Quote:
Originally Posted by pdurrant
On a moderately-recent best-selling book at Amazon, the paperback is 4p less than the ebook. From a third-party I could have had the paperback (new) for 43p less than the ebook. For "Used - Like New" I could pay £1.79 less than the ebook.
That the publishers can print and ship, and Amazon receive, store, pack and ship the paperback and make money while still charging less shows that the ebook pricing is excessive.
Why is it excessive? Let's see where the money goes.
The paperback RRP is 7.99. Amazon gets at least a 50% discount, so the publishers get £3.99, and Amazon, selling at £4.95, gets £0.95.
The Kindle edition is £4.99. VAT is 3%. Amazon gets a 30% discount (agency pricing), so the publishers get £3.39 and Amazon gets £1.45
It seems to me that Amazon is getting too large a cut of the ebook price! |
I don't care about who gets what. Nor do I care when I buy ANY product or service exactly how the proceeds are distributed (assuming that the product isn't produced using slave labor or child labor or other evil means). As a consumer, what matters to me is the amount I have to pay and whether I think the value is commensurate with the price.
As I said, I think it's entirely fair that an e-book and a paperback are priced at the same level.