Ebook prices at Waterstones UK

[nellow]

You're right, £7.19! That's very good news (other than the fact I paid £20 for it). I think that pricing is just about right - slightly higher than paperback, but not much. I think it should actually be below paperback, but it certainly wouldn't make me feel I am being ripped off anymore. Only complaint now is poor formatting of some of the books, but that is not Waterstone's fault.

[Tommo43]

[QUOTE=nellow;254942]Can anyone understand this pricing for Ken Follett's "World Without End" in UK Pounds? All off the website.

just bought it in a 2 for £7 package at Tesco

Tomm

[jaffab]

Its very easy to explain - Waterstones are a bunch of theiving b*******s.

Their web site is awful to use, their selection is rubbish, they only respond to emails telling them so with standard 'thank you for using waterstones, we are working on it...' emails, and they want to charge as much as they can get away with (an yes, there is vat payable on ebooks).

The books that I have purchased (and 90% of my ebooks so far that I already own in hard format have come from the dark), I have purchase through ebooks.com - its at least half the price of waterstones and you can actually find books on their site.

[HarryT]

If you think they are too expensive, the answer is simple - buy your books elsewhere.

You can't blame Waterstones, though, for having to charge VAT on eBooks; that applies throughout the EU and stems from the fact that eBooks are classified as "computer software" rather than books.

[GingerTez]

I went to Watersones on Saturday to buy a Sony Reader for my wife and while chatting to she sales assistant I found out these 'facts'*:

(1) Waterstones do not own the Sony Reader stock (or the accessories) - they sell it "on behalf" of Sony
(2) This meant that my wife did not get the usual 10% student discount she gets in Waterstones - the readers and accessories are specifically excluded
(2) Waterstones' employees do not get any staff discount on Sony Readers or accessories
(3) Sony staff in the UK Sony stores are supposedly able to buy Sony Readers for £100 (half price)

I wonder if the actual eBook part of the Watersones website is similarly operated on behalf of someone else and in reality it's just a Watersones 'skin' and 'search' pasted on top of a UK Sony Connect equivalent?

This worries me deeply. It means that it would be quite easy for Watersones to decide to just give up on eBooks and Sony Readers without affecting their own revenue in any significant way as they're only acting as a front for Sony.

Cheers,
Terry.

* Not sure if they are facts - they're things the sales assistant said, which I believe she believed!

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

The ebook part of Waterstone's website is atrocious enough to make me think it's all their own work!

I'm not worried if Waterstones back out of the ebook market or the Sony Reader market. Until they significantly improve their website and prices, I have no intention of buying any more ebooks from them. Well, except maybe to use some of my loyalty points (most of which I got when I bought my reader)

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GingerTez

This worries me deeply. It means that it would be quite easy for Watersones to decide to just give up on eBooks and Sony Readers without affecting their own revenue in any significant way as they're only acting as a front for Sony.

Why does this worry you? It's not as if you have to buy books from Waterstones - in fact I'd recommend not doing so; neither their prices nor their book selection is particularly impressive.

[GingerTez]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why does this worry you? It's not as if you have to buy books from Waterstones - in fact I'd recommend not doing so; neither their prices nor their book selection is particularly impressive.

It worries me because they are the only official eBook store in the UK that supports my reader. If eBooks are really going to become more popular in the UK they need to become more mainstream and accessible and this will not happen in the UK if the only place to get eBooks is from a foreign site in a different currency.

These are just my thoughts - it's taken long enough for eBooks to be properly distibuted in the UK by the UK arm of a company. And now, finally, people I know that aren't "gadget geeks" (like I am) are considering them as a future purchase.

Cheers,
Terry.

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You can't blame Waterstones, though, for having to charge VAT on eBooks; that applies throughout the EU and stems from the fact that eBooks are classified as "computer software" rather than books.

True, but it does underscore a problem that's going to grow.

I wonder if there is petition or something that could be signed to urge the government / EU to reclassify eBooks in the same VAT bracket as paper books.

I'm surprised book stores and publishers have not already started to do so, especiall with the immanent widespread rollout of readers across Europe.

[pdurrant]

The UK is one of only three countries in the EU to have a zero VAT rate for books. (The others are Ireland and (I think) Portugal)

The other EU countries have VAT rates on books ranging from 3% to 25% with most being in the range 5% to 10%.

The 0% rate on books is a special concession arranged when the UK joined the EEC, and can't be extended to cover ebooks.

Paul

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

True, but it does underscore a problem that's going to grow.

I wonder if there is petition or something that could be signed to urge the government / EU to reclassify eBooks in the same VAT bracket as paper books.

I'm surprised book stores and publishers have not already started to do so, especiall with the immanent widespread rollout of readers across Europe.