Online bookstores are ripping us off!
June 5, 2009
As you all know - Pete May has released the world’s first book about Pinotage :
You can read about and purchase the book - here.
I strongly advise that if you would like to buy the book (as I do) - then buy it directly from Pete May himself (here).
The book, including postage will cost you roughly R263 if you buy it directly from him.
It has been brought to my attention by Bar Rat and Pete himself just how much we as consumers are being ripped off by some online bookstores.
South Africa has its fair share of thievery problems but this is daylight robbery.
I understand that retailers must incur shipping costs and taxes but does this really account for such high prices and the massive discrepancy in price found on the following retailers’ sites?
Exclusive Books: R602
Red Pepper Books: R375
Kalahari.net: R453
How on earth can the above retailers - all competing in the same space - charge such high and different prices for the same book?
I’d welcome some commentary because I can’t understand it.
I for one will not buy from these guys and will order the book directly from Pete.
Posted in Books
June 5th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
CruMaster, you have to consider too that the book stores are buying it significantly cheaper from the author/publisher so the markup is even more severe.
June 5th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I am amused, but not amazed. Loot.co.za is selling my book for over R300. It was sold - even on Kalahari [and in Exclusive] for R195. The book is no longer available - I bought the remainders from the publishers which I can sell at a profit for under R100!!
One of the reasons that Neil Pendock and I are self publishing our book The People’s Guide, navigate the winelands in a shopping trolley. The book would under normal circumstances have to sell at about R185, and we’ll be selling it for under R100.
Recessonary times call for extraordinary measures.
June 8th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Check out JandKJ.com - new publishing company with anthology of short stories from African born authors. Portion of sales goes to Shine Centre if you want too (input SHINE when checking out).
June 8th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Check out JandKJ.co.za - new publishing company with anthology of short stories from African born authors. Portion of sales goes to Shine Centre if you want too (input SHINE when checking out).
June 9th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Peter says the book retails in the UK for £14.99 or R195.00 - how can Exclusive Books justify £602? Thats £45.70 at todays £/R exchange rate! Tell EB to sell crazy elsewhere.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Wantitall.co.za lists it for R530 - and according to them, this is a R53 discount (??) Their service is great but that price is unjustified…
We tend to get ripped off with books here in general. I found a Jacques Cousteau classic in a second hand book store in Hermanus for R250 - mouldy and motheaten and not worth the bucks. Found the same book on Biblio.com for USD1 - yes really, and in near-perfect condition. Cost equivalent with freight was a little over R100.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Erica L - Erica Laidlow?
June 10th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
[...] the release of the world’s first book about Pinotage and our discussion about how online bookstores rip us off - Pete May has emailed me and kindly offered all Cru readers a special price for his new [...]
June 11th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
bread
June 26th, 2009 at 8:33 am
In defence of online booksellers, the book retails at GBP14.99. Booksellers usually sell a book at the recommended retail price, and most online bookstores will then offer a discount on the RRP. Bookseller’s make their profits in the discounts received from the respective publishers, and these discounts aren’t always as huge as we’d like. The discount allowed to the bookseller by the publisher will determine how much is offered to the consumer.
Books that have to be imported (as in this case) are subject to shipping and VAT. Doing a simple Pound to Rand conversion is not going to give you the price you will pay, unless of course you are ordering from an overseas bookstore. Then again, once the book reaches South African shores, VAT is payable. Most people don’t take into account the costs of carriage, which can range from R30-R50 per book, presuming that the books are being airfreighted with at least 100kg of other books.
Yes, there may be bookstores out there who are ripping people off, but please don’t presume that this is the case everywhere. A lot depends on where in the world a book is coming from, and what price the publisher is prepared to offer the bookseller.
It would also make a HUGE difference in the lives of booksellers when we are made aware of local distributors of an overseas title. This information is not always freely available, and we are surprised at the number of publishers who neglect the newer online bookstores and focus on the EBs and Kalaharis. Online booksellers can be a very powerful medium in marketing a book. Many of us are very willing to go the extra mile to promote a book like this, if we are kept well informed. Booksellers are reliant on the data we a fed from publishers to determine how a price is set. We cannot go and scrutinise the price of every book published, considering there are literally tens of millions of books in print. It is up to the authors and publishers of a book to make sure that their book is marketed correctly to all the right channels and at the right price before fingers are pointed.