Buying and Selling High Priced Books

[Kenrose1]

I do buy new releases such as "The Fifth Witness" which Amazon sells at about the same price as the hard bound version. Had I bought the hard bound version, after reading it I could sell it to recover some of the cost. Obviously such is not the case with the Kindle edition.
The question is should I be able to re-sell my copy of this book, in the process removing it from my Kindle account and transferring it to someone else for a price?
If someone were selling a "used" Kindle version of this book I would have no hesitation at buying it at a lower price.
I wonder if there is a possibility in developing such a marketplace?

[abookreader]

If you are asking if there is a possibility to develop a used book market for Kindle purchases -

Legally no.

Because you didn't buy the Michael Connelly book, you bought a license to view the book and the terms of your license clearly state that it is not transferable to another party.

Now if you want to get into a debate of whether or not you should be able to sell your eBook license, I'm sure you'd find plenty of people around here that will agree with the idea.

[MJK2111]

Straight from Amazon:

1. Digital Content

Use of Digital Content. Upon your download of Digital Content and payment of any applicable fees (including applicable taxes), the Content Provider grants you a non-exclusive right to view, use, and display such Digital Content an unlimited number of times, solely on the Kindle or a Reading Application or as otherwise permitted as part of the Service, solely on the number of Kindles or Other Devices specified in the Kindle Store, and solely for your personal, non-commercial use. Unless otherwise specified, Digital Content is licensed, not sold, to you by the Content Provider. The Content Provider may include additional terms for use within its Digital Content. Those terms will also apply, but this Agreement will govern in the event of a conflict. Some Digital Content, such as Periodicals, may not be available to you through Reading Applications.

Limitations. Unless specifically indicated otherwise, you may not sell, rent, lease, distribute, broadcast, sublicense, or otherwise assign any rights to the Digital Content or any portion of it to any third party, and you may not remove or modify any proprietary notices or labels on the Digital Content. In addition, you may not bypass, modify, defeat, or circumvent security features that protect the Digital Content.

[Kenrose1]

I understand I am only licensed to use the book on my Kindle or associated devices registered to Amazon. (I think this is really short range thinking as I could buy the cheaper hardbound book and dispose of it as I see fit).
However, what is to prevent me from loaning or renting my Kindle containing the book to interested parties with a proviso they returned it to me. Not that I would inclined to do this, but it would seem to do an end run around the restrictive e-book policies.
Of course, I would not even consider this (Amazon and publishers are you listening), if the books were priced less than the cost of the new hardbound or softbound editions. Why, oh why, he cries, don't you care about your loyal customers?

[DiapDealer]

However, what is to prevent me from loaning or renting my Kindle containing the book to interested parties with a proviso they returned it to me.

Absolutely nothing. But it still might break the contract that you agreed to (I'm not arguing whether the contract would hold up in court or not). There is nothing standing between you and selling your used ebooks except possibly your own conscience (and a few pesky laws here and there). So let 'er rip... and be sure to keep us up to date on how it all turns out!

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Kenrose1

Of course, I would not even consider this (Amazon and publishers are you listening), if the books were priced less than the cost of the new hardbound or softbound editions. Why, oh why, he cries, don't you care about your loyal customers?

Because shareholders are more important and corporations must show increasing profits year after year otherwise people will sell their shares and their market value will drop through the floor.

Besides, if people are prepared to pay hardback prices for ebooks what incentive would they have to lower their prices?

[Deja Moo]

But are they prepared to pay hardback prices for ebooks? I'm not, and a large fraction of this website is devoted to locating cheaper or free books, so some other people would like to save money, too.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Deja Moo

But are they prepared to pay hardback prices for ebooks? I'm not, and a large fraction of this website is devoted to locating cheaper or free books, so some other people would like to save money, too.

Presumably enough of them are prepared to pay those prices, otherwise they wouldn't be that high.