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Originally Posted by Barcey
Kali, we seem to disagree again.
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Oh, the horror!
I don't mind disagreements, by the way.
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Originally Posted by Barcy
It does matter who sets the price. Especially when the purpose is to raise prices.
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"Especially" or "primarily?"
To be a bit more expansive, I believe that the overwhelming majority neither know nor care who's setting the price -- hence some of the "one-star protests" blame Amazon instead of, or in addition to, the publishers. This is "how the sausage is made" stuff that few people bother to dive into, even when it upsets them.
Also, I can see why you as a consumer do not want to pay higher prices. Heck, I'd love to have a brand-new BMW roadster for $15,000. However, that desire does not mean that BMW has an obligation to recognize my demand for a lower price as a "right of the consumer," or that it's a good idea for them to sell their roadsters at $15k, even though there is no question that in the short run I will benefit from that arrangement.
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Originally Posted by Barcy
If a publishing house wants to stop selling through retailers and sell direct then they can set the prices..... If they want to sell through a retail chain and then tell them they can't change the price then it's a problem.
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Is it? Is it really?
Just imagine for a moment that -- even though there is no way this will happen -- Penguin decides that as of today, all their ebooks are a flat $5, no matter where you buy it. Do you genuinely believe people would accuse Penguin of price fixing, of slaughtering and oppressing retailers, and of being money-grubbing fiends?
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Originally Posted by Barcy
If General Mills is concerned that Walmart is "devaluing" the price of tasty toasted oats and decide to tell all the grocery stores that they can no longer change the price of Cheerios I would have the same problem with it.
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I see. So is it OK if General Mills says "we found this great biotech oat which produces twice the yield at half the cost, and we insist our retailers pass the price on to the consumers, and we won't sell to any grocery chain that charges too much."
Or, is it OK if Walmart says to General Mills, "cut your price on Cheerios by 20% or we won't carry it, and we have 50% of the grocery market by the way." (And yes, they do this to their vendors all the time.)