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Yes, you should definitely trust the pricing of the company that started out the ebook business selling best-sellers for less than they had to pay in royalties

by al2o3cr 12y ago

Yes, you should definitely trust the pricing of the company that started out the ebook business selling best-sellers for less than they had to pay in royalties to publishers. I mean, it couldn't possibly have been an attempt to drive competitors out of the space...

SomeCallMeTim 12y ago
Umm...competitors? [Citation Needed] What I remember is that Amazon created the e-book space, for all intents and purposes. And the reason they undercut the royalty price was to create that market. People didn't want to spend $20 or more to buy an electronic copy of a book they could buy for less in physical form. People aren't stupid: If they aren't getting a physical item they can then hand to their friends and/or sell, then what they're getting has less value. Heck, I still get annoyed by crazy-high eBook prices. An eBook should absolutely ALWAYS cost less than the physical copy. If there are 500 copies available used for $0.01 on Amazon, then it shouldn't be more than about $5 (paying a bit for the convenience of having a digital copy -- those $0.01 copies typically add ~$4 in shipping costs), and yet you can find $8-10 price on a Kindle edition. [1] Amazon has a very strong customer focus. [2] That results in lower prices. It also makes it harder for competition, yes, but that "customer obsession" has become core to the culture at Amazon. [1] First one I found: http://www.amazon.com/Against-All-Enemies-Tom-Clancy-ebook/dp/B004XJIWAE http://www.amazon.com/Against-All-Enemies-Tom-Clancy-ebook/d... -- it turns out many of the $.01 books are only $6 on Kindle, which is better than I thought, but it wasn't hard to find one greater than $8. [2] See the first "leadership principle" on this page: http://www.amazon.com/Values-Careers-Homepage/b?ie=UTF8&node=239365011 http://www.amazon.com/Values-Careers-Homepage/b?ie=UTF8&node...

by al2o3cr 12y ago

SomeCallMeTim 12y ago

Umm...competitors? [Citation Needed] What I remember is that Amazon created the e-book space, for all intents and purposes. And the reason they undercut the royalty price was to create that market. People didn't want to spend $20 or more to buy an electronic copy of a book they could buy for less in physical form. People aren't stupid: If they aren't getting a physical item they can then hand to their friends and/or sell, then what they're getting has less value. Heck, I still get annoyed by crazy-high eBook prices. An eBook should absolutely ALWAYS cost less than the physical copy. If there are 500 copies available used for $0.01 on Amazon, then it shouldn't be more than about $5 (paying a bit for the convenience of having a digital copy -- those $0.01 copies typically add ~$4 in shipping costs), and yet you can find $8-10 price on a Kindle edition. [1] Amazon has a very strong customer focus. [2] That results in lower prices. It also makes it harder for competition, yes, but that "customer obsession" has become core to the culture at Amazon. [1] First one I found: http://www.amazon.com/Against-All-Enemies-Tom-Clancy-ebook/dp/B004XJIWAE http://www.amazon.com/Against-All-Enemies-Tom-Clancy-ebook/d... -- it turns out many of the $.01 books are only $6 on Kindle, which is better than I thought, but it wasn't hard to find one greater than $8. [2] See the first "leadership principle" on this page: http://www.amazon.com/Values-Careers-Homepage/b?ie=UTF8&node=239365011 http://www.amazon.com/Values-Careers-Homepage/b?ie=UTF8&node...