Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I'm not certain it's down to them. I have a feeling that the price is set by the publisher.
|
In a sense, yes, in that everything is based on percentages of the retail price.
In the MobiPocket case: S&S sets the retail price. MobiPocket, as a distributor, gets a discount from that as a distributor. They mark it up to a wholesale price, which is what the booksellers pay per sale. The booksellers add their markup and sell it. As a dealer, they keep their direct prices high enough to avoid undercutting their dealers.
In the case of the Adobe/MSReader/eReader format, it's different. If S&S is acting as its own distributor, then dealers selling those formats are paying a wholesale price set by S&S and dealers are free to price it from there. That's what makes it irksome that S&S would undercut them. It may all just be a matter of timing, that S&S dropped the price and word hasn't yet gotten through the distribution chain, yet, but I don't know.
The Sony case is a little different, in that they're contracted directly with S&S for a unique format. I have no idea where their wholesale price falls relative to what MobiPocket pays, but I'm certain that Sony is free to set its retail price wherever they want based on that wholesale price.
I have no idea how the eReader deal works.