Quote:
Originally Posted by elcreative
Try checking the Sale of Goods Act... the place/person who sell you a book is the "supplier" of the book and all of your dealings are with that entity just like any other item - the publisher is not the retailer unless you buy directly from the publisher - retail means just that, selling to a customer for their use... and if you don't like the term "price fixing" then try "acting as a cartel"  |
1. They are not price fixing. What they are doing is not illegal. What they are doing is not that different from "fixing" the wholesale prices that they used to charge retailers for e-books.
Price fixing would be if the publishers all agreed that they wouldn't sell new books for less than, say $14.99. Or for more that $5.99, for that matter. But that's not what's going on here at all - the publisher's prices vary widely, even for new books, and there seems to be at least as much competition among publishers as there was before the agency model was adopted.
2. In much of Europe, as was noted earlier, price fixing of books is not only not illegal, it is required.
3. I'm not sure what you mean by "acting like a cartel." Usually this comes with some sort of suggestion of illegality, or some sort of restraint of trade, and as noted above, they aren't doing anything illegal.