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Keep in mind:
Kobo gift cards != Borders reward bucks
The gift cards are in the classical sense -- they're pre-purchased, transferable store credit. They can be used for anything (except more gift cards) at face value. They would be nearly worthless as GIFTS if you couldn't use them on any product.
The reward bucks are a promotion. It's a store discount with a balance value.
@Catlady
In short, as a sole source supplier, a company would have control in contract negotiations proportional to their demand, and the agency 5+1 hold most of the in-demand books. Not all distributors fell in line with Random house's new contract and their distribution licenses expired.
But over-control in a negotiation isn't without consequences -- Adding a 6th publisher to the lockdown has kicked off movement in the EU's Anti-trust regulators. They're not looking to see if the contracts are valid, they're checking to see if the free market has been locked down by one or a few big players (the 6 largest publishers).
If they can prove collusion, there will be hefty fines to pass around and regulation of the industry. Unfortunately government regulation is regional and seldom do the consumers win.
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