101–110 of 117 posts
Amazon seems to be following Microsoft's EEE strategy ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguis... ), skipping the Extend
EEE is about extending open standards in a way that extinguishes the competition, since they can't keep up. Amazon buying a competitor and shutting it down might be monopolistic, but it's not EEE.
From the comments I got: 1. It was a good place to buy English books in non-English speaking countries. 2. The shipping was free (Actually, folded into the price of the book and location dependent) 3. Delivery could take anywhere between a few weeks to months. I'm wondering if it would be viable to offer an alternative service out of India and I'm willing to try out an experiment: Post the title of a book you would h…
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I'm inside the EU (Ireland) and "reasonably priced books in English aren't easy to find" unless you're buying pre-owned books and in most cases I can't find what I'm looking for specially when it comes to tech books. As an island, we're very much dependent on Amazon.co.uk for books.
They don't have everything when it comes to tech or more niche material, but Kenny's ( https://www.kennys.ie/ ) is very good and offers free (and often fast) shipping.
I do wonder if Brexit and customs to be paid for all of the EU has anything to do with this decision. Book Depsitory is based in the UK. I have inadvertently ordered from them, to the Netherlands, as they had a “Bookdepository NL” store, which made it seem like they are an EU entity. However, when the book arrived, I was hit by unexpected customs charges that were half the price of the book. Looking at recent reviews…
I do wonder if Brexit and customs to be paid for all of the EU has anything to do with this decision. Book Depsitory is based in the UK. I have inadvertently ordered from them, to the Netherlands, as they had a “Bookdepository NL” store, which made it seem like they are an EU entity. However, when the book arrived, I was hit by unexpected customs charges that were half the price of the book. Looking at recent reviews…
However, if even 1% or 0.1% of orders gets incorrectly taxed that could lead to negative reviews and put people off.
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It's really bad. We probably want to not have monopolies like Amazon moving forward. So much so that we could probably pass laws to prevent it. Just in case we forget.
Pretty sure the US has laws about it. But their interpretation has changed since the famous AT&T breakup.
Overall the US seems to be incredibly open to monopsonies, monopolies, and oligopolies, and very hostile to any restraint on such things. Though, the merest hint of success from a non-US entity seems to invoke bipartisan terror and pleadings for sanctions and new regulations. Funny that.
There are no words for how much this sucks. If you are outside the US/EU, reasonably priced books in english aren't easy to find. CompSci literature in English? Forget it, buddy. Book Depository had decent prices with free international shipping to most of the world. Sure, I have to wait a month and sometimes they have to reship because it got damaged in transport, but if I need a book immediately Library Genesis is…
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Books are not VAT free. On a €15 book I ended up getting charged €9 for customs: €1 for the reduced VAT for books €6.50 for the customs handling fee €1.50 for VAT on the customs handling fee So it’s the customs handling fee being added that’s contributed to the price increase. Seems like the Netherlands started to enforce it for even small value orders from the UK.
Leave a negative review for your government thats a ridiculous amount of charges for an import.
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"They also deliver worldwide for free.". They calculate shipping in the price. So depending on where you are you will see different price of the book. Still, the only option to get many english books shipped to a big part of the world.
I just checked a book ( The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson in paperback ) for shipping to New Zealand. Book Depository is $NZ 21.19 total. Including shipping a NZ Tax (GST). Discounted from $24.77 Amazon is $26.27 for the book, $24 for shipping, $7.50 for tax and $1.30 for "Exchange rate guarantee fee". Total is $NZ 59.27 or almost 3x what Book Depository wanted.
Wow, are you forced to have that if you make that purchase? That's a huge percentage to charge to cover someone's exchange rate risk over that timespan with those currencies. Someone's making out like an absolute bandit there.
I'm surprised but not surprised. Books get delivered 2-3 months later, if they ever get delivered at all. Need to contact support for replacement. End up preferring to pay the premium at local booksellers than buying from Book Depo. How do they even make money like this.