Quote:
Originally Posted by queentess
? Where do you buy your books, and what genres do you read? For new pbooks, Amazon is consistently (I hesitate to say always) the same or cheaper for my location.
|
Your situation may be different than mine but I comparison shop very thoroughly with stores I have available to me. I have B&N, Border's, Kmart and Target all within 10 min drive and on my way home from everywhere. Plus local grocery stores. I've found these other retailers to be less expensive for MMPBs than Amazon consistently.
Currently Kmart and Target offer 25% off paperbacks. My local grocery is 20% off and they have several hundred books available. B&N and Border's email discount codes/coupons almost weekly for as much as 33% off. Plus, there is their membership discounts to consider.
I dug out the receipts for my last 3 books purchased. Sales tax included.
Book ... Amazon's Price ... Purchased Price
1 ) ..... $26.75............... $21.94 (B&N)
2 ) ..... $8.55 ................ $5.13 (Border's)
3 ) ..... $8.55 ................ $5.73 (Border's)
Total savings $11.05
I would have needed to pay shipping on books 2 & 3 from Amazon since I didn't hit $25. I could have saved an add'l 10% off B&N and Border's if I had a membership.
For hardcovers Amazon is competitively priced. And Kindle books are also. But for MMPBs I have more options. My tastes are general mostly. (no romances, vampires, zombies, paranormal or demonic subjects)
Also, there are so many inexpensive ebooks (0.99 to 2.99) available that people can be buying these in greater quantity than pbooks. I believe Catlady mentions this also.
Pricier paperbacks + $0.99 ebooks = not impressed.