Powells Charging Less for Agency Model Books?

[BrandieC]

I have been maintaining a watchlist on Luzme, in the hopes that the site will alert me when one of my desired eBooks drops in price.  Recently, a new store has appeared on Luzme for USA eBooks, Powells, and its prices for some of my wishlist eBooks are substantially lower than those at B&N and other major retailers, even on Agency model eBooks.  As an example, 1222, by Anne Holt, is $11.99 at all of the major retailers and is an Agency eBook sold by Simon & Schuster, yet Powells is selling it for $7.76 for ADE (allegedly discounted off a list price of $8.74).  The eBooks have different ISBN numbers, and, according to the Powells site, the eBook they are selling was published by Corvus in December 2010, while the eBook sold by B&N was published by Scribner in December 2011.

Powells has store locations in Oregon, so how is it able to sell Agency model eBooks for less than the Agency price?  I'm assuming it has something to do with the difference in publisher between the sites, but I don't understand how two different publishers can be selling the same eBook simultaneously.  I remember there was a publisher in the horror genre (Dorchester?) which was selling authors' eBooks after their authority to do so had been withdrawn, and I don't want to purchase from another publisher doing the same thing, but the Powells prices are very appealing.

Does anyone have any insight here?

[keriflur]

This is... interesting.

Corvus, the publisher for the edition that Powell's is selling, is a UK imprint of Atlantic Books, a UK publisher.  The way that two pubs can sell the same book at the same time is that they are in different markets (Corvus in the UK, S&S here in the US).  The part that doesn't make sense to me is that I don't think it's legal for Corvus to sell books through a US vendor in the US market, as S&S should have US publication rights.

So, the conclusion I've come to is... I have no idea how Powell's is pulling this off, but I'm going to search for a few other books that I know are out as ebooks in the UK but not here, and if I find them, I'm snapping them up!

FWIW, historically Powell's is on the up and up.  If this is illegal, it's a mistake, but Corvus is NOT Dorchester, and is not shorting their authors as far as I can find on the net, so I would expect the author will still be paid, it will just be based on their UK royalty rate from Corvus, not their US rate from S&S.

Here's the link to the ISBN book info on Goodreads (which lists Atlantic as the Pub, def. UK):

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13614070-1222

Here's the Corvus website:

http://corvus-books.co.uk/

[Doug_Pardee Distinguished Bibliophile]

Are you able to actually buy it? A while back, B&N went through a phase of having a bunch of old, no-longer-available titles showing up in their searches. It drove some people crazy, especially with Robert Crais's The Watchman:

http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/NOOK-First-Edition-General/Ordered-free-book-but-it-won-t-dow...

http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/NOOK-First-Edition-General/C-mon-B-amp-N-and-perhaps-publishe...

[BrandieC]

@ Doug_Pardee:

I don't know; I didn't try to buy it because I was concerned about whether it was on the "up and up" and I've never purchased from that site before.

[keriflur]

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BrandieC wrote:

@ Doug_Pardee:

I don't know; I didn't try to buy it because I was concerned about whether it was on the "up and up" and I've never purchased from that site before.

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If you want it, go for it.  Powell's is on the up and up.

[DCLOVELL]

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keriflur wrote:

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BrandieC wrote:

@ Doug_Pardee:

I don't know; I didn't try to buy it because I was concerned about whether it was on the "up and up" and I've never purchased from that site before.

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If you want it, go for it.  Powell's is on the up and up.

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I second that.  I have purchased from them and they are fine.  My purchase actually went back through Google E-Books.

Please let us know how you make out.

[Tim40744]

I tried it, for curiosity's sake. The transaction completed without a hitch. The cost was $7.76 (I used PayPal) As suspected, when I opened the ebook, the publisher was listed as Corvus, an imprint of Atlantic Books. This is indeed the British publisher...the US publisher is Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Y'alls suspicion was correct about the reason for the lower price. 

Let your conscience be your guide.

Edit: Looking back, I see the "Y'alls" was Keriflur. Good catch. 

[patgolfneb]

I gave kudos to Keriflur also. OT, but her post, by example demonstrates what is missing from many others posts, including unfortunately a number of my own. She demonstrated knowledge, added some perspective and genuinely tried to add to the topic. This is the reason even though we frequently disagree, I added this kudo post.

[keriflur]

Thanks, Tim40744 and patgolfneb!