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Kindle credit?

For discussion about electronic reading devices and related issues (pricing, formatting, accessories, comparisons, etc.)
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MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Kindle credit?

Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Sat October 13th, 2012, 6:30 pm

Today I got an email from Amazon saying I might have a credit coming due to a settlement in an antitrust suit against the big six (Simon & Shuster, Hachette, Harper Collins, et al) regarding their 'agency model' (publisher sets the price, not retailer) move of a couple years back. Anybody know more about this?

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Sat October 13th, 2012, 6:33 pm

I think Dear Author has covered it quite a bit, so you might try searching their blog. Something to do with price fixing among the big publishers and a settlement with the government and credits going back to consumers.
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Susan
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Post by Susan » Sat October 13th, 2012, 6:42 pm

I got the same email. There were news stories about this in September. Here's one from CNN: http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/06/technol ... index.html
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Mythica
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Post by Mythica » Sun October 14th, 2012, 11:48 am

I've been following this for a while - it started in Europe last year (read the latest on that here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/se ... sfeed=true ) and soon after, the Department of Justice in the US filed suit against Apple and the five of the six major publishers (Random House was excluded) as well. Essentially, they conspired to raise ebook prices which violates antitrust laws. Three of the publishers almost immediately backed down and agreed to settle (the email you got being a result of which) - Apple and the two remaining publishers, Penguin (surprise, surprise) and Macmillan, decided to fight it. Apparently, they have a court date in June 2013 to defend themselves. I really don't see how they can! I just have to hope reason and sense prevail and the courts don't rule in their favor.

Apparently, they conspired to do this because Amazon was selling ebooks at a loss in order to run their competitors out of business. So the settlement terms also include that Amazon's total sales for each publisher must at least break even overall. So they can sell some books at a loss but they have to make up for it by selling others for a gain. They can not undersell everything.

There's actually a quote from Steve Jobs in his biography which claims these were his comments on situation:

“Amazon screwed it up. It paid the wholesale price for some books, but started selling them below cost at $9.99. The publishers hated that — they thought it would trash their ability to sell hardcover books at $28. So before Apple even got on the scene, some booksellers were starting to withhold books from Amazon. So we told the publishers, ‘We’ll go to the agency model, where you set the price, and we get our 30%, and yes, the customer pays a little more, but that’s what you want anyway.’ But we also asked for a guarantee that if anybody else is selling the books cheaper than we are, then we can sell them at the lower price too. So they went to Amazon and said, ‘You’re going to sign an agency contract or we’re not going to give you the books.’”

This is why I hate when people idolize Steve Jobs.

I think it was deemed inadmissible in court as hearsay but it's obviously an accurate account of what happened and there's plenty of other evidence of that or the law suits and settlements wouldn't be taking place.

What concerns me is that the settlement terms only last for a few years or so. When it's expired, will Amazon go back to selling ebooks at a loss to drive others out of business and if so, will some other conspiracy to raise prices occur in response? Or has everyone learned their lesson like good little boys and girls and realized they can't get away with it?

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Rowan
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Kindle Book Refunds?

Post by Rowan » Mon October 15th, 2012, 1:17 pm

Did anyone else get an email from Amazon regarding potential refunds of some monies related to Kindle book purchases?

I'm not exactly understanding where this is coming from if Amazon isn't being sued. Of course I'm not balking at the money being returned to me, paltry though the sum may be, I just want to understand why.

I just know one of you brilliant people will be able to explain it to me. :)

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Mythica
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Post by Mythica » Mon October 15th, 2012, 5:30 pm

There's another topic on it here: http://www.historicalfictiononline.com/ ... php?t=5971

It's not Amazon being sued, it's the publishers. For a few years now, the "big six" publishers have had the right to set their own ebook prices and the Department of Justice filed charges against them for conspiracy to raise ebook prices. Since Amazon have no control over ebook pricing for the big-six, they have nothing to do with it and are not being sued. There's more detail in the other topic. :)

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Rowan
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Post by Rowan » Mon October 15th, 2012, 6:18 pm

Sorry I didn't realise there was already a thread about it. If the mods want to close or delete this one...

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Rowan
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Post by Rowan » Mon October 15th, 2012, 6:21 pm

I'm not surprised in any way that Apple is fighting this. Seems to be their typical method of doing things. Just look at their case with Samsung. Apple wants to rule the world. My opinion of them is plummeting by the day.

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Mon October 15th, 2012, 7:25 pm

[quote=""Rowan""]Sorry I didn't realise there was already a thread about it. If the mods want to close or delete this one...[/quote]

Combined threads.
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lauragill
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Post by lauragill » Tue October 16th, 2012, 4:32 am

There's an article about it on Yahoo! News:

http://news.yahoo.com/kindle-customers- ... nance.html

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