Help us find Sony store prices that are out of whack - Page 2

Michele · 10-14-2006, 12:46 PM

I have, on numerous occasions, emailed the Connect site with specific titles priced in error based upon the hardback prices. On every single occasion, they have corrected it within a day or two.

davec67 · 10-14-2006, 04:19 PM

freakonomics - amazon $14.38, sony $15.96

Chimpmanzee · 10-16-2006, 12:24 PM

Title: The Stories of Your Life and Others
Author: Ted Chiang
Sony Connect price: $19.96
Competitor's price: $10.95 (Amazon)
Is it available in paperback?: Yes

Morbius · 10-17-2006, 11:47 AM

Well, this is a whole lot less encouraging than early indications led folks to believe. Seems from the recent threads that items that initially seemed to drop in price, supposedly in response to this thread, went right back up to their previously high prices. Every one of the books I listed still show at their inflated hardback-comparable price.

So perhaps we didn't have the impact on Sony we at first thought we had...which is going to be sad. I'm certainly not going to be spending $20+ dollars for an ebook version of something I could buy in paperback for $9 or less just about anywhere. Unfortunately, this is the exact kind of thing that has kept ebooks and e-readers from taking off. Not nearly enough content available, the company (in this case, Sony) usually claiming that until there's more buyers available, there won't be more content, yet that same company attempts to sell what content they have at such a high price no one is willing to purchase it. Classic Catch-22.

I'm going to try to put together another list of overpriced titles later today, and then perhaps Bob, you should go ahead and give the list of everything that's been added to this thread up to now over to whomever you might know at Sony, to see if they're really interested. I think it's becoming clear now that whatever caused some initial price drops we saw, it wasn't permanent, and may not have been at all related to what was happening on MobileRead. So Sony may not have someone watching these complaints here, and might not know about them after all. Or if they do, they're apparently not as concerned with them as we hoped they would be!

porkupan · 10-17-2006, 12:47 PM

Perhaps not as far as Sony is concerned. I guess, some of it depends on how the books are digitized. If Sony got the digital copies of the originals from the publishers at no cost, then selling them at near the price of the paper copies is clearly an abomination. But if Sony actually had to hire help to OCR the paper books and then proofread, edit and verify the digital copies, then the cost to Sony may be more than the cost to Amazon, etc. Being a big corporation, I am sure Sony spent many millions of dollars on their Connect store web site, and it costs them more millions every month to keep it up and running...

It has been now established that the Connect store's selection of books is not particularly wide. I wonder then, how may people are actually buying books there. Not just using their $50 vouchers, but spending some of their hard earned money on eBooks. I am afraid they are not yet at iTunes numbers, not even close. So, the economies of scale have not picked up just yet.

I just hope Sony is not losing some major money on hardware costs as well, or we may see the Reader go the way of REB-1100 and Rocket eBook real soon.

Michele · 10-17-2006, 01:19 PM

Sony corrected several price errors that I brought to their attention. As of this morning the corrections remain intact.

Bob Russell · 10-17-2006, 01:50 PM

Fortunately, it doesn't seem like the pricing fixes were a loss as they seem to be back!The book that I had noted has also returned to the lower corrected price again (Patriots Club). I think they must have just had some problems with the way the pricing works at the store, and their software or store updates may have been undoing the fixes they made.

But I can assure you they do pay attention to MobileRead. We can't expect them to be at our constant whim and fancy, but I am certain they really do want to make things work well for their customers. That's not always as easy as it looks, and paying attention to us is not something they have to do... but it does go to show that they really care about what they are doing. Remarkably so, in fact!

yvanleterrible · 10-17-2006, 03:18 PM

They should pay attention to us, MR readers bought every device they built.
HEY! SONY! HOW ABOUT SELLING SOME IN CANADA!

NatCh · 10-17-2006, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by porkupan

Perhaps not as far as Sony is concerned. I guess, some of it depends on how the books are digitized. If Sony got the digital copies of the originals from the publishers at no cost, then selling them at near the price of the paper copies is clearly an abomination.

Doesn't really matter what it costs Sony to process the books, porkupan, but rather what the pubs charge Sony for the books. They're the ones who set the pricing.

BuddyBoy · 10-18-2006, 04:24 AM

A whole whack of Lisa Scottoline novels are mispriced at the hardcover price when mass market paperbacks have been out for years.

Devil's Corner
Lisa Scottoline
Connect Price: 15.96
Amazon MMP: 7.99

Killer Smile
Lisa Scottoline
Connect Price: 14.36
Amazon MMP: 7.99

The Vendetta Defense
Lisa Scottoline
Connect Price: 15.96
Amazon MMP: 7.99

Courting Trouble
Lisa Scottoline
Connect Price: 15.96
Amazon MMP: 7.99

Dirty Blonde ($15.96 at Connect) is still in hardcover, but has been out for over a year I think, and Amazon has it remaindered in place at $7.99.

BuddyBoy · 10-18-2006, 04:40 AM

Here's another:

The Martian Child
David Gerrold
Connect Price: 17.56
Amazon PB: 11.01

BuddyBoy · 10-18-2006, 04:44 AM

Shockwave
Stephen Walker

Connect Price: 15.96
Amazon: 7.99
PB and Hardcover both available.

sh0dan · 10-18-2006, 04:04 PM

The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge

Amazon paperback: $11.86
Sony: Listed on book page at $23.95.

Edit: Correction. Now the Sony store lists different prices. Actual price (and listed as that on search results) $9.56.

BuddyBoy · 10-18-2006, 08:27 PM

Hot Damn!
James W. Hall

Sony Connect: $19.96
Amazon PB: $11.86

BuddyBoy · 10-18-2006, 09:03 PM

State of Fear
Michael Crichton
Connect Price: $15.96
Amazon MMP: $7.99

Prey
Michael Crichton
Connect Price: $15.96
Amazon MMP: $7.99

The Innocent
Harlan Coben
Connect Price: $21.56
Amazon PB: $9.99

10-17-2006, 11:47 AM	#19
Morbius Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: Sony Reader PRS-500	Store prices NOT going down Well, this is a whole lot less encouraging than early indications led folks to believe. Seems from the recent threads that items that initially seemed to drop in price, supposedly in response to this thread, went right back up to their previously high prices. Every one of the books I listed still show at their inflated hardback-comparable price. So perhaps we didn't have the impact on Sony we at first thought we had...which is going to be sad. I'm certainly not going to be spending $20+ dollars for an ebook version of something I could buy in paperback for $9 or less just about anywhere. Unfortunately, this is the exact kind of thing that has kept ebooks and e-readers from taking off. Not nearly enough content available, the company (in this case, Sony) usually claiming that until there's more buyers available, there won't be more content, yet that same company attempts to sell what content they have at such a high price no one is willing to purchase it. Classic Catch-22. I'm going to try to put together another list of overpriced titles later today, and then perhaps Bob, you should go ahead and give the list of everything that's been added to this thread up to now over to whomever you might know at Sony, to see if they're really interested. I think it's becoming clear now that whatever caused some initial price drops we saw, it wasn't permanent, and may not have been at all related to what was happening on MobileRead. So Sony may not have someone watching these complaints here, and might not know about them after all. Or if they do, they're apparently not as concerned with them as we hoped they would be!

10-17-2006, 12:47 PM	#20
porkupan Fanatic Posts: 556 Karma: 1057213 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: North Eastern U.S. Device: Sony Reader	Are the books at CONNECT store really overpriced? Perhaps not as far as Sony is concerned. I guess, some of it depends on how the books are digitized. If Sony got the digital copies of the originals from the publishers at no cost, then selling them at near the price of the paper copies is clearly an abomination. But if Sony actually had to hire help to OCR the paper books and then proofread, edit and verify the digital copies, then the cost to Sony may be more than the cost to Amazon, etc. Being a big corporation, I am sure Sony spent many millions of dollars on their Connect store web site, and it costs them more millions every month to keep it up and running... It has been now established that the Connect store's selection of books is not particularly wide. I wonder then, how may people are actually buying books there. Not just using their $50 vouchers, but spending some of their hard earned money on eBooks. I am afraid they are not yet at iTunes numbers, not even close. So, the economies of scale have not picked up just yet. I just hope Sony is not losing some major money on hardware costs as well, or we may see the Reader go the way of REB-1100 and Rocket eBook real soon.

10-18-2006, 04:04 PM	#28
sh0dan Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Denmark Device: Sony Reader	The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge Amazon paperback: $11.86 Sony: Listed on book page at $23.95. Edit: Correction. Now the Sony store lists different prices. Actual price (and listed as that on search results) $9.56. Last edited by sh0dan; 10-18-2006 at 05:11 PM.

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10-14-2006, 12:46 PM	#16
Michele Addict Posts: 209 Karma: 999496 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: California Device: Kindle 3	I have, on numerous occasions, emailed the Connect site with specific titles priced in error based upon the hardback prices. On every single occasion, they have corrected it within a day or two.

10-14-2006, 04:19 PM	#17
davec67 Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2006	freakonomics - amazon $14.38, sony $15.96

10-16-2006, 12:24 PM	#18
Chimpmanzee Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2006	Title: The Stories of Your Life and Others Author: Ted Chiang Sony Connect price: $19.96 Competitor's price: $10.95 (Amazon) Is it available in paperback?: Yes

10-17-2006, 01:19 PM	#21
Michele Addict Posts: 209 Karma: 999496 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: California Device: Kindle 3	Sony corrected several price errors that I brought to their attention. As of this morning the corrections remain intact.

10-17-2006, 01:50 PM	#22
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Fortunately, it doesn't seem like the pricing fixes were a loss as they seem to be back!The book that I had noted has also returned to the lower corrected price again (Patriots Club). I think they must have just had some problems with the way the pricing works at the store, and their software or store updates may have been undoing the fixes they made. But I can assure you they do pay attention to MobileRead. We can't expect them to be at our constant whim and fancy, but I am certain they really do want to make things work well for their customers. That's not always as easy as it looks, and paying attention to us is not something they have to do... but it does go to show that they really care about what they are doing. Remarkably so, in fact!

10-17-2006, 03:18 PM	#23
yvanleterrible Reborn Paper User Posts: 8,616 Karma: 15446734 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Que Nada Device: iPhone8, iPad Air	They should pay attention to us, MR readers bought every device they built. HEY! SONY! HOW ABOUT SELLING SOME IN CANADA!

10-18-2006, 04:24 AM	#25
BuddyBoy eBookin' Fool Posts: 310 Karma: 1008360 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Vancouver, BC Device: Kindle Paperwhite, KK, iPad (Ex Prs 505, 500, Reb1100-2150, Rocket)	A whole whack of Lisa Scottoline novels are mispriced at the hardcover price when mass market paperbacks have been out for years. Devil's Corner Lisa Scottoline Connect Price: 15.96 Amazon MMP: 7.99 Killer Smile Lisa Scottoline Connect Price: 14.36 Amazon MMP: 7.99 The Vendetta Defense Lisa Scottoline Connect Price: 15.96 Amazon MMP: 7.99 Courting Trouble Lisa Scottoline Connect Price: 15.96 Amazon MMP: 7.99 Dirty Blonde ($15.96 at Connect) is still in hardcover, but has been out for over a year I think, and Amazon has it remaindered in place at $7.99.

10-18-2006, 04:40 AM	#26
BuddyBoy eBookin' Fool Posts: 310 Karma: 1008360 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Vancouver, BC Device: Kindle Paperwhite, KK, iPad (Ex Prs 505, 500, Reb1100-2150, Rocket)	Here's another: The Martian Child David Gerrold Connect Price: 17.56 Amazon PB: 11.01

10-18-2006, 04:44 AM	#27
BuddyBoy eBookin' Fool Posts: 310 Karma: 1008360 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Vancouver, BC Device: Kindle Paperwhite, KK, iPad (Ex Prs 505, 500, Reb1100-2150, Rocket)	Shockwave Stephen Walker Connect Price: 15.96 Amazon: 7.99 PB and Hardcover both available.

10-18-2006, 08:27 PM	#29
BuddyBoy eBookin' Fool Posts: 310 Karma: 1008360 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Vancouver, BC Device: Kindle Paperwhite, KK, iPad (Ex Prs 505, 500, Reb1100-2150, Rocket)	Hot Damn! James W. Hall Sony Connect: $19.96 Amazon PB: $11.86

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10-18-2006, 09:03 PM	#30
BuddyBoy eBookin' Fool Posts: 310 Karma: 1008360 Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Vancouver, BC Device: Kindle Paperwhite, KK, iPad (Ex Prs 505, 500, Reb1100-2150, Rocket)	State of Fear Michael Crichton Connect Price: $15.96 Amazon MMP: $7.99 Prey Michael Crichton Connect Price: $15.96 Amazon MMP: $7.99 The Innocent Harlan Coben Connect Price: $21.56 Amazon PB: $9.99