MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Want cheaper books from Sony's ebooks store

dhbailey · 11-13-2009, 06:16 PM

I just got an e-mail from the Sony bookstore listing some books whose prices had been dropped to $9.99.

I admit that lots of Sony's prices are higher but they have a smaller buying power than either B&N or Amazon, so they are stuck with what the publishers tell them. And they also have monopoly power over releases for the PRS readers so they can actually charge whatever they want.

But to answer your question -- no, you're not the only one. I get really mad when I see books which have been out in paperback for $6.99 or $7.99 and the Sony site has them still at the prices for the hardback releases with a "generous" discount which brings them down to twice as much as the paperback versions.

Sometimes Sony will lower the price for a specific book if you contact their customer support and tell them what the price is for the same book at Amazon. It might take a couple of days or even a week, but they have done it in the past. The problem is that you can't possible send one message for each book on their connect web-site.

And does anybody else get the weekly "new releases" e-mail? I click on the link to the web-site and then click on "see all new releases" and sometimes there's something like 200 or more given as a number but then around the mid-100s I start seeing the same books listed that I saw back in the very low numbers, which makes their "boast" of 200 or more new releases a lie.

Oh, well.

11-13-2009, 06:16 PM	#2
dhbailey Guru Posts: 604 Karma: 733 Join Date: Mar 2007 Device: HP iPAQ211 / PRS 500, 700 and 505	I just got an e-mail from the Sony bookstore listing some books whose prices had been dropped to $9.99. I admit that lots of Sony's prices are higher but they have a smaller buying power than either B&N or Amazon, so they are stuck with what the publishers tell them. And they also have monopoly power over releases for the PRS readers so they can actually charge whatever they want. But to answer your question -- no, you're not the only one. I get really mad when I see books which have been out in paperback for $6.99 or $7.99 and the Sony site has them still at the prices for the hardback releases with a "generous" discount which brings them down to twice as much as the paperback versions. Sometimes Sony will lower the price for a specific book if you contact their customer support and tell them what the price is for the same book at Amazon. It might take a couple of days or even a week, but they have done it in the past. The problem is that you can't possible send one message for each book on their connect web-site. And does anybody else get the weekly "new releases" e-mail? I click on the link to the web-site and then click on "see all new releases" and sometimes there's something like 200 or more given as a number but then around the mid-100s I start seeing the same books listed that I saw back in the very low numbers, which makes their "boast" of 200 or more new releases a lie. Oh, well.