Help us find Sony store prices that are out of whack

[astra]

Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

Amazon - Price: $13.51 (Hardcover)

Connect - $19.96???

[whatnopaper]

Connect - $21.56
Amazon - $10.88

The readers dillema

[JSWolf]

Folks, as well as posting here, please give Sony a call to let them know of these silly prices so that can hopefully fix them.

You can contact the eBook Customer Support Team via email or by phone at 877-CNECTME (877-263-2863).

[Dr. Drib]

A number of issues I would like to respectfully adress:

_____________________________

After approx. 7 months, it appears that Connect has not only lowered the price of Neal Stephenson's trilogy (The Baroque Cycle), but has also - FINALLY! - corrected the mispricing from one link to another link.

______________________________

I spent approx. 1/2 of my life (I'm 56) working at bookstores and also as a buyer for (at that time), the largest independent bookstore in Arkansas.

I could construct a very lengthy letter here - but I will not - stating all I know about how discounts, shipping, profit-margins, remainders, membership discounts, stripped returns, net pricing, returns, database managment of inventory, loss leaders, supplemental stock and other avenues of profitabilitiy [audio books, cafes, greeting cards, games, etc.], and how a class-action suit brought by independents years ago has impacted upon the book trade.

Some of the arguments posted on this thread (I'm talking logic and knowledge here) are simply erronenous.

I want to also make it very clear that I have been OUT of the book trade since 1989. Full disclosure.

I also want to make it clear that I know NOTHING about contractual content vis-a-vis ebook publishing/marketing.

There is a further confusion here as well, regarding book format: Hardback; mass market paperback; and trade paperback.

I just want to point out - with my contribution toward some further understanding the complexity of these issues - that I am a book lover with some marketing/selling knowledge, and that I am ALSO AN INDIVIDUAL WITH A HUGE AMOUNT OF IGNORANCE.

I'm not manufacturing any knowledge here; rather, I want to let everyone know about my strengths AND weaknesses.

Anecedotal information: Even when we were selling law books for the UALR School of Law, and purchasing said books from West at net pricing, and paying approx. 17% in shipping costs to get the cartons of casebooks, hornbooks, legal aids, etc. here, we had to price them accordingly in order to realize a profit and to also deal with overhead, salaries, damaged returns (time) --; even dealing with all these issues, there were still complaints about why were we charging such high prices for these textbooks.

It's like trying to explain to someone that if you are a member of this bookstore and you get 10% from a book that is already 10% off, the total wasn't actually 20%. Rather, when you take 10% from something and then take 10% again from that same something, you actually end up with 19% discount. [Try it with a $1.00 and see what you get.]

With all due respect to the syllogistic argruments circulating here, but there are contributing factors at present that add to a very complex issue.

Don

[FuzzyGamer]

First of all, this thread should be a sticky, it took me a bit to find it again.

The book is Accelerando, by Charles Stross. It's 6.39$ at the Connect store and, get this, free here, care of Mr Stross himself. Which I found out only after buying the book from Connect.

He also put up a number of other novels and short stories online, but none of them are on Connect. Yet.

So, this is what a money-printing operation looks like.

[TadW]

Fuzzy, it's not only Connect where you can find e-books offered for free elsewhere. Accelerando, for instance, is offered for $7.99 @ eBooks.com. Not cool, I know, but this is how things are right now.

[monkeywrench]

* Title - The World Without Us
* Author - Alan Weisman
* Connect - $19.96
* Amazon - $14.97 B&N - $17.46
* Format - Hard Cover

I emailed Sony on this and got the following response:

Hello,

Thanks for writing Sony Connect!

When publishers determine the pricing for print books (their “List Price”), they determine a separate List Price for the eBook version which is usually less expensive than the print counterpart (sometimes 40% less). CONNECT then provides an additional 20% discount to the customer. Some publishers have decided to keep their eBook prices the same as print book prices, other book retailers may discount that print title more than 20%, which would result in a deeper discount. We continue to work with these publishers to urge them to discount their eBook List Prices to provide you with the best eBook experience possible.

Separately, please keep in mind that with eBooks, there are no shipping fees or sales tax, and you get the benefit of instant gratification.

Sincerely,
Erica H
Sony Connect

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by monkeywrench

* Title - The World Without Us
* Author - Alan Weisman
* Connect - $19.96
* Amazon - $14.97 B&N - $17.46
* Format - Hard Cover

MobiPocket has the same book for $24.95. And I cannot find it in LIT format at any of the shops I've looked at.

[Mikou]

* Title: The Virtu
* Author: Sarah Monette
* Sony Connect price: $19.96
* Amazon, Borders Bookstores, Barnes & Noble: $7.99
* Available in mass market paperback

I've already emailed them and was told they would contact the publisher and email me with an update. Then then emailed me again a couple of days later to tell me that since I didn't contact them again, they considered the problem solved. I emailed them back to correct that notion.

Still no change in the price. :-(

ETA: I just took a look at the publisher's website and lo and behold, the problem: they have the paperback at 7.99 and the hardcover and ebook at 24.95. I guess I'll be reading the public library copy and waiting until I can pick up a used p-back copy.

[Mikou]

Good news for me and other fans of Sarah Monette. The Connect price is now 7.99, same as the p-back, so I bought it today. Don't want to miss out on the chance, in case it reverts in the future. I don't know if it was my email or my post here that made the difference, but either way thanks to all here. If not for this thread, I wouldn't have contacted anyone at all. :-)

[JSWolf]

Joseph Finder's [i]Paranoia/i] is priced at $15.16 when the paper edition is MMPB and a LOT less.

http://ebooks.connect.com/product/40...000035896.html