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Totally, this. As a case in point, my "Digital Image Processing and Analysis: Human and Computer Vision Applications with CVIPtools, Second Edition" text book s

Totally, this. As a case in point, my "Digital Image Processing and Analysis: Human and Computer Vision Applications with CVIPtools, Second Edition" text book stated right on the cover that the book was "Not for sale in the US" (or something to that effect). Seemed odd, then I read the intro in which the author was excited that he finally convinced the publisher to print in color. My book was not in color (super great for an image processing text). Two weeks later, the binding started to come undone - not just a little - literally all of the pages fell out. Awesome, thanks Bezos!

rb808 8y ago
abebooks (part of amazon) sells a lot of international editions. https://www.abebooks.com/books/Textbooks/international-editions-faqs.shtml https://www.abebooks.com/books/Textbooks/international-editi... It makes sense to sell the same book at lower prices in parts of the world where the regular price is unaffordable. Importing those books back to the US is not what publishers want, but I think isn't illegal.
- ghaff 8y ago
  Yes. It's typically legal as decided by the US Supreme Court in 2013 Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons. (6-3 decision with a rather atypical split.) Added: Basically the decision affirmed that first sale doctrine applied.
  - mojomark 8y ago
    Wow, that is useful information! Ne'er again will I buy a text without reading the fine print. Lesson learned.
    - ghaff 8y ago
      And I've bought an Indian version of a textbook for about 20% of the price of the "regular" edition that was perfectly adequate for my needs. So, if you're implying that Amazon shouldn't sell these, I don't agree. They're legal and they're good enough for a lot of people. (As I recall, in my case, it was obviously not the US version.)
moftz 8y ago
Your situation has nothing to do with Amazon or counterfeit books. The "not for sale in US" editions are international editions that are usually made with cheaper materials and sometimes with different graphics to avoid royalties. These books usually have the content and are usually in black and white but sometimes there are slight content changes. It's not usually the best idea to buy one of these unless you know it's identical, check the reviews. You need to use the ISBN to find the US edition if you don't want to gamble on a cheap international edition. Funny story, I bought an international edition once, used it for the semester, then sold it back to the third-party bookstore in town for more than I bought it for.
- CamperBob2 8y ago
  If it comes in a box that says "Amazon" on the side, then it has everything to do with Amazon.
howard941 8y ago
Understanding Digital Signal Processing (3rd ed) arrived with the back cover indicating that it's "authorized for sale only" in six countries south Asian countries listed. I fared better than you, the pages haven't yet fallen out and I beat the hell out of it...

rb808 8y ago

abebooks (part of amazon) sells a lot of international editions. https://www.abebooks.com/books/Textbooks/international-editions-faqs.shtml https://www.abebooks.com/books/Textbooks/international-editi... It makes sense to sell the same book at lower prices in parts of the world where the regular price is unaffordable. Importing those books back to the US is not what publishers want, but I think isn't illegal.

ghaff 8y ago
Yes. It's typically legal as decided by the US Supreme Court in 2013 Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons. (6-3 decision with a rather atypical split.) Added: Basically the decision affirmed that first sale doctrine applied.
- mojomark 8y ago
  Wow, that is useful information! Ne'er again will I buy a text without reading the fine print. Lesson learned.
  - ghaff 8y ago
    And I've bought an Indian version of a textbook for about 20% of the price of the "regular" edition that was perfectly adequate for my needs. So, if you're implying that Amazon shouldn't sell these, I don't agree. They're legal and they're good enough for a lot of people. (As I recall, in my case, it was obviously not the US version.)

moftz 8y ago

Your situation has nothing to do with Amazon or counterfeit books. The "not for sale in US" editions are international editions that are usually made with cheaper materials and sometimes with different graphics to avoid royalties. These books usually have the content and are usually in black and white but sometimes there are slight content changes. It's not usually the best idea to buy one of these unless you know it's identical, check the reviews. You need to use the ISBN to find the US edition if you don't want to gamble on a cheap international edition. Funny story, I bought an international edition once, used it for the semester, then sold it back to the third-party bookstore in town for more than I bought it for.

CamperBob2 8y ago
If it comes in a box that says "Amazon" on the side, then it has everything to do with Amazon.

howard941 8y ago

Understanding Digital Signal Processing (3rd ed) arrived with the back cover indicating that it's "authorized for sale only" in six countries south Asian countries listed. I fared better than you, the pages haven't yet fallen out and I beat the hell out of it...