B&N Membership Changes Again

[Nallia Distinguished Bibliophile]

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keriflur wrote:

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Irishelf wrote:

Why only give discounts in store?  Why give no discounts for ebooks (and don't give me the agency books can't be discounted bull-Walmart and Target sell agency DTBs at a discount and if DTBs can be discounted there is no reason why ebooks can't be)?

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"Why only give discounts in store?"

Because B&N is already giving discounts online, to everyone.  Books bought in-store almost always cost more than they do online.  Sometimes significantly more.

"Why give no discounts for ebooks (and don't give me the agency books can't be discounted bull-Walmart and Target sell agency DTBs at a discount and if DTBs can be discounted there is no reason why ebooks can't be)?"

First off, there's no such thing as an agency DTB.  Agency contracts currently only exist on ebooks.  The "Agency" publishers still sell DTBs under the wholesale model, which allows the retailer to set the sale price to the consumer.  B&N sells these books at a discount, just like Walmart and Target do.  But none of these vendors can sell the ebook versions at a discount, because the contracts they've signed with the publishers allow the publisher to set the sale price.  Theres no bull here, that's how the contracts are structured.

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There you go again, muddying up the discussion with facts.

[flyingtoastr Scribe]

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DeanGibson wrote:

It isn't just the membership card.  B&N wants to compete with Amazon, but look at their respective credit cards.  I needed a new VISA (or MC) credit card for personal purchases, since I was allocating my current one to business purchases.  So, I looked first at B&N's MasterCard offering:

When you accumulate points and get to $25 worth, they mail you a gift card.  So, now you have to keep track of those.  We already know how B&N takes money from the one with the largest balance, so if you are not careful, you end up with several with small balances.  Then, apparently Barclay Bank (the issuer) doesn't support the OFX network protocol (used by GnuCash, QuickBooks, Quicken, and other financial management software) to download transactions.

By contrast, the Amazon card gives points that are redeemable in the very next online purchase, and Chase (the issuer) supports OFX transaction downloads.  It also had a $50 credit for signing up.

One guess as to which one I signed up for.

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The BN card also gets you 5% off anything purchased from BN (including ebooks) and gives you a $25 BN gift card as soon as you sign up as well.

But eh, the generic Discover still kicks the pants off any CC I've ever found.

[keriflur]

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Nallia wrote:

There you go again, muddying up the discussion with facts.

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LOL, sorry.  I'll do my best to keep my responses fictional from now on. 

[KingAl]

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Irishelf wrote:

Barnes and Noble apparently doesn't care about readers who do not live near one of their brick and   Why give no discounts for ebooks (and don't give me the agency books can't be discounted bull-Walmart and Target sell agency DTBs at a discount and if DTBs can be discounted there is no reason why ebooks can't be)? 

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There's no such thing as an agency DTB. DTBs are all sold via the wholesale model.

[Irishelf]

So let me get this straight. With a membership card you pay for, you only get discounts for Instore purchases. But with a credit card with no fee, you get ebook discounts and online book discounts. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. If ebooks can be discounted with a B&N credit card, they can be discounted with a membership card. The supposed great discounts for DTB for buying on line are exaggerated. I've often purchased DTBs in places other than B&N for much lower prices than B&N's so called discount online price! Since I can only purchase from B&N online, and they don't seem to think online purchasers are as important as in store purchasers why should I continue to give them my business (especially since I found a tablet with android ice cream sandwich and google play that only costs $100)?

[keriflur]

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Irishelf wrote:
So let me get this straight. With a membership card you pay for, you only get discounts for Instore purchases. But with a credit card with no fee, you get ebook discounts and online book discounts. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. If ebooks can be discounted with a B&N credit card, they can be discounted with a membership card. The supposed great discounts for DTB for buying on line are exaggerated. I've often purchased DTBs in places other than B&N for much lower prices than B&N's so called discount online price! Since I can only purchase from B&N online, and they don't seem to think online purchasers are as important as in store purchasers why should I continue to give them my business (especially since I found a tablet with android ice cream sandwich and google play that only costs $100)?

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Whether or not you continue to give them your business is up to you.

With the credit card you don't get an actual discount.  What you get is 5% back, and it applies to all purchases, in-store and online, after all actual discounts are applied.  The net effect is that you get a 5% discount, but it's done in a way that isn't actually a decrease in price.  Basically, it gets around the agency contract in a way that the membership could not (to my knowledge).  You can read more about it here:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/membership/mc.asp

As far as the "great discounts" online, I'm not sure anyone said they were great, just that they were discounts that were higher than what you would get in-store without the membership.  Since DTBs are sold using the wholesale model, retail prices will vary, and you may well find cheaper prices elsewhere.  If you do, by all means, save some money! 

[Ya_Ya]

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Irishelf wrote:

 Why only give discounts in store?  Why give no discounts for ebooks (and don't give me the agency books can't be discounted bull-Walmart and Target sell agency DTBs at a discount and if DTBs can be discounted there is no reason why ebooks can't be)?  .

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Seriously?  Seriously?

ebooks ≠ DTBs    It's called a contract.  That was signed.  That determined an entirely different model.  

Go buy a Kindle.  They'll always sell books the least expensively because they can afford to lose money on them long enough that they have no competition.  Then you'll be sorry you bought a Kindle...