07-18-2010, 03:46 AM | #1 |
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Why are some e-books more expensive than their physical version?
I'm quite new to this whole e-reader/e-book thing. Anyway was just browsing some websites and looking at possible purchases, and along the way I quite often noticed that sometimes the e-books would be a couple of dollars more than the paperback version.
How the jeepers does that work? There is no printing, paper, transport and so on involved with an e-book, so how can it be more expensive. Can someone please explain what I am missing? As a result I didn't purchase the e-book or the paperback version. Last edited by *reg*; 07-18-2010 at 03:54 AM. |
07-18-2010, 03:47 AM | #2 |
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The price of an eBook is generally set by the publisher. With paper books, generally it's the bookstore who will decide to discount the price.
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07-18-2010, 03:57 AM | #3 |
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So does that mean that the bookstores/sites have to sell at the prices dictated by the publishers and are not able to discount them like they do with the RRP of paperbacks?
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07-18-2010, 03:59 AM | #4 | |
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Quote:
What you will generally find is that, as time passes, the price of a particular book will fall. "Back catalog" books will normally be a lot cheaper than new releases. |
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07-18-2010, 04:04 AM | #5 | |
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Quote:
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07-18-2010, 04:44 AM | #6 |
frumious Bandersnatch
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That's probably not the only reason.
In the EU, paper books are considered "cultural goods" and have a reduced VAT, while ebooks are "digital products" and have a normal VAT. This can be a difference between 4% and 18% VAT, or 0% and 20%, or something similar. And then there's the fact that ebooks are still considered a "niche" product for "geeks" by publishers and stores, and they'll usually price them as high as they can, independently of the price of the paper counterpart. |
07-18-2010, 05:03 AM | #7 |
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As long as publishers and stores have this mindset, ebooks will remain niche products.
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07-18-2010, 08:04 AM | #8 |
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This happened back in January
http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/31/ama...icing-demands/ |
07-18-2010, 10:08 AM | #9 |
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How long do publishers think it will take customers to realize that ebook prices are too high despite eletronic distribution providing lower costs and higher margins?
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07-18-2010, 10:44 AM | #10 |
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Think the short answer is "greed".
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07-18-2010, 10:55 AM | #11 |
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Short sightedness is another
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07-18-2010, 11:38 AM | #12 |
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Price fixing.
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07-18-2010, 12:21 PM | #14 |
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In some ways I think this is a funny argument. Before you jump on me I do agree eBooks should cost less and there is good argument for it. I think it is funny because of the lack of uproar for other products. We argue this point because we can mentally picture the quantity of ink, paper and ultimately the cost that goes into the production of books. We see them removed from the equation for eBooks and ask why don't we realize a cost difference. We never consider the cost of bandwidth and servers. So many Internet providers died during the dot com days because of this very cost. Yet I am diverging from my point. Or maybe not because I believe there are hidden costs we do not realize still exist in making an ebook. For example the payment to the author, lawyers, marketing, etc. There are so many products we buy everyday that have 50 to 100% and more markups. We don't question those costs. Of course we are not always aware of these markups. Compared to some of these other products I bet an eBook is still a bargin.
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07-18-2010, 01:21 PM | #15 |
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