MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Amazon faces class-action lawsuit over eBook pricing

tomsem · 01-15-2021, 02:16 PM

The big 5 publishers set the price, and it is the same price whether you purchase the book from Amazon, Google, Apple, Kobo, B&N etc.

Amazon fought agency pricing tooth and nail and lost. It’s not their market dominance that keeps this going, it is the publishers. There is no merit to this lawsuit.

That said there’s no doubt that agency pricing is good for Amazon because of their market dominance. It flattens the competitive landscape. Consumers seek out lower prices and have no reason to leave Amazon if they cannot find them somewhere else.

I think even if Amazon were forced to spin off the Kindle business it would still dominate for a very long time. Other platforms would have to invest heavily to catch up.

01-15-2021, 02:16 PM	#6
tomsem Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,955 Karma: 27060153 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA Device: iPhone 15PM, Kindle Scribe, iPad mini 6, PocketBook InkPad Color 3	The big 5 publishers set the price, and it is the same price whether you purchase the book from Amazon, Google, Apple, Kobo, B&N etc. Amazon fought agency pricing tooth and nail and lost. It’s not their market dominance that keeps this going, it is the publishers. There is no merit to this lawsuit. That said there’s no doubt that agency pricing is good for Amazon because of their market dominance. It flattens the competitive landscape. Consumers seek out lower prices and have no reason to leave Amazon if they cannot find them somewhere else. I think even if Amazon were forced to spin off the Kindle business it would still dominate for a very long time. Other platforms would have to invest heavily to catch up. Last edited by tomsem; 01-15-2021 at 02:28 PM.