Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
It would actually be illegal in the UK for the manufacturer to set the price of the product. A retailer has the legal right to sell the product for any price they wish to, whether that be higher or lower than the manufacturer's recommended retail price. I don't know if US law differs in this regard.
I know at one time the publishers tried to get around this by claiming that Amazon were acting as their agent, rather than as a retailer (an agent DOESN'T have the right to change the price), but wasn't this ruled to be invalid as a part of the "agency pricing" court case?
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I believe it was ruled invalid. But Hachette could change the list price (even if it is just recommended). Amazon isn't going to want to price higher than competitors so they'd likely then list it at whatever. But see, Hachette doesn't want to lower book prices--they want Amazon to take the hit on discounts. So while people are screaming that AMazon raised the prices, what they really mean is Amazon stopped discounting--but it isn't as though other retailers always discount. Those discounts are discretionary.
AMazon used to discount my ebooks now and then--this difference came out of their share of the profit, not mine. They STILL discount the print copies from my list price. When they stopped discounting my ebooks, did you see me writing articles claiming they were the bastard child from the kingdoms of chaos out to rule the world? No. If they stopped discounting my print books, that would mean they stopped discounting my print books. That does not equate to "raising the price of my books." Yes, the price would go up, but my list price is still my list price. These articles are highly misleading. Amazon never told me that if I do x or y, my books would be discounted. I'm betting it isn't in a contract with Hachette that they get guaranteed discounts either.