Regional restrictions now in the UK

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Borders does sell ebooks, its even one of the linked sites in the ebook library for the sony reader now.

Thank you - I'd entirely overlooked that!

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by wallflower75

Are there any other UK ebook stores outside of Waterstones and WHSmith?

UK Branch of Books On Board, I don't know it it'll be OK.

[Ea]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Borders does sell ebooks, its even one of the linked sites in the ebook library for the sony reader now.

Thank you - hadn't noticed this. Their prices seem to be on the same level as Waterstones, though not exactly the same, i.e. slightly more expensive than WHSmith. Looks like it's worth checking the price at Borders as well as WHSmith and Waterstones.

[mtravellerh]

Coolerbooks is in the UK.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Ea

Thank you - hadn't noticed this. Their prices seem to be on the same level as Waterstones, though not exactly the same, i.e. slightly more expensive than WHSmith. Looks like it's worth checking the price at Borders as well as WHSmith and Waterstones.

Unfortunately, its not quite so simple as those two are dearer than whsmith, I have noticed a bit of variation from book to book so its worth checking around.

It's just so annoying really that there isn't one clear leader as then the others would have to work harder to catch up, whsmith aren't bad, but even their site's interface isn't ideal and the lack of info on their error messages will lose them a lot of sales because people will have no idea what went wrong and just go elsewhere.

The last time I tried to buy something from them I kept getting an error message at the last stage of checking out that they couldn't complete the order and it might be because I was in germany at the time despite having a uk billing address and creditcard or it might have been an error at their end or something else entirely and I ended up going to waterstones, paying 50p more for that one book and ended up buying another one that whsmith didn't even stock at all.

[A Nonny Mouse]

Originally Posted by mtravellerh

Coolerbooks is in the UK.

Your link returns a 404 error.

www.coolerbooks.com

They seem pretty expensive from first glance.

[MetaEbooks]

Originally Posted by A Nonny Mouse

Your link returns a 404 error.

www.coolerbooks.com

They seem pretty expensive from first glance.

I wonder why they still have "test" in "Read the LATEST BESTSELLERS in Fiction as eBooks!", it's not professional.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by wallflower75

Are there any other UK ebook stores outside of Waterstones and WHSmith?

If there are they are well hidden !

Incidently I tried to buy an e-book from WHSmith, a while ago, UK author - sorry "geographically restricted" !

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by A Nonny Mouse

Your link returns a 404 error.

www.coolerbooks.com

They seem pretty expensive from first glance.

not a good sign when it doesn't recognise Sir Terry .....


edit : Ahah : There is hope - it also doesn't recognise J.K. Rowling

[bminata]

I've just subscribed to a commercial proxy service so now I can buy ebooks online.. I'm sooo happy

Wonder why the free proxies didn't work though. Commercial means extra few bucks per month, o well :P

Originally Posted by bminata

True enough.. although it's impractical. That's the whole point of ebooks, isn't it? And the shipping fee to certain parts of the world can be too prohibitive - not to mention customs.

I used to order printed books from Amazon for like USD 400 per order, USD 150 shipping fee, USD 50 custom. And that's not FedEx or overnight services but snail mail by sea.

Local bookstores have very limited selection at ridiculously high prices. USD 25 for a paperback anyone?

That's why I had high hopes when ebooks came out.. until I hit this dreaded "geographical restriction." :P

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by bminata

I've just subscribed to a commercial proxy service so now I can buy ebooks online.. I'm sooo happy

Wonder why the free proxies didn't work though. Commercial means extra few bucks per month, o well :P

Which service do you use? Are they good?

[wallflower75]

Originally Posted by bminata

I've just subscribed to a commercial proxy service so now I can buy ebooks online.. I'm sooo happy

Wonder why the free proxies didn't work though. Commercial means extra few bucks per month, o well :P

How did you get it to work? Because I just joined a three-day trial (with, of course, the agreement that I would pay after three days for the service) and I still can't get my order to go through.

[A Nonny Mouse]

Tried the proxy services they are unreliable, seems the publishers are forcing the sellers to jump through hoops to protect their excessive profits.
Ah well if they do not want to sell to me I am off to * the Dark side*

[Halk]

Booksonboard price for Unseen Academicals - $19.99
Booksonboard UK price for Unseen Academicals - £18.24 (Roughly $30.00)

And why do I have to pay 50% more in the UK? Answer is I don't. I simply don't buy the book.

Edit : Emailed Booksonboard in disgust. Don't see it changing anything :P

Edit Edit : I emailed Harper Collins too.

And I checked to see what price fixing laws are. As far as I can see if this was within the UK it might even be illegal. But I'm no lawyer!

[Halk]

Reply from HarperCollins -

Hello David,

Thank you for your interest in HarperCollins e-books. Although we are Terry Pratchett's publisher in the United States, his books are published in the UK by Doubleday, so we don't assign the prices for the UK edition.

Thanks again,

The HarperCollins e-books team

-----Original Message-----
From: Orders
Sent: Wednesday, October 07, 2009 9:41 AM
To: HarperCollinsEbooks
Subject: FW: Pricing.

---

Essentially it means that HarperCollins and Doubleday do not compete in their areas. Which is price fixing, and in my opinion the same as illegal price fixing. I don't know if this price fixing is illegal or not.

Edit : I should say I forced HarperCollins to break their rules. I have an American credit card which has a US billing adddress. This is what Fictionwise use as the check for a "US restricted" purchase. I bought the book from Fictionwise - at a significantly higher price than I could have obtained the DRM-free, freely exchangable resellable hardback for.

The credit card is "illegally" obtained. I have a social security number in the US, but that's just to pay property taxes, I'm not legally entitled to work there. You cannot have a US credit card if you are not a US resident, the guy in the bank I got it from ticked the box on the application for US resident since he was going to retire soon, and they accepted the social security number, even though it's not a "full one". I of course pay the bill.

I fought the law and I won. In a very small way!