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I think the complaints about Agency pricing boil down to 3 things:
1. Because discounting is still allowed for paper books, e-books are often priced higher than paper books even though Agency DRM'd books are considered inferior because they cannot be lent (or, in exceptional cases--Macmillan--lent more than once) or resold, and are often rife with formatting and proofreading errors.
2. Discounting is not allowed for Agency books, including indirect discounting like retailer coupons and loyalty rebates. Again, paper books qualify for this--I can use my 30% off coupon at B&N for paper books but not ebooks.
3. Distrust that the paperback release will reduce pricing promptly (I have no idea if this is happening); and a general disbelief that prices will ever reach the remainder bin level.
I do think a benefit of Agency pricing is that it puts an upper limit on the prices of general fiction or nonfiction. Just think how much they'd LIKE to charge, ha.
I have postponed e-book purchases or put books onto my library list because $12.99-14.99 is too much to pay to try out a new author, IMO. For those same books I might have bit at $5-10. But I would have done the same in the bookstore for a paper book; I'm well used to waiting for the library and mass market releases.
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