Flash! Some Kindle books now cost more than paperbooks
Sigh.
This used to only be a fluke when it happened, and hopefully, it will get straightened out. I thought Apple and Amazon were going to insist that the e-book had to be the same price or lower than any current physical edition? I know Amazon is going to do that with independently published books through their Digital Text Platform (DTP), and the rumor is Apple is going to do that with SmashWords titles.
Here are a few examples:
| Title | Author | Paperbook | E-book | Difference |
| The Last Surgeon | Palmer | $ 9.99 | $ 12.99 | $ 3.00 |
| Burned | Cast & Cast | $ 8.48 | $ 9.99 | $ 1.51 |
| Finger Lickin’ Fifteen | Evanovich | $ 8.99 | $ 12.99 | $ 4.00 |
| The Pallbearers | Cannell | $ 9.99 | $ 12.99 | $ 3.00 |
One other thing you might want to check: are you now seeing Amazon collecting sales tax from you for e-books when they didn’t before? I’m hearing some rumors of that, but I’m not seeing it for me (I’m in California). If you are, please let me know, and let me know in what state you reside. You don’t need to do this, but I’m curious. I can not post your comment and just track your state if you want to stay more confidential.
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
April 3, 2010 at 5:05 pm |
Hi Bufo,
Just wanted to let you know that I got charged sales tax for the first time ever on the Lemony Snicket books that weren’t free. NJ resident, HarperCollins publisher-seller.
Also thought you’d like to know that my son wanted to read the second in the Mysterious Benedict Society series. I looked it up and it’s $3.00 higher than the paperback (and the paperback would have no tax, being sold by Amazon.) I just don’t get it.
(I also think Apple knew darn well that eBook buyers would get screwed out of a lot of money with the new pricing model and that Apple really doesn’t care.)
Love your blog and think it’s great how accessible you are on the Kindle Community Forum.
Best,
Brian
April 3, 2010 at 8:07 pm |
Thanks for the kind words, Brian!
Hypothetically, you’d report the sales tax on that paperback on your state taxes…it’s often called a “use tax”. That’s my understanding.
The agency model is changing whether or not Amazon collects the taxes…not whether or not they are eventually due. However, states would clearly rather have retailers (or “sales agents”) collect those taxes than count on people reporting them, or collect them themselves.
Yeah, I don’t quite get why the paperbacks are higher than the e-books right now. What I’ve seen indicates to me that publishers aren’t supposed to price e-books higher than paperbooks in the new agreements. However, that might mean the paperbooks go up, it might mean the big publishers aren’t under that restriction…and it might mean that things just haven’t caught up yet in the stores.
We’ll see…
April 3, 2010 at 5:49 pm |
Sales taxes are collected in Kentucky. I bought a $9.99 book when I had only $10 in my gift card and it then charged the 6% so I had a small charge to my Mastercard. I use gift cards to avoid that, so now it is back to the drawing board. I have to determine the price and see how much I have in my gift account before buying it.
April 3, 2010 at 8:08 pm |
Thanks for sharing that, Al!
Hmmm…the gift certificate thing is especially interesting…people used to give gcs for $9.99: I have. Might have to reconsider that in the future.
April 5, 2010 at 1:48 pm |
[...] que os publishers adotaram, “agency model”. A esse respeito, sugiro a leitura do post: Some Kindle books now cost more than paperbooks (em [...]
April 5, 2010 at 2:17 pm |
I live in NY and so far no sales tax on any of my kindle purchases! My most recent purchase was yesterday. I’ll keep my eye on it and let you know if this changes.
April 5, 2010 at 5:23 pm |
Thanks for writing, Chris! I appreciate that information.
We’ll see…it should also depend on what you bought. If the item you bought wasn’t under the agency plan, you situation probably hasn’t changed.
July 12, 2010 at 3:00 pm |
Add to your list:
Jim Butcher: Blood Rites
Kindle: 8.99, So I bought the paperback for 7.99 this weekend.
July 12, 2010 at 3:05 pm |
Thanks for writing, Louie!
Well, that is an older list, so it doesn’t make sense to update now.
Also, at least for US Kindle store customers, the mass market paperback price is $9.99, the Kindle edition is $8.99…so the e-book is cheaper.
Also, becomes it comes from a publisher that blocks text-to-speech, I don’t link to those particular titles.
Did you buy the paperback from Amazon? Just curious…