:41:36 +0000

Thanks for fixing the common error about Kindle ebook prices before agency pricing (not all were below $9.99)

By: robertocasiraghi

robertocasiraghi — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:29:45 +0000

I think etailers should be free to set their own prices but they shouldn’t be free to go below own cost. Price fixing damages consumers, but pricing below own cost damages competition (and consumers in the long run) because the big etailers like Amazon could easily get rid of all the competition as they enjoy massive investment. Once there is no competition, we all know what happens.