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Old 12-27-2018, 04:12 PM   #5
haertig
Wizard
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If I am logged in to my Amazon account, I only see the KU clickbox, and have to manually select "see purchase options" to make the clickbox to buy it visible.

If I am NOT logged into my Amazon account, I see both clickboxes immediately and do not have to go through the extra manual step to display purchase options.

It appears that if you are a KU member (they can only tell that if you are logged in) then they are attempting to steer you to use a KU loan rather than a purchase. I would have expected the opposite ... because they make money if you purchase the book, they don't make any additional money (beyond your already-paid-for KU membership) if you choose the loan over the purchase. Maybe there is some other hidden revenue stream for Amazon if you choose the KU loan. Do they charge the authors some amount of money if their books are borrowed more frequently?

This has the same kind of "huh???" feel as the case where they sell used paperback books for one penny, with a shipping charge of $3.99 each. I did read an explanation of that once, and sure enough, there was a hidden revenue stream that made it more profitable to sell the books for cheap and charge high shipping. This KU vs. buy thing probably has a similar hidden revenue stream for Amazon that is not immediately obvious to us customers.
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