Quote:
Originally Posted by murraypaul
But they are all Equally Favoured Nations.
There is nothing special making Apple more Favoured than anyone else?
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Each contracted seller has its own MFN clause, and it started with Apple. Before that, publishers were able to set book prices differently at each store they sold to.
Apple doesn't have a contract that says "you must offer this book at the same price everywhere." It says, "you can't sell it elsewhere at LESS than you sell it here." Amazon has the same requirement. So: each of them has an MFN clause in their contracts.
Publishers are welcome to sell their books for $12.99 at Apple and Amazon, and offer them on their own site at $14.99. It's just that nobody does it that way. Publishers would *like* to sell at $12.99 at Apple and Amazon, and $9.99 at their own sites, where they don't lose 30% of the cover price--but the MFN clause prevents that.