eBook price

[mcrow]

Originally Posted by Jane Oldaker

And I thought all these guys were supposed to price match, coupons notwithstanding. But I think my next ereader is going to be a tablet - money for the device is getting to be darn near the same. I suppose an ereader that is just an ereader is still cheaper though.

Well, you can get an e-ink reader for $60-$70, VS about $139 or so for a decent tablet reader. So, going from basic e-ink to basic tablet is about double the money. Though, if you generally like the higher end e-ink readers you can get a tablet for about the same price, maybe less.

I used to be a e-ink fan (still am to a degree) but the utility of a tablet won out.

[Jane Oldaker]

That's what I'm thinking, supports multiple vendor reading apps and does cool tricks. Could be useful too. Tablets have come down since I bought the Kobo too.

[mcrow]

Originally Posted by Jane Oldaker

That's what I'm thinking, supports multiple vendor reading apps and does cool tricks. Could be useful too. Tablets have come down since I bought the Kobo too.

Yeah, I use mine to watch movies, read, surf the web, read work documents, play games, listen to music and audiobooks and I have a couple of magazine subs that I read on there as well.

I don't think there is a day I don't spend an hour or two using the thing.

[DrNefario]

I get plenty of use out of my tablets. It rarely includes reading. I still prefer eInk for that, although the battery life of this iPad is pretty remarkable, my kindle still has it well beaten.

[mcrow]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

I get plenty of use out of my tablets. It rarely includes reading. I still prefer eInk for that, although the battery life of this iPad is pretty remarkable, my kindle still has it well beaten.

Yeah, for battery life they are in different categories. My kindle 4 will give me a good 2 weeks and my HDX I have to charge about once a day if I use it though in sleep mode it will last quite a while. I would say I get 10-12 hrs of use on a full charge.

[Jane Oldaker]

My husband has an iPad mini - bought it when the ereader died. It rocks as an ereader, the slightly larger display works well for him and the apple display in general is just beautiful. It got him going doing more techy stuff (not his natural thing). Battery life is good, but yeah the ereader went longer.

[Ken.Hagdal]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Amazon UK only exists as a cupboard in Luxemburg, so it only needs to pay 5% VAT on ebooks, instead of the 20% B&N pays.

I think it's actually 3%. It doesn't change anything for the buyer though because Amazon charges publishers 20% VAT anyway and pockets the difference.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Amazon UK only exists as a cupboard in Luxemburg, so it only needs to pay 5% VAT on ebooks, instead of the 20% B&N pays.

Luxembourg rate is in fact 3%

Nothing to stop anyone else setting up a similar company and saving their customers tax until 2015 (when the home rate of the customer's residence will be due in the EU).

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Ken.Hagdal

I think it's actually 3%. It doesn't change anything for the buyer though because Amazon charges publishers 20% VAT anyway and pockets the difference.

Umm… No. If 20% VAT does get charged, Amazon UK doesn't charge publishers 20%, publishers charge Amazon UK 20%.

If UK publishers sell ebooks to Amaozn UK, it would work like this:

UK publishers would charge 20% VAT on the wholesale price of ebooks sold to Amazon UK. The publishers then pay that 20% to the UK government. Amazon UK then reclaims that 20% from the UK government.

Amazon UK then transfers the books to Amazon SARL (or whatever the Luxembourg arm is), which as an inter-EU 'sale' between EU VAT registered entities doesn't immediately attract VAT, but must be reported on VAT returns and tax paid at the appropriate rates. Which is also instantly claimed back.

Amazon in Luxembourg then charges customers throughout the EU 3% VAT, which it pays to the Luxembourg government, which is delighted.

[Ken.Hagdal]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Umm… No. If 20% VAT does get charged, Amazon UK doesn't charge publishers 20%, publishers charge Amazon UK 20%.

If UK publishers sell ebooks to Amaozn UK, it would work like this:

UK publishers would charge 20% VAT on the wholesale price of ebooks sold to Amazon UK. The publishers then pay that 20% to the UK government. Amazon UK then reclaims that 20% from the UK government.

Amazon UK then transfers the books to Amazon SARL (or whatever the Luxembourg arm is), which as an inter-EU 'sale' between EU VAT registered entities doesn't immediately attract VAT, but must be reported on VAT returns and tax paid at the appropriate rates. Which is also instantly claimed back.

Amazon in Luxembourg then charges customers throughout the EU 3% VAT, which it pays to the Luxembourg government, which is delighted.

I'm going to stand by my post. The verb "charge" was a bit of a short cut, but since the VAT is collected by the retailer, the endgame is that Amazon arbitrarily pockets 20% while giving back only 3% to Luxembourg. All publishers can do is increase the price list if they want to preserve their margin, but nothing forces them to. And at a given price, they still lose 17% to Amazon.

ref: http://www.theguardian.com/technolog...-pay-vat-ebook

[moonshot]

I have compared a few more new release prices. For example the new Stuart Mc Bride eBook due out this month is £10.99 on Kobo and £7.49 on both Amazon and Google Books.

I have tried a few Kobo Voucher codes but none seem to work apart from the ones already on the Kobo site and they are only for a small selection of their books.

I wonder how Kobo justify their prices?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by moonshot

II wonder how Kobo justify their prices?

Some people pay them…. that's all the justification they need.

I just wait around for good coupons/offers.

[moonshot]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Some people pay them…. that's all the justification they need.

I just wait around for good coupons/offers.

I guess your right. But one of the reasons I bought an ereader was to be able to read some books when they are first published. I don't like hardbacks, to bulky, so I have always waited months for the paperback.

The ereader seemed a good compromise. But at £10.99 (for example), for the Kobo download, when I could pick up the hardback on the same day from Asda (Walmart) for £9.99 or less makes the Kobo a less attractive purchase.

The kobo touch was on offer for £29.99, I guess they are being discontinued, so I got one to see how I got on with an ereader. If I liked it I would up grade to the Kobo Aura.

I do like the ereader, but not so much the Kobo 'new release' book prices, so maybe I should upgrade to the Kindle paperwhite.

I was just wondering what Kobo users thought about paying the higher price, maybe they just don't buy the new releases, or for some reason I'm not sure of, they don't like Amazon.

[soulfuldog]

Originally Posted by moonshot

I have compared a few more new release prices. For example the new Stuart Mc Bride eBook due out this month is £10.99 on Kobo and £7.49 on both Amazon and Google Books.

I have tried a few Kobo Voucher codes but none seem to work apart from the ones already on the Kobo site and they are only for a small selection of their books.

I wonder how Kobo justify their prices?

It's not just Kobo though, Amazon is just so competitive here in the UK for books, and on the occasions when Kobo, Google, Sony, Nook have a sale price on a book, Amazon usually match them, so its very rare that a book is ever cheaper elsewhere. The only exception I found was booksonboard.com, and they went out of business!

Someone posted a 30% off code for sainsburysebooks in the deals forum, might be worth trying for you? I checked out a couple of the books on my wishlist to see if it was worth buying them:

Chilled to the Bone by Quentin Bates (£5.79, 30% off = £4.05, yay it's cheaper than Amazon's £4.79).
Never Go Back by Lee Child (£8.99 30% off = £6.30, but it's £5.84 at Amazon).
Inside of a Dog by Alexandra Horowitz (£6.61, 30% off = £4.63, but it's £4.49 at Amazon).

So even with a working code, not always cheaper.

Edited to add: It's not the perfect solution, and not everyone is willing to remove DRM to allow them to convert their books, but it is worth considering the option of learning how to use Calibre and discovering Apprentice Alf's tools and that will allow you to buy from whichever bookstore you find the best prices in.

Also worth using luzme.com to check for the best prices of a book.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ken.Hagdal

I'm going to stand by my post. The verb "charge" was a bit of a short cut, but since the VAT is collected by the retailer, the endgame is that Amazon arbitrarily pockets 20% while giving back only 3% to Luxembourg. All publishers can do is increase the price list if they want to preserve their margin, but nothing forces them to. And at a given price, they still lose 17% to Amazon.

How do you account for the fact that the price of almost all ebooks on Amazon fell when Luxembourg introduced their 3% VAT rate for ebooks?