Quote:
Originally Posted by library addict
Since the settlement, we only had one month that Kobo allowed coupons on the big 5 publishers’ books. They still are not eligible for loyalty programs and sales at most stores. So other than the occasional discounted title (which the publisher chooses or sometimes Google or Amazon), when did agency pricing ever actually go away? It's not like we ever got back to the heyday of Fictionwise when all books were eligible for discounts.
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I don't know. Seems to me a lot of titles are discounted on Amazon. For 'paperback equivalents' where they were $7.99 under agency a lot are now $5.99 (& sometimes less), at least ones I routinely look at.
I think the problem with Kobo was that they have to make an overall profit on a given publishers catalog and they can't do that with 50%+ discount codes which are their big draw for a lot of people. I'm guessing that's at least part of why they only allowed coupons for a short time after agency. Plus they've stated that they want agency pricing to continue.
I think the only retailer left who has had any kind of rewards program is OmniLit/All Romance and there at least some (can't check them all obviously) HarperCollins are eligible while Hachette, Penguin, Random House and S&S titles aren't. But we don't know why they aren't is it the publishers or is it the bookseller (perhaps because of their cut from the publisher) not allowing them as reward eligible.
Also some stores, like Kobo and B&N, like agency pricing to one extent or another so they don't have to compete on price with Amazon for popular titles. So it may be that they're choosing not to discount (much).