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Originally Posted by pwalker8
I don't think that you have been paying attention to the subject of this thread.
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Oh, believe me, I have paid attention. In a nutshell: if agency is going to be the new model, then the only thing left to talk about is retail price and cost to retailer. What else is there to talk about?
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Part of what Amazon is demanding from Hatchette is that Hatchette reduce the wholesale price that Hatchette charges Amazon. Amazon very much is trying to push the price down to commodity levels. That's how they make a buck. They don't make money by selling ebooks for less than the wholesale price.
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And there I thought you were in the pro-agency model group to protect whatever (HC prices, funding for specialist books, ...). From what you just said it sounds like you want the wholesale model back? Under agency model there is
absolutely no way that Amazon can sell books cheaper than the price charged by the publisher. Think about it: Hachette charges $20 to Amazon for a book, but sets the price Amazon is allowed to sell it for $14.99 - not going to happen. And it is also not going to happen under agency that the retailer is forced to sell at cost.
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That was just part of their method for establishing market dominance. Eventually, they either have to raise their prices, or force the publisher to lower the wholesale price.
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I would not be so sure that Amazon's only reason for setting the prices low is for establishing market dominance. It is good for competition. Amazon is not making a secret out of how they discount - any competitor will know that, and they will find ways to compete by offering different kind of discounts. They used to do that, you know, before Apple entered ebooks.