Kobo prices have gone up for more books!

[larrymohr]

Just at kobobooks.com to use my discount codes from the contest and all the books that I wanted to buy that show a discounted price now show a higher price at checkout and do not allow a discount code. I checked some other books and quite a few show a discounted price but have a higher non-discounted price that you can not use codes with.

Series I checked are Rex Stout's "Nero Wolfe" series, the first book of the Anne McCaffrey crystal singer series "Crystal Singer" and some of the Rick Riordan books. All the books discount priced at $6.59 are now NOT discounted at $8.99

This is very bad. I have 3 codes that I can't use and the books I was collecting have gone up 36%.

[ATDrake]

From the looks of it, Random House have now gone Agency in Canada (at least for Kobo purposes) and have additionally inflated their list prices as well.

There are some RH books from a particular author which I distinctly recall seeing earlier this week with a base price of $6.99, discounted to $5.79 "regularly" before coupons, which I'd been toying with buying with one of my 35% off contest coupons, which are now at $8.99 each and non-discountable.

It's probably just as well that almost every Random House book I had on my wishlist to buy was something I already owned in paper or can find in the library.

But it's really a shame for the people who don't have good library access or who were building up replacement collections of their paper stuff.

Maybe RH will get a higher dollar-quantity return on their newer releases and "bestsellers", but I think sales of their much older backlist, which they've generally been pretty good at making available, might suffer at set prices above most mass-market paperbacks and with the perceived ephemerality of the e-book format in comparison to paper.

[RareBird]

I noticed this too. The Song of Fire and Ice four book set was on my to buy list at 14 bucks but not anymore when tax in will be $40. I can get the set in paperback for $30 at costco.

[camiller]

I noticed the previously steeply discounted Hunger Games trilogy almost doubled in price. Still discounted though, but not as much as two days ago. I had planned to buy it Friday (payday) but will probably wait, my tbr list is quite deep as it is.

Edit: weird when I look at the price on the search results screen the price is List: $53.97, Ours: $33.49 38% discount. When I click on the book to see the details it is: List: $53.97, Ours: $26.98 50% discount.

Edit2: Oh, and RareBird, I see the Game of Thrones four book set at $29.99. If I had ever seen it at $14 I would have bought it, it has always be $29.99 for me.

[RareBird]

Yeah I'm kicking myself now trust me. I got the Young Hornblower omnibus and a Dresden files novel from a gift card my wife gave me. I was going to use one of my 30% codes last night and made the discovery and would have had enough on the card to get it. Not even close now. Oh well.

[paulsalter]

noticed this on many books recently

one I bought last year for 77p is now £3.64

new releases are usually £2+ cheaper on Amazon

[Suzanna]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

From the looks of it, Random House have now gone Agency in Canada (at least for Kobo purposes) and have additionally inflated their list prices as well.

Yep, this is what happened. According to Publishers Lunch (you need a subscription to see the whole article, but you can see enough here to confirm this):

Exactly a year after Random House started selling ebooks on the agency model in the US, Random House Canada has done likewise, effective March 1.

That means publisher-set prices and no discount codes allowed on RH books in Canada.

Sigh.

[robko]

My reply to all this (especially the last post) would be deleted by moderators and likely get me banned for using unsportsmanlike language, so I'll just say: DARN!!!

[danskmacabre]

They're just cutting their own throats when they do things like this.

[scrapking]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

From the looks of it, Random House have now gone Agency in Canada (at least for Kobo purposes) and have additionally inflated their list prices as well.

Wow... I dodged a bullet then, I've been busily buying up Del Rey SF (a Random House imprint) with all the discount codes Kobo's been offering lately. I think I've now got everything on my list from them. It's a sickness, despite the fact that I'm a slow reader and can only complete a few books in a month, I've bought at least 100 books from Kobo in the last two months.

That absolutely sucks, but if the publisher wants to realise fewer sales at lower margins (the typical result of switching to agency) then there's no saving them from themselves.

[ottdmk]

Makes me wish I had bought Terry Brooks' two latest Shannara novels before now... oh well.

[FJames]

"The U.S. Justice Department has warned Apple and five of the biggest U.S. publishers that it plans to sue them, accusing them of colluding to raise the prices of electronic books, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Several parties have held talks to settle the potential anti-trust case, the paper cited the people as saying. It added that a successful settlement could lead to cheaper e-books for consumers."

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...rticle2362670/

[The Terminator]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

noticed this on many books recently

one I bought last year for 77p is now £3.64

new releases are usually £2+ cheaper on Amazon

Then they can't be Agency priced, Agency mean that prices go up to a set price for all stores selling the books.

This agency crap really sucks.

[JD Gumby]

Originally Posted by The Terminator

Then they can't be Agency priced, Agency mean that prices go up to a set price for all stores selling the books.

This agency crap really sucks.

No. "Agency pricing" when it comes to e-books means that the publisher sets the price the storefront has to sell it for (including the store's cut), nothing more. This can differ on a store-by-store, region-by-region basis.

[larryt]

Originally Posted by FJames

"The U.S. Justice Department has warned Apple and five of the biggest U.S. publishers that it plans to sue them, accusing them of colluding to raise the prices of electronic books, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Several parties have held talks to settle the potential anti-trust case, the paper cited the people as saying. It added that a successful settlement could lead to cheaper e-books for consumers."

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...rticle2362670/

I made my mind up a month ago that until they get this matter sorted out I'm not buying a single new e-book. I curently have enough cached away to keep me reading and I've also started to revisit my favourite old used paperback stores. It's my REBEL nature. They can go squeeze someone else.