Nook book prices higher than other ebooks.

[draksig]

Why is it that Nook book prices are almost always higher than other ebooks?  I want to get the Ashes series by William Johnstone, I own most of the paperbacks but want them in ebook format. 

Amazon sells the kindle editions of the books for 5.69.  All other ebook sellers sell them for 5.99 and these can be loaded on the nook.  B&N sells them for 8.99 each.  I don't mind paying more here and there, but there are at least 35 books in this series.

I thought that the agency model forced all selelrs to the same price or am I wrong?

[AlanNJ Inspired Bibliophile]

From what I can see the publisher for these books is ereads.com.  They are not one of the "Big Six" publishers in the Agency Model as far as I know.

B&N can charge whatever they want.  You may want to report the price discrepancy to B&N and possibly they'll change the price but there are no guarantees.

Another suggestion is to go to addall.com and search for the ebooks you are looking for.  They show the prices from multiple vendors.  There is no reason to only purchase from B&N if the e-book is cheaper elsewhere.

[Doug_Pardee Distinguished Bibliophile]

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AlanNJ wrote:
There is no reason to only purchase from B&N if the e-book is cheaper elsewhere.

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Well, the B&N versions of these are LendMe-capable. But unless lending is a big priority...

[AlanNJ Inspired Bibliophile]

I honestly don't see Lendme as a deciding factor considering you can only do it once per book.  That's just my opinion though...

[sirwillard]

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draksig wrote:

Why is it that Nook book prices are almost always higher than other ebooks?

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Why is it this topic comes up almost daily? Why is it posters can't search for the answer to this query, since it IS answered every time it's brought up?

Nook book prices are NOT almost always higher. First of all, the vast majority of eBooks are published by one of the Agency publishers. Prices for all books from this "Agency 6" group are set by the publisher and can't be changed by the agents (B&N, Amazon, Sony, Kobo, etc.). So the prices are almost always identical. Even when you get into the non-Agency published books B&N is usually competitive with other vendors, even Amazon. More importantly for Nook owners, however, we're not locked into purchasing only from B&N. You can easily use a service like Inkmesh to find the cheapest price on an eBook for your Nook. Every time this topic has been brought up, including this time, I've been able to find a price that AT LEAST matched the price at Amazon, which quite frankly, is amazing considering Amazon's ability and willingness to price items as loss leaders.

[bklvr896]

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sirwillard wrote:

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draksig wrote:

Why is it that Nook book prices are almost always higher than other ebooks?

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Why is it this topic comes up almost daily? Why is it posters can't search for the answer to this query, since it IS answered every time it's brought up?

Nook book prices are NOT almost always higher. First of all, the vast majority of eBooks are published by one of the Agency publishers. Prices for all books from this "Agency 6" group are set by the publisher and can't be changed by the agents (B&N, Amazon, Sony, Kobo, etc.). So the prices are almost always identical. Even when you get into the non-Agency published books B&N is usually competitive with other vendors, even Amazon. More importantly for Nook owners, however, we're not locked into purchasing only from B&N. You can easily use a service like Inkmesh to find the cheapest price on an eBook for your Nook. Every time this topic has been brought up, including this time, I've been able to find a price that AT LEAST matched the price at Amazon, which quite frankly, is amazing considering Amazon's ability and willingness to price items as loss leaders.

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Good point, SirWillard.  Personally, I rarely see books that are higher at BN than Amazon, most of the time they are the same.  Maybe I just don't buy the same books as others.

The other thing I find funny is that people have complained about Agency pricing since its inception.  The books are the same price everwhere.  And yet, people also complain because there is a difference in prices, at times, for non agency books.  So we don't want agency pricing but we want prices to be the same everywhere.

[kamas716]

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The other thing I find funny is that people have complained about Agency pricing since its inception.  The books are the same price everwhere.  And yet, people also complain because there is a difference in prices, at times, for non agency books.  So we don't want agency pricing but we want prices to be the same everywhere.

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I think the problem people have with the Agency pricing is not that the prices are the same everywhere, but that the eBook prices tend to be higher than DTB prices at times.  There's no logical reason for such a price difference between eBooks and DTB since production and distribution costs should be massively lower for eBooks.

I also haven't found B&N prices all that bad for eBooks.  And, when I don't like their prices, at least I have the option of purchasing from another site if I want and then loading it on my NST very simply.

[ToyCollector]

I have been reading the Area 51 series books. The 2nd and 3rd of the series were $1 less at Amazon than B&N, but I bought them from B&N because I wanted to read then on my Nook Color. I'm on the 5th book now and only read on my smartphone now, as I like it better than the Color. Today, B&N just raised the price from $3.99 to $4.99 for all except the original book. Since my phone doesn't care if I read on the Nook app or the Kindle app, it is time to switch to Amazon for my books. Sorry B&N, but you are losing my business. These are not the only books that I have paid more for at B&N than I would have paid at Amazon.

[AlanNJ Inspired Bibliophile]

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kamas716 wrote:

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I also haven't found B&N prices all that bad for eBooks.  And, when I don't like their prices, at least I have the option of purchasing from another site if I want and then loading it on my NST very simply.

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That, to me, is one of the greatest features of the N2E.  The libraries are combined.  Other than book "comments" there really is no difference between B&N books and sideloaded books.

[bklvr896]

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kamas716 wrote:

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The other thing I find funny is that people have complained about Agency pricing since its inception.  The books are the same price everwhere.  And yet, people also complain because there is a difference in prices, at times, for non agency books.  So we don't want agency pricing but we want prices to be the same everywhere.

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I think the problem people have with the Agency pricing is not that the prices are the same everywhere, but that the eBook prices tend to be higher than DTB prices at times.  There's no logical reason for such a price difference between eBooks and DTB since production and distribution costs should be massively lower for eBooks.

I also haven't found B&N prices all that bad for eBooks.  And, when I don't like their prices, at least I have the option of purchasing from another site if I want and then loading it on my NST very simply.

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I rarely see eBook prices higher than DTB prices, except possibly when you factored in the discount on new releases.  But for the books I look at, it's rare that an eBook is higher priced.  Now, the same price, yes.  The other instances is HC books on the remainder or clearance table/section.  You're never going to have a remainder/clearance section for eBooks, and even in those instances, the store doesn't bring down the price of the paperback to be lower than the clearance HC book.

What I have seen are complaints in instances like this one.  Where the eBook is $14.99 and if you look at the basic page, the paperback is $7.99.  However, if you look further, the paperback won't be released until March 2012 at which time, the eBook will be reduced to the $7.99.

[AlanNJ Inspired Bibliophile]

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bklvr896 wrote:

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kamas716 wrote:

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The other thing I find funny is that people have complained about Agency pricing since its inception.  The books are the same price everwhere.  And yet, people also complain because there is a difference in prices, at times, for non agency books.  So we don't want agency pricing but we want prices to be the same everywhere.

---

I think the problem people have with the Agency pricing is not that the prices are the same everywhere, but that the eBook prices tend to be higher than DTB prices at times.  There's no logical reason for such a price difference between eBooks and DTB since production and distribution costs should be massively lower for eBooks.

I also haven't found B&N prices all that bad for eBooks.  And, when I don't like their prices, at least I have the option of purchasing from another site if I want and then loading it on my NST very simply.

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I rarely see eBook prices higher than DTB prices, except possibly when you factored in the discount on new releases.  But for the books I look at, it's rare that an eBook is higher priced.  Now, the same price, yes.  The other instances is HC books on the remainder or clearance table/section.  You're never going to have a remainder/clearance section for eBooks, and even in those instances, the store doesn't bring down the price of the paperback to be lower than the clearance HC book.

What I have seen are complaints in instances like this one.  Where the eBook is $14.99 and if you look at the basic page, the paperback is $7.99.  However, if you look further, the paperback won't be released until March 2012 at which time, the eBook will be reduced to the $7.99.

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At the same time I never see anyone complaining about free e-books.  I've never seen free paperbacks or hardcover books.

[Irishelf]

I find that many ebooks are higher at B&N than other sites (especially Amazon).  This seems particularly true of sci-fi/fantasy books.  And sometimes the difference is significant.  For example, the Hunger Games series.  At B&N, the price for book 1 is $7.49, book 2 $8.99, book 3 8.99 and the trilogy is $26.98.  At Amazon, the 1st book is $4.69, the 2nd $7.70, 3rd $5.98 and the trilogy is $17.85.  I have heard Kobo's prices are cheaper as well.  This is a BIG price difference!  Plus, paying $26.98 for an ebook is ridiculous when you can get the DTB trilogy at Walmart for about $31.  There is no way I will buy these books at B&N because they are so much more in price.  I will probably buy them at Amazon and read them on my ipad.  Between the price differences of books, the lack of decent apps and having good apps only available for the tablet (tv.com, jeopardy and wheel of fortune), I'm afraid B&N will be losing a lot of my business.

[geertm]

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Irishelf wrote:

I find that many ebooks are higher at B&N than other sites (especially Amazon).  This seems particularly true of sci-fi/fantasy books.  And sometimes the difference is significant.  For example, the Hunger Games series.  At B&N, the price for book 1 is $7.49, book 2 $8.99, book 3 8.99 and the trilogy is $26.98.  At Amazon, the 1st book is $4.69, the 2nd $7.70, 3rd $5.98 and the trilogy is $17.85.  I have heard Kobo's prices are cheaper as well.  This is a BIG price difference!  Plus, paying $26.98 for an ebook is ridiculous when you can get the DTB trilogy at Walmart for about $31.  There is no way I will buy these books at B&N because they are so much more in price.  I will probably buy them at Amazon and read them on my ipad.  Between the price differences of books, the lack of decent apps and having good apps only available for the tablet (tv.com, jeopardy and wheel of fortune), I'm afraid B&N will be losing a lot of my business.

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Books from the 6 big agency publishers have the same price everywhere (set by the publishers).

The Hunger games series are not agency books. So the store can set the price. Amazon is probably selling the books at a loss, something B&N cannot afford to do.

I read more complaints about Kobo being more expensive than other stores, than them being cheaper.

[beeyebickiebuy]

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Irishelf wrote:

I find that many ebooks are higher at B&N than other sites (especially Amazon).  This seems particularly true of sci-fi/fantasy books.  And sometimes the difference is significant.  For example, the Hunger Games series.  At B&N, the price for book 1 is $7.49, book 2 $8.99, book 3 8.99 and the trilogy is $26.98.  At Amazon, the 1st book is $4.69, the 2nd $7.70, 3rd $5.98 and the trilogy is $17.85.  I have heard Kobo's prices are cheaper as well.  This is a BIG price difference!  Plus, paying $26.98 for an ebook is ridiculous when you can get the DTB trilogy at Walmart for about $31.  There is no way I will buy these books at B&N because they are so much more in price.  I will probably buy them at Amazon and read them on my ipad.  Between the price differences of books, the lack of decent apps and having good apps only available for the tablet (tv.com, jeopardy and wheel of fortune), I'm afraid B&N will be losing a lot of my business.

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Keep in mind that Walmart pays its employees as little as possible and recently yanked the benefits from its part-time employees, which is how, in part, they keep their prices low.  

[roxmysoxGA]

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Irishelf wrote:

I find that many ebooks are higher at B&N than other sites (especially Amazon).  This seems particularly true of sci-fi/fantasy books.  And sometimes the difference is significant. 

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That's the great thing about the Nook.  You are not bound to buy your books from B&N.  You have options.

[Ya_Ya]

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beeyebickiebuy wrote:

Keep in mind that Walmart pays its employees as little as possible and recently yanked the benefits from its part-time employees, which is how, in part, they keep their prices low.  

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Don't you know, the only thing that matters is that I can get things I don't need, just want, as cheaply as possible?

What are you, a socialist, that things like fair wages, decent working conditions and *gasp* benefits factor in your decisions?

/end sarcasm font.  

[bklvr896]

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Irishelf wrote:

I find that many ebooks are higher at B&N than other sites (especially Amazon).  This seems particularly true of sci-fi/fantasy books.  And sometimes the difference is significant.  For example, the Hunger Games series.  At B&N, the price for book 1 is $7.49, book 2 $8.99, book 3 8.99 and the trilogy is $26.98.  At Amazon, the 1st book is $4.69, the 2nd $7.70, 3rd $5.98 and the trilogy is $17.85.  I have heard Kobo's prices are cheaper as well.  This is a BIG price difference!  Plus, paying $26.98 for an ebook is ridiculous when you can get the DTB trilogy at Walmart for about $31.  There is no way I will buy these books at B&N because they are so much more in price.  I will probably buy them at Amazon and read them on my ipad.  Between the price differences of books, the lack of decent apps and having good apps only available for the tablet (tv.com, jeopardy and wheel of fortune), I'm afraid B&N will be losing a lot of my business.

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I search Kobo a lot and buy a number of books there, but I find that Kobo books tend to be higher than B&N books.  I've even found B&N is cheaper even when I can use a Kobo discount coupon.

Since Amazon can and will sell eBooks at a loss, you're going to find instances where they're doing this and B&N simply doesn't have the capital behind it to take a loss on the sales.  I'm sure they'd love to be able to match Amazon pricing all the time, but fiscally, probably not a reality.

[tygerlili]

I'm disappointed too to find that most Nook books aren't much cheaper than their hard-copy counterparts! (Also that no dust-jacket or descriptive information is included in case I bought a book a long time ago and can't remember what it was about.) For that kind of money, I want a hard copy with a nice cover.

[tygerlili]

AlanNJ, I also find that the LendMe feature is not very useful for the same reason (you can only lend a book once) and also because you can only lend it for two weeks. Going back the other way, I can only think of two books I've ever finished in two weeks or less.