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neilmarr · 10-07-2009, 03:53 AM

Thanks for that, BK. Quite fascinating.

I live in France where 'Kindling' is unlikely to spark a bonfire because relatively few ebooks are available in the French language. I'm a Brit, though, so it's interesting to see that Amazon justifies the two dollar hike in best seller prices there by claiming 'includes VAT'. As has been correctly pointed out in another thread here, ebook downloads are merely 'licences'. This means they are 'services' rather than 'purchases', thus carrying 6% VAT and not the 19% which the price increase reflects. Where's the extra buck and a half going?

By the way, I'm a partner in a small indie publishing house in Europe (BeWrite Books). The ebook versions of our paperback titles and those of scores of others were dropped by Amazon when they opened their own Kindle-specific store because publishers had to have an 'official' US presence. As far as I can see, publishers (and self-publishers) without registered US offices and/or US tax and social security numbers are still excluded.

Cheers. Neil (who's quite happy with the freedoms offered by his Sony PRS-505 and would prefer a small box of good Havanas for Christmas to a Kindle -- and not just because Cuban cigars are one of the very few things left that we can buy and Americans can't).

10-07-2009, 03:53 AM	#35
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,215 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	Thanks for that, BK. Quite fascinating. I live in France where 'Kindling' is unlikely to spark a bonfire because relatively few ebooks are available in the French language. I'm a Brit, though, so it's interesting to see that Amazon justifies the two dollar hike in best seller prices there by claiming 'includes VAT'. As has been correctly pointed out in another thread here, ebook downloads are merely 'licences'. This means they are 'services' rather than 'purchases', thus carrying 6% VAT and not the 19% which the price increase reflects. Where's the extra buck and a half going? By the way, I'm a partner in a small indie publishing house in Europe (BeWrite Books). The ebook versions of our paperback titles and those of scores of others were dropped by Amazon when they opened their own Kindle-specific store because publishers had to have an 'official' US presence. As far as I can see, publishers (and self-publishers) without registered US offices and/or US tax and social security numbers are still excluded. Cheers. Neil (who's quite happy with the freedoms offered by his Sony PRS-505 and would prefer a small box of good Havanas for Christmas to a Kindle -- and not just because Cuban cigars are one of the very few things left that we can buy and Americans can't).