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That depends on the book.
For example, I will pay up to $5 for a book by an author I know to be excellent, which is DRM-free, and from a publisher I know sells well-formatted ebooks. Even $6 for favorite authors. Only $4 for "am I really sure I want this?" books under those conditions.
However, if the book (or sometimes the publisher) does not meet the above criteria, it's a different story. If there is no sample available, I'm unlikely to pay more than a dollar for it, which is also my price point for trying new flavors of my favorite brand of pseudo-fruitoid-drink. If there's a substantial sample (maybe 25% of the book's content) I might go as high as half the above-listed prices, maybe even 2/3 if the book really, really grabs me. But a sample can only go so far; a lousy ending can really kill a good story.
Basing an ebook's price (especially an indie ebook, which does not have the overhead of a publishing house) on what a pbook might sell for in a store is going to cost the author sales. Even if they know very little about the publishing industry, most people know that an author's percentage of the sale price of a pbook is very small, and that of an indie ebook is very large. So when they see the two priced similarly, and the latter priced significantly higher than similar books, the author appears greedy. Image matters. Consumers' perception of the character traits of whoever/whatever they are buying from can make or break a deal. Looking like a greedy son of a beast does not make for a positive image.
Also, pricing yourself out of the market is rarely a good strategy.
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