Amazon faces class-action lawsuit over eBook pricing

[ZodWallop]

The ebook pricing debate here often devolves to Amazon vs. the collusion of the Big Six(now Five). Here's something interesting: Reuters

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc was slapped with a class-action lawsuit on Thursday accusing the e-commerce giant of inflating the prices of ebooks in collusion with some publishers.

The lawsuit alleges that Amazon and the five largest U.S. publishers, collectively called the 'Big Five', agreed to price restraints that cause consumers to overpay for eBooks purchased from them through a retail platform other than Amazon.com.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

The ebook pricing debate here often devolves to Amazon vs. the collusion of the Big Six(now Five). Here's something interesting: Reuters

Amazon UK and the publishers should also get sued. In the UK, the government did away with VAT for eBooks and the prices didn't change. They should have gone down. But the greedy Amazon/publishers kept the prices the same.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Amazon UK and the publishers should also get sued. In the UK, the government did away with VAT for eBooks and the prices didn't change. They should have gone down. But the greedy Amazon/publishers kept the prices the same.

We've been through this several times. You do not understand how UK VAT works, it is not like US sales tax, it is not added at checkout by the retailer.

Amazon did reduce prices for books where they set the price.

Amazon could not change the prices for Agency eBooks to take account of the VAT change, only the publishers could.

There is nothing illegal about the publishers choosing to reduce their prices or not.

From Amazon's announcement at the time:

“For titles where Amazon sets the price, we will reduce the prices of books not already on promotion,”

Exactly the same thing happened at Kobo, but of course you ignore that to attack Amazon.

[haertig]

The end result of a class action lawsuit may see us each getting 3 cents to apply towards a future ebook purchase, and the lawyers walking away billionaires.

[Barbara1955]

LawSuit should be against the big 5! Since the Last time this happened the Doubled the cost of my Fav Authors! I havent read a Fav author in Years do to prices...

[tomsem]

The big 5 publishers set the price, and it is the same price whether you purchase the book from Amazon, Google, Apple, Kobo, B&N etc.

Amazon fought agency pricing tooth and nail and lost. It’s not their market dominance that keeps this going, it is the publishers. There is no merit to this lawsuit.

That said there’s no doubt that agency pricing is good for Amazon because of their market dominance. It flattens the competitive landscape. Consumers seek out lower prices and have no reason to leave Amazon if they cannot find them somewhere else.

I think even if Amazon were forced to spin off the Kindle business it would still dominate for a very long time. Other platforms would have to invest heavily to catch up.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

We've been through this several times. You do not understand how UK VAT works, it is not like US sales tax, it is not added at checkout by the retailer.

I know how VAT works. It's included in the price. But the publishers do not get any money from VAT. So when VAT was removed, the prices were raised to stay the same. That's cheating the public.

When it comes time for renegotiation, Amazon really needs to force them back to the prices they were before so prices can appear to be VAT free.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I know how VAT works. It's included in the price. But the publishers do not get any money from VAT. So when VAT was removed, the prices were raised to stay the same. That's cheating the public.

When it comes time for renegotiation, Amazon really needs to force them back to the prices they were before so prices can appear to be VAT free.

But this suit is being brought in the USA and there is no VAT here (there’s one price everywhere in the US, and if states charge sales tax, that’s added on).

It’s a problem in the UK, but that’s for UK to sort out. Amazon is just honoring their contract. I don’t know what the consumer protection laws are like there.

Hagens Berman is the same firm that filed the (ultimately successful) suit against the Big 5 and Apple. They’re hoping for another home run in the current political climate in the USA, which seems to be in a ‘break them up’ mood.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

We've been through this several times. You do not understand how UK VAT works, it is not like US sales tax, it is not added at checkout by the retailer.

Amazon did reduce prices for books where they set the price.

Amazon could not change the prices for Agency eBooks to take account of the VAT change, only the publishers could.

There is nothing illegal about the publishers choosing to reduce their prices or not.

From Amazon's announcement at the time:


Exactly the same thing happened at Kobo, but of course you ignore that to attack Amazon.

If the VAT was reduced by the government to reduce the prices and that isn't happening, they should just put the VAT back to what it was. I doubt they reduced the VAT solely to put more money into the publishers' pockets. Well, maybe I'm wrong about that last part.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by tomsem

The big 5 publishers set the price, and it is the same price whether you purchase the book from Amazon, Google, Apple, Kobo, B&N etc.

This may be true in the US, but has not been my experience here. The price difference between Amazon and others can be VERY significant, enough to make Kobo's Price Match Guarantee (which would be pointless if all were selling at same price) quite worthwhile on occasion.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by tomsem

It’s not (Amazon's) market dominance that keeps this going, it is the publishers. There is no merit to this lawsuit.

That said there’s no doubt that agency pricing is good for Amazon because of their market dominance. It flattens the competitive landscape.

I agree.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

This may be true in the US, but has not been my experience here. The price difference between Amazon and others can be VERY significant, enough to make Kobo's Price Match Guarantee (which would be pointless if all were selling at same price) quite worthwhile on occasion.

Yes, but the lawsuit is filed in the US. The rules are different elsewhere.

[darryl]

This suit has significant problems. I don't always agree with Nate but he has pointed out one significant problem on his Digital Reader blog which which I concur 100%. That is, it is doubtful that Amazon is actually part of any such conspiracy. There are also some interesting comments.

Link to The Digital Reader Post

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

The ebook pricing debate here often devolves to Amazon vs. the collusion of the Big Six(now Five). Here's something interesting: Reuters

If Amazon is colluding with the Big 5, how do you sue Amazon and not the Big 5? Can't quite figure that out.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by darryl

This suit has significant problems. I don't always agree with Nate but he has pointed out one significant problem on his Digital Reader blog which which I concur 100%. That is, it is doubtful that Amazon is actually part of any such conspiracy. There are also some interesting comments.

Link to The Digital Reader Post

It doesn't make sense. The last lawsuit (against Apple and the Big 6) determined that Apple and the Big 6 colluded, but it also stipulated that the publishers were allowed to renegotiate basically the same contract — each on their own, which is what they did. So, even though Apple and the Big 6 (now Big 5) got dinged for collusion, they also ended up with what they wanted all along, agency pricing. I'm not a fan of Amazon, but I'm trying to figure out how they're the culprit in this.