MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Understanding agency prices and geo restrictions

karenr_nz · 10-03-2010, 11:27 PM

Right at the outset, I need to state something - I do not work for any publisher, and I hate both agency pricing and geo-restrictions, as these have seriously affected my ebook buying options. However, I had something of an epiphany last week which let me understand why/how they work. I would like to try and explain how my thinking went (bear with me, it's a bit torturous).

I was in a physical bookstore the other day and notices that they had copies of both the UK and US editions of several books. This is pretty common in NZ. This seemed odd to me, as the usual argument over geo-restrictions is that publishers contractually split up the rights to sell a given book in different territories, so how could I get the same book from two different publishers in the one territory. And if I could get a hard copy from two different publishers, why the hell couldn't I get an ebook from either publisher!

Then it hit me. A pbook is a physical item. So a bookseller from NZ can contact a distributor in the US (not a publisher obviously, but a distributor) who can then on-sell the book to anyone, and ship it to NZ for the bookseller to sell. Because when you own a physical item the first-sale doctrine (or equivalent legislation in most places) states that you can pretty much do what you like with it.

So as long as a country doesn't have any parallel import restrictions (NZ doesn't) then a retailer can source their product from anywhere they like and price it at whatever they want.

BUT! Ebooks aren't physical items. The bookseller never purchases a copy of an ebook before on-selling it. Thus they're acting as the agent for the publisher. The ebookseller is only an intermediatary who connects the purchaser directly with the publisher. And because of that, the publishers distribution contracts come into play (you're effectively buying straight from the publisher) and the publisher has the right to set the price.

Presumably this would be different if the ebookseller were to purchase a given number of copies of ebooks (or licenses if you prefer) and then on-sell them to the public. At this point, the ebookseller should be able to sell to anyone at any price. But as long as they don't actually own the product they're selling, they're at the mercy of the publishers.

I don't like the situation any better, but at least now I understand it better.

10-03-2010, 11:27 PM	#1
karenr_nz Connoisseur Posts: 69 Karma: 820 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: New Zealand Device: PB360	Understanding agency prices and geo restrictions Right at the outset, I need to state something - I do not work for any publisher, and I hate both agency pricing and geo-restrictions, as these have seriously affected my ebook buying options. However, I had something of an epiphany last week which let me understand why/how they work. I would like to try and explain how my thinking went (bear with me, it's a bit torturous). I was in a physical bookstore the other day and notices that they had copies of both the UK and US editions of several books. This is pretty common in NZ. This seemed odd to me, as the usual argument over geo-restrictions is that publishers contractually split up the rights to sell a given book in different territories, so how could I get the same book from two different publishers in the one territory. And if I could get a hard copy from two different publishers, why the hell couldn't I get an ebook from either publisher! Then it hit me. A pbook is a physical item. So a bookseller from NZ can contact a distributor in the US (not a publisher obviously, but a distributor) who can then on-sell the book to anyone, and ship it to NZ for the bookseller to sell. Because when you own a physical item the first-sale doctrine (or equivalent legislation in most places) states that you can pretty much do what you like with it. So as long as a country doesn't have any parallel import restrictions (NZ doesn't) then a retailer can source their product from anywhere they like and price it at whatever they want. BUT! Ebooks aren't physical items. The bookseller never purchases a copy of an ebook before on-selling it. Thus they're acting as the agent for the publisher. The ebookseller is only an intermediatary who connects the purchaser directly with the publisher. And because of that, the publishers distribution contracts come into play (you're effectively buying straight from the publisher) and the publisher has the right to set the price. Presumably this would be different if the ebookseller were to purchase a given number of copies of ebooks (or licenses if you prefer) and then on-sell them to the public. At this point, the ebookseller should be able to sell to anyone at any price. But as long as they don't actually own the product they're selling, they're at the mercy of the publishers. I don't like the situation any better, but at least now I understand it better.