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Originally Posted by GA Russell
The first is that the Agency 5 books cost the same, don't they? Don't the Agency 5 new best seller eBooks all cost $12? That sounds like collusion to me.
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MMPBs have often been the same price across several publishers. I think that's less likely collusion (or less likely to stand up in court as collusion) and more likely to be considered "finding a marketing point that works."
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The second is that if I am dissatisfied, currently my recourse is to go to Amazon. But with an agent (think of a realtor for example), I should be going back to the publisher. I'll have to think that through, but my first impression is that Amazon does not behave like an agent just because it is allowing the publisher to set the price.
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I'm not sure Amazon is acting as a legal agent; it's required to use "agency pricing," which may not put them in the position of "agent."
OTOH, the terms of being an "agent" can vary widely by contract, and can include the agent taking money into its accounts and forwarding the appropriate amount later to the seller.
I have some vague hopes that, in the long run, Amazon fights against this "agency" thing by making it obvious which books are agency (more than by tagging them with "publisher sets the price"), possibly by changing how they show up in search engines, or changing the kind of support offered for them. (I.e. "no refunds on these books; we'll tell you how to contact the publisher if you've got a complaint.")