B&N Member Card + No Agency Model

[gobasso]

I assume that taking away the Agency Model will mean B&N can offer discounts and special offers for e-books to its B&N Members. Hopefully that can help keep Amazon from devouring the market.

[Ya_Ya]

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gobasso wrote:

I assume that taking away the Agency Model will mean B&N can offer discounts and special offers for e-books to its B&N Members. 

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They can, but if previous behavior is any indication, B&N won't.  The Membership card discount didn't apply to ebooks before the agency model.

Maybe they'll "think different" now, but that's not really B&N's style.  Thinking, I mean.

[gobasso]

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Ya_Ya wrote:

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gobasso wrote:

I assume that taking away the Agency Model will mean B&N can offer discounts and special offers for e-books to its B&N Members. 

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They can, but if previous behavior is any indication, B&N won't.  The Membership card discount didn't apply to ebooks before the agency model.

Maybe they'll "think different" now, but that's not really B&N's style.  Thinking, I mean.

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Hmmm...but before the Agency Model B&N matched Amazon $9.99 prices. I'm not as saturnine about B&N as you although I admit I've seen them do some pretty bone-headed things.

[beeyebickiebuy]

That is probably the first time that "saturnine" and "bone-headed" have appeared in a sentence together.

[gobasso]

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beeyebickiebuy wrote:

That is probably the first time that "saturnine" and "bone-headed" have appeared in a sentence together.

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English is a grand language that's always changing. I thought the two words would be an interesting juxtaposition.

[keriflur]

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Ya_Ya wrote:

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gobasso wrote:

I assume that taking away the Agency Model will mean B&N can offer discounts and special offers for e-books to its B&N Members. 

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They can, but if previous behavior is any indication, B&N won't.  The Membership card discount didn't apply to ebooks before the agency model.

Maybe they'll "think different" now, but that's not really B&N's style.  Thinking, I mean.

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It's hard to offer discounts when you're selling at a loss.  IMO if we find ourselves back in the scenario where Amazon can sell either at a loss or at breakeven, and B&N has to match that, then we won't see coupons or membership discounts on ebooks.

[gobasso]

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keriflur wrote:

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Ya_Ya wrote:

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gobasso wrote:

I assume that taking away the Agency Model will mean B&N can offer discounts and special offers for e-books to its B&N Members. 

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They can, but if previous behavior is any indication, B&N won't.  The Membership card discount didn't apply to ebooks before the agency model.

Maybe they'll "think different" now, but that's not really B&N's style.  Thinking, I mean.

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It's hard to offer discounts when you're selling at a loss.  IMO if we find ourselves back in the scenario where Amazon can sell either at a loss or at breakeven, and B&N has to match that, then we won't see coupons or membership discounts on ebooks.

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I think it depends on how one would structure coupons and discounts using the Membership Card. The trade off for  the consumer is whether or not you recoup the initial outlay for the Card. The trade off for B&N is whether the price of the card creates some profit. The profit for B&N is in selling the Card member more books or making some profit from selling the Card itself. I'm not a business man but I'm sure there are plenty of MBA's out there who have a better grasp of this stuff.

[wordsandmelodi…]

A fine thought!  If B&N offers discounts on ebooks with a membership, I would renew mine in a heartbeat.

[steffiebaby140]

I have been wondering this as well.  Though I suspect that it may be a similar situation to the rest of the website...you don't get the member discount by purchasing from the website, but you do get free shipping.  I started buying a lot more HC and PB books since the agency model went into effect and I started price comparing much more often, so I have used that free shipping to its greatest advantage!  But I would love to see something offered to card holders, even if its not a discount on ebook prices some other benefit instead.

[Coaxial_Creatu…]

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It's hard to offer discounts when you're selling at a loss.  IMO if we find ourselves back in the scenario where Amazon can sell either at a loss or at breakeven, and B&N has to match that, then we won't see coupons or membership discounts on ebooks.

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I've never believed that Amazon would sell at a loss forever and ever.   It just doesn't make good business sense.   Nor did they ever promise that there was a limit on books, and the speculation on the Amazon boards has been that even if the Agency Model went away, the prices wouldn't necessarily all go back to ten dollars or less. (The speculating was going on from the time the DoJ made their announcement. )

And if you notice that the annoucements that Amazon has made - that they look forward to the Agency Model going bye-bye for those two publishers - they haven't claimed that all books would go back to the original price points.

It's hard to say how many prices will be lowered and by how much. 

Now, as far as the B&N membership - trust me, I've asked.   I've talked to one of the district managers who claimed that B&N *could* legally discount Agency Model books and take the loss, and then backed away slowly, figuring that they wouldn't listen to me since they seemed to believe that my babble was the crazy.   I've since given up on trying to talk to anyone about the B&N membership and a discount on eBooks.   The last I've heard, there's no plans on discounting any eBooks.

[compulsiveread…]

I don't know about the membership discounts for agency ebooks. they didn't give us discount before the agency model so i don't expect it now either. OTHER ebook stores (and not talking about amazon here) do offer discount codes so it's not like B&N couldn't do it too. I'm not sure their programming skills are up to adding that to the website though.

However....before the agency model, B&N often had ebooks from the agency publishers FREE (for limited times) much more frequently than they have since then. I picked up quite a few of them before they dried up and went on to purchase entire series if I loved the free one. It has been great for smaller publishers and Indi authors though. I have quite a few authors added to my "have to read" list now and enjoy the MUCH reduced cost of reading! I've missed my old faves though.

I keep hoping if I'm patient enough, the agency model ebooks will come down in price and many of them do over time after they've been on the market for awhile. I still have quite a few on my wish list and most haven't come down or if they have come down, it wasn't below 9.99 and that's still above my budget.

I would be happy with the occasional sale or discount codes for a book or two now and then. Otherwise, I'll be waiting for the library or the paperback at walmart.