No Micropay anymore at Fictionwise

[jont]

I've noticed that Barnes & Noble often sells the same ebook as Fictionwise at a lower price. See, for example, books by David Liss at Fictionwise: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/a3...vid-Liss/?si=0

and at BN:

http://productsearch.barnesandnoble....ss&STORE=EBOOK

I suppose that just adds one more bad omen for Fictionwise, if their own corporate overlords are undercutting them.

[Mickey330]

Well, I've just finished with my MicroPay account, leaving just $.11 in there. I will miss this feature, as it drove me to spend more money at Fictionwise that I should've. So, I should look on the bright side, right?

Too bad there is not a way to pool all these pennies we're abandoning....

Marilyn

[imaredr]

Originally Posted by aagstn

I have 31 dollars left. I will probably use that up on Rex Stout books if they keep coming out weekly. Once that is gone I will start working on my $50 giftcard at B&N but looks like my days as a Fictionwise customer are coming to a close. That is sad since I have shopped there nearly 10 years.

I too have shopped there for almost a decade. This is truly sad, sad, sad. Since their rapid decline and the rising prices of ebooks in general , I have bought only 2. I can remember buying at least 5 or 6 per month. Well, I have been working on a master list of all my ebooks on their site as well as ereader.com. My plan is to re-download all onto a usb drive and dvd to keep just in case as a master file. I don't want to lose the close to 800 ebooks I have bought.

Ellen

[RWJ]

Originally Posted by Angst

Agency rules completely destroyed the Fictionwise sales model. Too Bad. They were my primary source for ebooks before the Agency Cartel stepped in. R.I.P.

Here's what I don't get: why do the agencies care? If Fictionwise is willing to pay the Agency what the Agency wants, why on earth should it matter to the Agency if FW customers get reward books, discounts, loss leader sales, or anything else?

[nashira]

Originally Posted by RWJ

Here's what I don't get: why do the agencies care? If Fictionwise is willing to pay the Agency what the Agency wants, why on earth should it matter to the Agency if FW customers get reward books, discounts, loss leader sales, or anything else?

I think they don't want people to perceive ebooks as, y'know, affordable.

That's what always comes to mind when they complain about x store selling ebooks at a loss.

[slantybard]

Originally Posted by jont

I've noticed that Barnes & Noble often sells the same ebook as Fictionwise at a lower price. See, for example, books by David Liss at Fictionwise: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/a3...vid-Liss/?si=0

and at BN:

http://productsearch.barnesandnoble....ss&STORE=EBOOK

I suppose that just adds one more bad omen for Fictionwise, if their own corporate overlords are undercutting them.

The only problem with B&N is that it only serves US customers. Leaves the rest of us SOL. Plus, I don't think they accept PayPal.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by slantybard

The only problem with B&N is that it only serves US customers. Leaves the rest of us SOL. Plus, I don't think they accept PayPal.

You can convince B&N to serve you by using a proxy, but whether it is worth the hassle...?

[Shaggy]

Originally Posted by RWJ

Here's what I don't get: why do the agencies care? If Fictionwise is willing to pay the Agency what the Agency wants, why on earth should it matter to the Agency if FW customers get reward books, discounts, loss leader sales, or anything else?

Competition drives prices down. Collusion keeps prices up.

[B.K. Wright]

I think once B&N opens PubIt, Fictionwise will be gone. That's the rumor.

[tselling]

Fictionwise just refunded my Buywise membership to my Paypal account.

Their response to my email requesting the refund due to no more micropay rebates and higher prices was: "Back in 2009, you purchased a 1-year membership and a 2-year membership, and the prices were $29.95 and $54.95, respectively. I have refunded the entire 2-year membership, plus 5.5 months worth of the 1-year membership.

The math looks like this:
29.95 x 5.5/12 + 54.95 = $68.68"

So I am quite happy with this response. I certainly got my money's worth from Fictionwise, but I am sad to see them go. If everyone requests a refund of their remaining Buywise membership, it will certainly be costly for Fictionwise (so I assume costly for Barnes & Noble).

**** Do make sure you don't have much left in micropay $$ because my remaining few micropay dollars dissappeared after the refund ***

[starrigger]

I just bought a few titles on my micropay balance. On one of them, I got "this title not available" message when I went to download. Talk about asleep at the switch. This was a Random House book, which as I recall is not one of the agency pubs, so who knows what the problem is.

I've put in a service request.

[aagstn]

Originally Posted by starrigger

I just bought a few titles on my micropay balance. On one of them, I got "this title not available" message when I went to download. Talk about asleep at the switch. This was a Random House book, which as I recall is not one of the agency pubs, so who knows what the problem is.

I've put in a service request.

I was getting this every week with the Rex Stout Random House titles in ereader format. I started buying them all in ePub whenever possible.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by aagstn

I was getting this every week with the Rex Stout Random House titles in ereader format. I started buying them all in ePub whenever possible.

I was trying to buy in epub. But...I just got an email saying they'd refunded my money, which I have to say is about the fastest response I've ever gotten from an etailer.

[Elfwreck]

Downloaded my collection in epub, mobi (daughter has a Kindle) and PDF (because I want a copy of the covers, and because I can work with PDFs).

I'm trying to convince myself I reallly don't need eReader or PalmDOC PDB files as well. I have eReader of most of them 'cos I was reading on a Clie when I started buying from FW, but they're scattered across three hard drives.

[Fbone]

The publishers dont permit (on certain books) rebates of any kind. This applies to Border's reward bucks and BN's membership discounts. The restriction is across the board and not just Fictionwise.

I havent tried yet to see if you receive cash back from ebooks when linked through your credit card website.