New Contest on EZread.com

[Robertb]

Dear All:

The latest contest is pretty simple and easy to win. It was designed by our Renegade Intern who runs www.EZread.com.

The purpose of the contest is to specifically reward people who buy eBooks at our eBook Store. (Yes, we are trying to drum up business and think this is a good way. Unfortunately, this leaves out my good International Friends who cannot buy yet because we are STILL WAITING for PayPal to be put up on the site. We WILL have a special contest (similar) for International eBook purchasers as soon as PayPal is up!!

For those that are not in the International Crowd, YOU CAN win a FREE new 6 inch EZ Reader Basic simply and easily! Your odds are great as we do not yet sell all that many books.

ALL you have to do is go to www.EZread.com and purchase ONE "pay" title. We have titles as low as $1.99 on there and they qualify! For each eBook you buy you get one chance to win! Buy ten eBooks and you have ten chances. Buy 20 and you have twenty chances.

The contest starts today (June 17, 2010) and ends on June 28, 2010!! That is basically twelve days.

Here is the link: http://www.ezread.com/join.asp

Again, this is meant as a reward for those who buy books at EZread... and it is meant to get others to consider the site. Now... our prices are really better than any other site (on average) so this is not a big sacrifice unless you enjoy paying more for your eBooks in which case you are filthy rich anyway and should take all the rest of us on this forum out for pizza and beer!!

The winner will be chosen on June 28 using a random number generator and of course we pay to ship your prize to you!

[AnemicOak]

Robert, do you have any idea when you guys will have titles from Penguin? You posted a while back that they'd be available that week (can't remember exactly when, but it was a while ago). I was just browsing to see if there was something I could buy, but there are no Penguin titles that I can see (at least not the ones on my buy list). How about the other Agency 5 publishers?

[Davimee]

Yes, I've been looking for Star Trek, but haven't found anything yet.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Are all the books DRM free?

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Robert, do you have any idea when you guys will have titles from Penguin? You posted a while back that they'd be available that week (can't remember exactly when, but it was a while ago). I was just browsing to see if there was something I could buy, but there are no Penguin titles that I can see (at least not the ones on my buy list). How about the other Agency 5 publishers?

Dear AnemicOak:

I have been on them for two weeks on getting this done. The Penquin and Harper-Collins books will be up, they tell me, by this Friday night. Don't hold your breath yet. The Webmaster has too many excuses and I have already lost my patience. I am essentially very honest and very eager to do things. Honestly, I pray this time it will happen. We are losing SO much business by not sticking to a time table.

Just this second they told me tonight or tomorrow night.

The remaining three of the Agency Model publishers are still wrangling with stupid contract wording. We expect them very soon!

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by Davimee

Yes, I've been looking for Star Trek, but haven't found anything yet.

Dear Davimee:

I am sure that is part of the Agency Model mess. I will try hard for you!

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald

Are all the books DRM free?

Dear Lady Fitz:

All of the books from the Independent Authors are NON-DRM. The others are a mix of DRM and non-DRM. I am trying to find a way to mark them on the site so all will know. WE do not like DRM either; but we have to offer the latest titles!

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear Davimee:

I am sure that is part of the Agency Model mess. I will try hard for you!

It is, they're from Simon & Schuster.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It is, they're from Simon & Schuster.

Dear AnemicOak:

Thank you for helping on here.

Yes, I do need to call today to find out how the Simon & Schuster is coming on the contract wording.

[Robertb]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Robert, do you have any idea when you guys will have titles from Penguin? You posted a while back that they'd be available that week (can't remember exactly when, but it was a while ago). I was just browsing to see if there was something I could buy, but there are no Penguin titles that I can see (at least not the ones on my buy list). How about the other Agency 5 publishers?

Dear Anemic Oak:

Here is the ONLY problem. A lot (20%) of the Harper-Collins and Penquin books came through without covers. WHY I have no idea; but it is not very professional.
Anyway, this is any day now!! I check this nightly!!

This contest is still on folks!! Right now your odds of winning are splendid. You get one lottery chance for each eBook you buy at EZread.com and our lowest priced eBooks are $1.99

[Robertb]

Dear All:

One of the parts of the Agency Model you may not be familiar with is the tax. Most of us knew that the reseller had to collect and pay the state taxes. That is not too hard. It is enough to cause nausea... but do-able.

Today we find we also have to collect city taxes, district taxes, county taxes, and even specific zip code taxes. Then, you have to submit a report to the publisher for every title that you sell each month with all this info broken out.

Now, we have to either call every municipality in 17 states to get the information on such rates, or purchase it. The Publishers demand the collections; but will not provide what the rates are. This would be like the State of California wanting vehicle registration fees and then making you guess how much the fee is. Hey, if you demand something from a store... you need to provide the info on HOW to do it.

SO... slightly more delay while trying to get up the Harper-Collins and Penquin eBooks on www.EZread.com. It is coming; but we have to write a whole new program to do all this stuff and collect the taxes and file the report!

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear All:

One of the parts of the Agency Model you may not be familiar with is the tax. Most of us knew that the reseller had to collect and pay the state taxes. That is not too hard. It is enough to cause nausea... but do-able.

Today we find we also have to collect city taxes, district taxes, county taxes, and even specific zip code taxes. Then, you have to submit a report to the publisher for every title that you sell each month with all this info broken out.

Now, we have to either call every municipality in 17 states to get the information on such rates, or purchase it. The Publishers demand the collections; but will not provide what the rates are. This would be like the State of California wanting vehicle registration fees and then making you guess how much the fee is. Hey, if you demand something from a store... you need to provide the info on HOW to do it.

SO... slightly more delay while trying to get up the Harper-Collins and Penquin eBooks on www.EZread.com. It is coming; but we have to write a whole new program to do all this stuff and collect the taxes and file the report!

Yep, most people don't know there are over 10,000 separate sales tax districts in the US. Luckily you won't have to get info from all of them.

[cfrizz]

Thank you for the update Robert. Telling us this kind of info, makes it easier for us to be patient, & lets us know just how DIFFICULT this is for bookstores!

[Davimee]

Originally Posted by Robertb

Dear All:

One of the parts of the Agency Model you may not be familiar with is the tax. Most of us knew that the reseller had to collect and pay the state taxes. That is not too hard. It is enough to cause nausea... but do-able.

Today we find we also have to collect city taxes, district taxes, county taxes, and even specific zip code taxes. Then, you have to submit a report to the publisher for every title that you sell each month with all this info broken out.

Now, we have to either call every municipality in 17 states to get the information on such rates, or purchase it. The Publishers demand the collections; but will not provide what the rates are. This would be like the State of California wanting vehicle registration fees and then making you guess how much the fee is. Hey, if you demand something from a store... you need to provide the info on HOW to do it.

SO... slightly more delay while trying to get up the Harper-Collins and Penquin eBooks on www.EZread.com. It is coming; but we have to write a whole new program to do all this stuff and collect the taxes and file the report!

Wow... they sure make things difficult! It's like they don't really want to sell any books.

[AnemicOak]

The thing is, the publishers, or their distributors, should be able to provide you with the info on what they need you to charge (you're collecting it on their behalf). If their presence isn't in a county or city that charges an additional tax then it shouldn't come into play they're only charged when the business (publisher) has a presence specifically in that city/county. Just like Astak would charge CA tax to anyone in CA, but if San Jose has an extra tax would charge that to folks in San Jose, but not charge a city/county specific tax to someone in San Francisco (assuming they had a city tax) unless Astak actually had a physical presence in that city as well.


Here's a list that might help. It's where Amazon charges tax for various publishers...

* Hachette Digital, Inc.: AL, AZ, CO, CT, DC, HI, ID, IN, KY, LA, ME, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NM, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, WA, WI and WY*
* Harper Collins Publishers, LLC: All states other than AK, AL, AZ, DE, HI, MT, NH, NV, OK, OR, SD, VT and WY*
* Penguin Group (USA) Inc: All States*
* Simon & Schuster Digital Sales, Inc.: All states other than AK, DE, MT, NH, and OR*
* Macmillan: AZ, CO, CT, DC, HI, IN, KY, ME, MS, NC, NE, NJ, NM, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, WA, WI and WY*
* Zondervan Corporation LLC: CA, CO, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, LA, MA, MD, MI, MO, NC, NV, OH, PA, SC, TX and WA*

* Kindle books sold by various publishers are subject to sales tax based on the publisher's state tax reporting obligations and the taxability of digital books in those states. As a result, sales tax for Kindle books sold by the publisher may differ from the sales tax to which you've been accustomed for Kindle books.