Fictionwise more expensive?

[ClintBrauer]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

However, FW had a 100% micropay rebate on BuyWise memberships a few months ago - which is what Dr. Drib was referring to.

That made FW a much better deal. I know, I took advantage of it.

How do you feel about this "discount clubs" and such? Are there any in the marketplace (not necessarily in the ebooks marketplace) that you feel are better programs than others?

Just curious.

Clint Brauer
CyberRead.com

[HarryT]

FW's "club" works extremely well. If you're a regular book buyer, it will quickly pay for itself.

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by ClintBrauer

How do you feel about this "discount clubs" and such? Are there any in the marketplace (not necessarily in the ebooks marketplace) that you feel are better programs than others?

Just curious.

Clint Brauer
CyberRead.com

I like discount clubs in general, though I prefer not to spend more than $20 a year on one if I can avoid it. The Buywise Club at Fictionwise works pretty well, I like the 15% discount. I also prefer their micropay rebates to BoB's rewards because there's no reason to force customers to jump through hoops like that unless it's in the hope they will forget to send for them.

[taosaur]

Originally Posted by ClintBrauer

How do you feel about this "discount clubs" and such? Are there any in the marketplace (not necessarily in the ebooks marketplace) that you feel are better programs than others?

Just curious.

Clint Brauer
CyberRead.com

As someone just starting out in ebooks (bought my first this week) who typically doesn't buy piles of books, I like diesel-ebooks' 'store credit' model. I was looking for Clarke & Baxter's Sunstorm, and even before the store credit, diesel had the best price. Because I have this credit with them, I'll be more inclined to look there next time I'm shopping around. If, somewhere down the road, I find I'm buying two or three ebooks per month, maybe FW's club will look better, but diesel has their foot in the door with me.

btw, your price for Sunstorm is $17.95...list price on every other site is $7.99 before discounts, and I got it for $6.14 and got $0.43 store credit.

[Renaldo]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I like discount clubs in general, though I prefer not to spend more than $20 a year on one if I can avoid it.

Same here. $20-$25 is the magic number for me. Any more, and I may or may not break even. I've been a member of B&N's paid membership for years and between me and my wife's spending there have always been ahead of the game. When I bought a reader I bought Fictionwise's club when it was offered to me with a 50% micropay rebate because I knew I'd be ahead of the game.

Not that a club entices me to shop at a store, it's the opposite. If a store has a lot I want, I'll buy the club. But I won't shop at a store just because it has a club.

[ClintBrauer]

This is good feedback! Thank-you!

Generally speaking I expect it will become easier to switch between stores over time. I know our goal at CRead is to make it MUCH easier for both newbies and experienced ebook folks to purchase and read ebooks.

Even though ebook have been around a long time, the business and tech is still kind of in it's infancy.

It's good to see that most of you like the Fictionwise club. We are still up in the air as to how to handle all these types of incentive programs.

I'm a pretty direct person....so I want to keep folks from jumping through hoops if possible. I also would rather give discounts to loyal customers (and take care of them as they deserve) instead of trying to "buy" new customers.

I've never understood why ATT has nearly a billion dollar marketing budget and most of their customers would switch in a moment if the right deal came along.

[snape]

I've never understood why ATT has nearly a billion dollar marketing budget and most of their customers would switch in a moment if the right deal came along.

Because customers realize (often too late) that all the cool devices in the world won't do them any good if they can't get a signal. AT&T still has too many areas within the US where the coverage is spotty at best. (I know, there are places with fantastic AT&T coverage. But there are still a lot of places without adequate coverage when compared to other carriers.) AT&T should take some of their marketing dollars and invest them in a more comprehensive ground system. Their reliance on co-location agreements and the ability to pirate equipment from working towers to set up new ones continues to bite them in the ass, yet they continue to do it.

And no, I don't work for - and have never worked for - any cellular carrier.

What's the point of a great smartphone if you don't have enough signal to use it? There's an analogy to ebooks in there somewhere, I'm sure.

[JoeD]

Shouldn't bookclub prices be _lower_ than regular member price?

https://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook25629.htm

                          Regular      Club
You Pay:              $9.99         $8.49
Micropay Rebate:    5.00           3.40
Cost After Rebate: $4.99         $5.09
You Save:             50.05%       49.05%

I know it's only 10 cents, but even so there's something not quite right there

[rixte]

Originally Posted by JoeD

Shouldn't bookclub prices be _lower_ than regular member price?

https://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook25629.htm

                          Regular      Club
You Pay:              $9.99         $8.49
Micropay Rebate:    5.00           3.40
Cost After Rebate: $4.99         $5.09
You Save:             50.05%       49.05%

I know it's only 10 cents, but even so there's something not quite right there

Hah, ouch.

It looks like that's a funky side effect of their anniversary sale, where the discount percentage is based on the cost of the book. I can't remember exactly what they are, but I think it's 50% off if the book is over 9 dollars.

[CleverClothe]

Originally Posted by rixte

Hah, ouch.

It looks like that's a funky side effect of their anniversary sale, where the discount percentage is based on the cost of the book. I can't remember exactly what they are, but I think it's 50% off if the book is over 9 dollars.

Right. This is the first time they have had a sale based on a books price (at least in the last year). Clearly there is a bug in their system.

[JSWolf]

I've just sent a message to Fictionwise about the price issue. I don't expect to hear back till maybe Tuesday due to the holiday on Monday.

[JSWolf]

I did just get a reply from Fictionwise today.

I apologize for the error. I have sent a note to our publishing department to have this issue corrected.


Thanks!


Best Regards,


Lynn
Fictionwise Support Team

I didn't expect to get a reply until today anyway. I just hope that they will get the problem of club members paying more sorted today.

[ClintBrauer]

I think that's why I dislike about these programs:

1.) They are complex to maintain
2.) They make customers jump through hoops
3.) They can be confusing

I was checking out Rachel's site again this morning. She's doing a good job of trying to "build in" pricing with the clubs and such included. I'm glad she exists!

But good lord...nightmare for her overall as it is impossible to communicate all the costs associated with the clubs. (for example, $25 to "join a club")

[momghoti]

Personally, I like FW's buywise club--I read a lot and save a lot of money that way--but I like even better the micropay rebates, that you don't have to be a member of buywise to use. I also like the option to buy micropay credits when buying a book, so if you find a low-priced book or short story you don't have to use a credit card to buy them. On the other hand, they don't give rebates if you use micropay so if you have bought credits(as opposed to earning them) you sometimes end up paying more for the book if it has rebates.

On another note, being able to buy short stories at all is a big plus for Fictionwise. Once the anthology is out of print you frequently never see the short again.

[koland]

Originally Posted by momghoti

...On the other hand, they don't give rebates if you use micropay so if you have bought credits(as opposed to earning them) you sometimes end up paying more for the book if it has rebates....

Actually, the lower percentage (generally 30% or less) micropay rebates work just fine, even if you pay by micropay. It's only the large micropay values that you have to pay by CC or Paypal.

At one time, BooksOnBoard treated all "money" the same and you could use the same store credit over and over again (only getting free books or large rebate books). They then quit doing so (but continued to claim all payment types were the same). Now, they plainly state on checkout that you get zero rebates on orders paid for by store credit (and if you use part credit and part CC/PayPal, then the rebate you would have received is reduced by the amount of credit you use on the order.

Sometimes they give you more than 100% credit though. The $1 Orbit book is 95 cents right now (in two formats), with %1.62 rebate, so you get paid 67 cents to buy the book. But only if you pay that 95 cents by credit card/paypal. I've got the book in my cart, but I was waiting to see if FW has it, instead (often it ends up free there for a day or so).