Mad at B&N

steph_g · 10-16-2010, 01:17 PM

I bought Bill Bryson's new book through B&N to read on my iPad for $15.92 on Oct. 5th (the day it was released). I thought the price was too high, but I really love his books, so I decided to go for it (and it's really excellent, BTW). Yesterday, I was browsing through some of his books on their web site thinking I might buy the ebook editions of some of the ones I have in hard copy when I noticed that book is now $9.99. Needless to say, I am miffed! They dropped the priced ~$6.00 in the first ten days - what's up with that? I have emailed them asking for a credit for the difference, which I doubt I'll get, but it will definitely make me think twice about ordering from them again, especially a new release. Has this happened to anyone else? What do you think about this? I mean, I know the prices drop eventually, but to have it drop that much within the first 10 days is surprising, don't you think? (Now why won't that happen with Ken Follett's new book on iBooks?

)

neilmarr · 10-16-2010, 01:23 PM

It's the new Agency 5 Model, Steph, where publishers set the price and the stores act as agents on a 30% commission.

This means they can hugely discount paper books but they can't touch ebook prices.

The result is anomalies where the ebook can be more expensive than even a hardback first edition.

It's not because the ebook is highly priced so much as the treebook versions being offered (sometimes nefariously to get at publishers) as loss-leaders.

Neil

ATDrake · 10-16-2010, 01:34 PM

I feel your pain. My one and only Amazon e-book purchase so far was made by mistake when I clicked the wrong button a few weeks ago while trying to download a sample. I opted not to return it because I was vaguely interested in it anyway and figured this was probably the cheapest it was going to be for awhile, and now it's nearly half the price it was then. And I haven't even finished reading it!

Depending on who publishes Bryson's book, it may be more the publisher's fault than B&N's. I remember reading that the publisher was the one who wanted to put Ken Follett's latest at 19.99, and only drop if it hit the bestsellers list, which seems pretty unfair to the people who helped make it a bestseller, since there's a $7 difference now for US buyers, if I recall correctly.

In those cases, under the Agency model, the stores have no choice to go along with whatever the publisher sets, whenever they set it.

At least you got to read and enjoy your Bryson book just as it came out?

Falcao · 10-16-2010, 01:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steph_g

Has this happened to anyone else?

Something similar with B&N. Some weeks ago "Beowulf" was listed as a free book. I hit the order button and I was charged $1.99 or $2.99 (I don't remember now). I sent them an email and they answered that the book was free one day before I purchased it. I sent another email telling them that the book was still among the free ones when I ordered it. They don't answered this email or the next one.

CleverClothe · 10-16-2010, 02:10 PM

Well, when you buy something on release day, there is a chance that you will miss a sale later. Since this is not an Agency 5 book, it was likely that Amazon would lower it to $9.99. So B&N would be likely to match that.

When it comes to Amazon and B&N, I would suggest waiting a week or two to buy a book.

astrangerhere · 10-16-2010, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falcao

Something similar with B&N. Some weeks ago "Beowulf" was listed as a free book. I hit the order button and I was charged $1.99 or $2.99 (I don't remember now). I sent them an email and they answered that the book was free one day before I purchased it. I sent another email telling them that the book was still among the free ones when I ordered it. They don't answered this email or the next one.

I imagine you got snagged by the summer of free classics promotion that B&N had. They gave away 12 classics a week from July to September. But they were only free until Sunday at midnight on the weeks of the promotion. I got 130 books for free through the promotion, and missed a few through not getting to the site soon enough to get a batch.

Falcao · 10-16-2010, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I imagine you got snagged by the summer of free classics promotion that B&N had.

Actually I only got like 3 or 4 free classics because I got mad at them

. Just kidding, the true reason is that I discovered that Amazon's IMHO has better and more free books.

HarryT · 10-16-2010, 02:35 PM

I really don't see the problem. If you paid $15.92 for the book, you presumably did so because you considered that to be a reasonable price. You have the product that you paid for, which you willingly bought at the price it was offered at. The fact that it is now on sale at a lower price in no way affects what you've bought. If it was worth $15.92 to you when you bought it, why is it no longer worth $15.92 to you now?

desertgrandma · 10-16-2010, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falcao

Actually I only got like 3 or 4 free classics because I got mad at them

. Just kidding, the true reason is that I discovered that Amazon's IMHO has better and more free books.

I hope you are all checking for those 'classics' here before you download from either Amazon or BN........

If they are public domain, chances are we have them, formatted by our own members ready for you to read on whichever device your have.

Falcao · 10-16-2010, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

I hope you are all checking for those 'classics' here before you download from either Amazon or BN.......

I do. I'm amazed by the hard-work some members have displayed in formatting and uploading books.

My commentary was in the sense that Amazon has many free books, not necessarily classics or in the public domain.

graycyn · 10-16-2010, 03:54 PM

I'm kind of with Harry... if having the read immediately on release date was worth the $15.92 then I don't see why you should be mad, especially if you are enjoying the read as much as stated.

Sales happen. There's no way to predict it and ebooks especially seem to be very volatile in this regard. Best bet if you don't want to pay the opening price is to wait a while or see if the book can be borrowed from the library while the price comes down. Or at the least, don't buy it the first week it is out.

I know B&N had some issues where a few folks clicked on Free Friday books only the book wasn't free yet and got charged. But from what I saw on their Facebook posts, they were looking into those and refunding.

SensualPoet · 10-16-2010, 04:40 PM

I have remarkably little sympathy for the consumers in the cases above. In each case, the ebook was properly labelled with the current price, and the consumer said "yes" and handed over his cash. They got exactly what they were offered -- at time of sale.

The night the Man Booker awards were announced, I picked up a copy at kobobooks of the winning title ... the next day the price went up. That's what happens with dynamic pricing and ebooks are among the most flexible of goods to benefit from that system.

As for one-click, if you do buy something in error, I certainly would, immediately, fire off a note to customer service to reverse the charge. If you haven't downloaded yet, you might get a positive response. And -- even if a download has taken place, you may still get a positive response the first time. But put away that trigger finger!

steph_g · 10-16-2010, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I really don't see the problem. If you paid $15.92 for the book, you presumably did so because you considered that to be a reasonable price. You have the product that you paid for, which you willingly bought at the price it was offered at. The fact that it is now on sale at a lower price in no way affects what you've bought. If it was worth $15.92 to you when you bought it, why is it no longer worth $15.92 to you now?

Well, I'm mad because it's not "on sale" now. It's now regularly priced at $9.99 10 days later. I'm not even done reading the book. I didn't consider it a reasonable price, but yes, I did want to read the book, so I paid it. No one twisted my arm. I would have been much happier paying the lower price, obviously. I just hope the author gets a good cut of that money.

So, really, you've never bought something and saw it for sale for a lower price a few days later from the same store? Most stores have some sort of price guarantee where they will refund the difference within a specified period of time if a product goes on sale. $6.00 is not the end of the world. I just got some canned response from B&N, so I won't be getting any money back. I will, however, think carefully about my next purchase from them.

HarryT · 10-16-2010, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steph_g

So, really, you've never bought something and saw it for sale for a lower price a few days later from the same store?

Certainly I have, but I've never felt annoyed by it, because the store certainly didn't give me a guarantee that they wouldn't lower the price subsequent to my buying the item, and I bought the item at a price that I considered to be reasonable.

Really the best advice here is not to buy an eBook the instant it's released, because it really is pretty common for prices to fall quickly.

desertgrandma · 10-16-2010, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by steph_g

Well, I'm mad because it's not "on sale" now. It's now regularly priced at $9.99 10 days later. I'm not even done reading the book. I didn't consider it a reasonable price, but yes, I did want to read the book, so I paid it. No one twisted my arm. I would have been much happier paying the lower price, obviously. I just hope the author gets a good cut of that money.

Kindle owners have long known (usually learning the hard way) that if they wait.......the initial price will go it down.

I'd say you just learned this also.

I bought the latest Evanovich book for $12.99, knowing if I waited I could get it from the library, or the price would go down.

To me....it was important enough to pay the price and enjoy the book.....

Don't let it bother you......just be aware next time to wait a little.

Problem solved.

10-16-2010, 01:17 PM	#1
steph_g Book Lover Posts: 74 Karma: 124 Join Date: May 2010 Device: iPad, iPhone 3GS	Mad at B&N I bought Bill Bryson's new book through B&N to read on my iPad for $15.92 on Oct. 5th (the day it was released). I thought the price was too high, but I really love his books, so I decided to go for it (and it's really excellent, BTW). Yesterday, I was browsing through some of his books on their web site thinking I might buy the ebook editions of some of the ones I have in hard copy when I noticed that book is now $9.99. Needless to say, I am miffed! They dropped the priced ~$6.00 in the first ten days - what's up with that? I have emailed them asking for a credit for the difference, which I doubt I'll get, but it will definitely make me think twice about ordering from them again, especially a new release. Has this happened to anyone else? What do you think about this? I mean, I know the prices drop eventually, but to have it drop that much within the first 10 days is surprising, don't you think? (Now why won't that happen with Ken Follett's new book on iBooks? )

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10-16-2010, 01:23 PM	#2
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,215 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	It's the new Agency 5 Model, Steph, where publishers set the price and the stores act as agents on a 30% commission. This means they can hugely discount paper books but they can't touch ebook prices. The result is anomalies where the ebook can be more expensive than even a hardback first edition. It's not because the ebook is highly priced so much as the treebook versions being offered (sometimes nefariously to get at publishers) as loss-leaders. Neil

10-16-2010, 01:34 PM	#3
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	I feel your pain. My one and only Amazon e-book purchase so far was made by mistake when I clicked the wrong button a few weeks ago while trying to download a sample. I opted not to return it because I was vaguely interested in it anyway and figured this was probably the cheapest it was going to be for awhile, and now it's nearly half the price it was then. And I haven't even finished reading it! Depending on who publishes Bryson's book, it may be more the publisher's fault than B&N's. I remember reading that the publisher was the one who wanted to put Ken Follett's latest at 19.99, and only drop if it hit the bestsellers list, which seems pretty unfair to the people who helped make it a bestseller, since there's a $7 difference now for US buyers, if I recall correctly. In those cases, under the Agency model, the stores have no choice to go along with whatever the publisher sets, whenever they set it. At least you got to read and enjoy your Bryson book just as it came out?

10-16-2010, 02:10 PM	#5
CleverClothe Guru Posts: 618 Karma: 493394 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Seattle, WA Device: iRex iLiad, Onyx Boox 60	Well, when you buy something on release day, there is a chance that you will miss a sale later. Since this is not an Agency 5 book, it was likely that Amazon would lower it to $9.99. So B&N would be likely to match that. When it comes to Amazon and B&N, I would suggest waiting a week or two to buy a book.

10-16-2010, 02:35 PM	#8
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I really don't see the problem. If you paid $15.92 for the book, you presumably did so because you considered that to be a reasonable price. You have the product that you paid for, which you willingly bought at the price it was offered at. The fact that it is now on sale at a lower price in no way affects what you've bought. If it was worth $15.92 to you when you bought it, why is it no longer worth $15.92 to you now?

10-16-2010, 03:54 PM	#11
graycyn Wizard Posts: 1,588 Karma: 11380098 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: NE Oregon Device: Kobo Sage, Pocketbook Era, Kobo Forma, Kindle Oasis 2	I'm kind of with Harry... if having the read immediately on release date was worth the $15.92 then I don't see why you should be mad, especially if you are enjoying the read as much as stated. Sales happen. There's no way to predict it and ebooks especially seem to be very volatile in this regard. Best bet if you don't want to pay the opening price is to wait a while or see if the book can be borrowed from the library while the price comes down. Or at the least, don't buy it the first week it is out. I know B&N had some issues where a few folks clicked on Free Friday books only the book wasn't free yet and got charged. But from what I saw on their Facebook posts, they were looking into those and refunding.

10-16-2010, 04:40 PM	#12
SensualPoet Wizard Posts: 2,302 Karma: 2607151 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Toronto Device: Kobo Aura HD, Kindle Paperwhite, Asus ZenPad 3, Kobo Glo	I have remarkably little sympathy for the consumers in the cases above. In each case, the ebook was properly labelled with the current price, and the consumer said "yes" and handed over his cash. They got exactly what they were offered -- at time of sale. The night the Man Booker awards were announced, I picked up a copy at kobobooks of the winning title ... the next day the price went up. That's what happens with dynamic pricing and ebooks are among the most flexible of goods to benefit from that system. As for one-click, if you do buy something in error, I certainly would, immediately, fire off a note to customer service to reverse the charge. If you haven't downloaded yet, you might get a positive response. And -- even if a download has taken place, you may still get a positive response the first time. But put away that trigger finger!

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