Why do some authors only offer their ebooks on Amazon?

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

And yet proprietors of the likes of Joe Blow's Pizza and Aunt Ruth's Craft Barn seem to be mostly exempt from such aggressive moral oversight.

Why do you think that?

1) Upset locals and the local shop go out of business.
2) In UK and EU the giant companies use offshoring and lobbying or claim innovation to avoid tax or local regulations. The local shops are MORE subject to local legal controls.
3) Local shops can be victimised by civil cases brought by international companies that can have special arrangements with a shopping mall owner.
4) Giant multinational companies have power to do deals with suppliers, force down supplier prices, extend payment terms beyond what the small local store has to pay, have their own branded product made by slave labour abroad. The local shop has hardly much more economic or trading power than a private person.
5) A Giant multinational can "phoenix" a national subsidiary (their own or another) and "buy" the stock cheap, but give only a few percent to outstanding creditors. They then make EXTRA profit on the stock and the supplier may meanwhile go bust.
6) Giant multinationals bring civil cases alleging counterfeit to prevent small local operators importing the real product direct. They win. But they import from wherever they want. Too big to be accused of "grey" imports via civil cases.
7) If a small shop is robbed they rely purely on the local police. The big multinational can use facial recognition and block suspects, never prosecuted, from all their stores. Apple proven to have done this. One person did take Apple to court and had never even been in the city where Apple alleged they were robbed.

It's not just moral issues. Many big multinationals actually break local advert rules and just get a "slapped wrist", or in reality break actual laws.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I can’t speak for everyone but I suspect the ins and outs of how a business local only to you would have no affect on how others continue to not do business with them.

I’m sure on a local level there are some forums, message boards, or merely word of mouth on local business. But given in this thread we have people from I believe every hemisphere of the planet it’s unlikely that we would all have an ongoing buying relationship with any local business we all have in common.

Put simply, Amazon has more customer reach thus they have more voices calling them out.

In short... that's kind of my whole point. Amazon is targeted by many who want to judge because it's so much easier (and popular) to judge giants (not to mention there's ready-made echo-chambers people can go to to get their fix).

But I tend to respect those who put as much thought (and vocalization) into contemplating the business practices (or morality) of every single entity they do business with, rather than those who only tend to swat at the low-hanging, corporate fruit.

If you (rhetorical you) don't know you're buying pizza from a wife-beater, then why should I take your (again, rhetorical your) opinion of the dangers of doing business with Walmagooglezon seriously?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I’m not jumping on the cheating train, but I think a more telling statistic would be author retention rather than author acquisition. And more so author retention after those authors have tested to see the difference between exclusivity to Amazon and opting out.

Author retention could be no more then rejections from the publishers.

[MGlitch]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

In short... that's kind of my whole point. Amazon is targeted by many who want to judge because it's so much easier (and popular) to judge giants (not to mention there's ready-made echo-chambers people can go to to get their fix).

But I tend to respect those who put as much thought (and vocalization) into contemplating the business practices (or morality) of every single entity they do business with, rather than those who only tend to swat at the low-hanging, corporate fruit.

If you (rhetorical you) don't know you're buying pizza from a wife-beater, then why should I take your (again, rhetorical your) opinion of the dangers of doing business with Walmagooglezon seriously?

Let’s bring this back to business practices rather than law violations outside of the business, simply because thus far in this thread no one has accused Amazon of doing anything illegal outside of how it affects either their business directly or indirectly. I’m not dismissing your point, just trying to keep the conversation a bit more focused.

If I find a local retailer is say paying off the delivery services to delay delivery to local competitors I would shop at their competitors. But it’s rather hard to know this because there are less hands in the pot, and while the old saying “two can keep a secret if one of them is dead” is certainly true, 20,000 keep a secret a lot shorter and a lot worse than 5. Which would mean an individual would need to put in more effort to unearth the acts of a local store vs Amazon.

I won’t disagree that local business should be held to the same standards as we hold Amazon to, but I suspect where we differ is I presume if someone is calling Amazon out here they’re calling out their local stores elsewhere. While (again I’m guessing) you take the opposite stance unless there’s some evidence that they do call out local stores.

Since we’re using a forum and I’m rather unlikely to knowingly meet anyone here, the only evidence likely to be offered is that persons word that they do such a thing. Now I’m generally a bit skeptical but at some point I have to accept things at face value.

Again this is all conjecture I may be be wrong, if I am, I’m sorry. Though I don’t think I’ve said anything wounding.

[Deskisamess]

If we (hubby & I) didn't do business with every retailer with whom we disagreed about some political/moral/social issues, I fear we'd have no one to do business with.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by MGlitch

I won’t disagree that local business should be held to the same standards as we hold Amazon to, but I suspect where we differ is I presume if someone is calling Amazon out here they’re calling out their local stores elsewhere. While (again I’m guessing) you take the opposite stance unless there’s some evidence that they do call out local stores.

I'm basing my stance on the fact that none of the many people I know in real life who tend to boycott Amazon for "bad business practices" give the slightest crap about vetting the practices of any of the local businesses they frequent. They don't know and they don't care. They only tend to get all "enlightened" about business practices with businesses like Amagoogle. Maybe everyone here is different, but I'd be willing to bet it's merely some.

And no... you've said nothing wounding.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

If we (hubby & I) didn't do business with every retailer with whom we disagreed about some political/moral/social issues, I fear we'd have no one to do business with.

Yep. That's why I tend to disassociate. I'm not giving tacit approval to every bad business practice my favorite pizza shop might engage in (whether tax evasion, or unsafe work environment) by buying a large deluxe every Friday. I'm buying a pizza. Likewise, the junk I buy from Amazon. I'm shopping, not virtuous business seeking.

[ownedbycats]

The main reason I don't use Amazon as much as other sites? Most of my book money comes from online surveys. Those deposit into PayPal, and Amazon doesn't take PayPal.

So if a book is also available on a site that does take my preferred method of payment...

With the exclusives, can't do that. So I'm more likely to look at reviews to decide whether it's something I want to read.

[Deskisamess]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

The main reason I don't use Amazon as much as other sites? Most of my book money comes from online surveys. Those deposit into PayPal, and Amazon doesn't take PayPal.

So if a book is also available on a site that does take my preferred method of payment...

With the exclusives, can't do that. So I'm more likely to look at reviews to decide whether it's something I want to read.

Or use the PayPal money to buy what you can't get at Amazon, and use your non PayPal money for books. PayPal will transfer to your bank account.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

The main reason I don't use Amazon as much as other sites? Most of my book money comes from online surveys. Those deposit into PayPal, and Amazon doesn't take PayPal.

So if a book is also available on a site that does take my preferred method of payment...

With the exclusives, can't do that. So I'm more likely to look at reviews to decide whether it's something I want to read.

eBooks.com does Paypal and ePub. So it's a win-win. Plus, you can "travel" and use PayPal to pay.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

And yet proprietors of the likes of Joe Blow's Pizza and Aunt Ruth's Craft Barn seem to be mostly exempt from such aggressive moral oversight.

Joe Blow's Pizza and Aunt Ruth's Craft Barn aren't being subsidized by local taxpayers like Amazon and Walmart (and other huge corporations). Amazon recently built a new warehouse near where I live. It cost the local community a lot of money for the infrastructure additions necessary. Property taxes jumped. Meanwhile Amazon gets 10 years of tax subsidies and other benefits. And, if they're like other corporations, they'll move out when that 10 years is up. So, unlike Joe Blow's Pizza and Aunt Ruth's Craft Barn, I have a financial stake in what Amazon does — therefore the right to complain about their shady practices. And if Joe Blow sells cardboard pizzas or Aunt Ruth sells crappy yarn, they go out of business.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

eBooks.com does Paypal and ePub. So it's a win-win. Plus, you can "travel" and use PayPal to pay.

eBooks.com is where I usually go first now.

[Sirtel]

I go where it's cheapest. While the prices are a lot more uniform now than 5-7 years ago, there can still be some variation. If the difference is negligible, it will be a toss-up. Sometimes it's Kobo, sometimes Google, sometimes Amazon. I don't much care where I buy, as long as I can liberate my purchases.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Or use the PayPal money to buy what you can't get at Amazon, and use your non PayPal money for books. PayPal will transfer to your bank account.

Yah, that's what I usually do. But transferring the money through is a bit more of a hassle and takes a few days.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

eBooks.com does Paypal and ePub. So it's a win-win. Plus, you can "travel" and use PayPal to pay.

That's good to know. I've seen the site, but wasn't 100% sure if it was actually legit.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I go where it's cheapest. While the prices are a lot more uniform now than 5-7 years ago, there can still be some variation. If the difference is negligible, it will be a toss-up. Sometimes it's Kobo, sometimes Google, sometimes Amazon. I don't much care where I buy, as long as I can liberate my purchases.

If something is on sale at Amazon, it's usually on sale at Kobo and sometimes on sale at eBooks.com. But sometimes eBooks.com just has a cheaper standard price. Amazon has a many reprints of old books that aren't easy to find — although they're starting to show on eBooks.com now. I no longer buy anything from Google. That's basically because I despise the corporation.