Author Topic: Anyone know what's going on with Permafree? (Read 3596 times)

GarethKPengelly · « **on:** June 29, 2020, 02:26:34 AM »

Hey guys,

got an issue! Managed to line up a Bookbub on a permafree for next month - yay! - but all my permafrees have suddenly reverted back to being paid!

Messaged KDP in particular about the one I'm going to be promoting, and they've set it back to free again. Phew.

However, now, less than 24 hours later, it's switched back to paid again! Aaargh!

What's happening? Anyone else having this happen?

Cheers

TimothyEllis · « **Reply #1 on:** June 29, 2020, 02:28:13 AM »

Where else do you have the books listed?

And have you checked those are still free?

notthatamanda · « **Reply #2 on:** June 29, 2020, 02:32:24 AM »

Thank you for posting this. I checked and my two permafrees are still free on Amazon. If you are in the US I suggest you see if you can get them to call you via authorcentral.com. May have to wait until Monday. That usually gets price matching straightened out quicker. Crossing my fingers for you.

Edit - also you can post a link here and a link to where it is free and ask people to report it from their Amazon account. I would do that for you if you want.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #3 on:** June 29, 2020, 02:33:38 AM »

Quote from: TimothyEllis on June 29, 2020, 02:28:13 AM

Where else do you have the books listed?

And have you checked those are still free?

Yup, checked, still free elsewhere. And the KDP rep said they checked and then set it to pricematch again. The book WAS free for the whole of yesterday, but for some reason reverted back again today.

Very annoyed, don't need this right before my one and only bookbub I've ever managed to land, haha. Hoping it's just a glitch and it'll revert back to free again by tomorrow. If not, I'm ringing KDP.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #4 on:** June 29, 2020, 03:02:53 AM »

Taken the opportunity whilst it's off permafree to update the backmatter before the promo... gives them one less excuse to revert it back to paid when they finally do make it free again... sigh...

Jeff Tanyard · « **Reply #5 on:** June 29, 2020, 06:04:15 AM »

I've never even heard of that happening. We all know permafree books occasionally revert back to paid, but I've never heard of it happening the day after becoming permafree in the first place.

Hope you get it sorted out, man. A Bookbub is too important to screw around with.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #6 on:** June 29, 2020, 06:16:03 AM »

Quote from: Jeff Tanyard on June 29, 2020, 06:04:15 AM

Hope you get it sorted out, man. A Bookbub is too important to screw around with.

Yeah, just a bit lol.

Hoping it's just a brief glitch and it'll revert back to free again tomorrow.

We'll see...

Jeff Tanyard · « **Reply #7 on:** June 29, 2020, 01:29:59 PM »

Quote from: GarethKPengelly on June 29, 2020, 06:16:03 AM

Quote from: Jeff Tanyard on June 29, 2020, 06:04:15 AM
Hope you get it sorted out, man. A Bookbub is too important to screw around with.

Yeah, just a bit lol.

Hoping it's just a brief glitch and it'll revert back to free again tomorrow.

We'll see...

If it's not free tomorrow, contact Amazon again. Mention the Bookbub you have coming up. And after that little note, follow the price-matching template KDP gives you to the letter. And be polite, too, and say thanks, 'cause they're humans and they deal with enough assholes in the course of their jobs already. That's something I have to constantly remind myself, because it's real easy to get so wrapped up in my own problems that I end up spreading the misery, and I really don't want to do that.

Anyway, good luck.

And please keep us updated.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #8 on:** June 29, 2020, 08:41:21 PM »

Still not back to free.

Going to use the 'call back' feature on Author Central, see if I can talk to a person on the phone.

Only the plus side, sold 14 copies full yesterday, while it's not free, haha.

MonkeyWithAPen · « **Reply #9 on:** June 30, 2020, 05:54:49 AM »

Are you using the email contact form to request the freebie to begin with? I just requested two permafrees and it took a couple days but they did it without issue. I have heard of them reverting but I haven't had it happen to me before.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #10 on:** June 30, 2020, 05:58:47 AM »

Quote from: MonkeyWithAPen on June 30, 2020, 05:54:49 AM

Are you using the email contact form to request the freebie to begin with? I just requested two permafrees and it took a couple days but they did it without issue. I have heard of them reverting but I haven't had it happen to me before.

Yeah, I'm an old hand with it, got three permafree first in series over three different series.

Went through the usual process, and it seemed to work, but only for a day :(

Still waiting on an email reply from them, as there's no way to get them to ring you when you live in the UK. US Author Central says you need a US number for a call back. And UK Author Central doesn't give a phone option full stop.

notthatamanda · « **Reply #11 on:** June 30, 2020, 06:40:34 AM »

If you want to PM me the links I'll report that it's free on other sites. That used to work.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #12 on:** June 30, 2020, 06:41:42 AM »

Found a work-around, lol.

You can buy an American number on Skype for a fiver, so I did, and got them to ring me back on that!

Very helpful chap at KDP manually price-matched it while I was on the line, said it's gonna kick in within the next 48hrs.

I stressed that it's for a Bookbub promo and that I CANNOT have it dropping back off again, so he said he's gonna put a note on it, however that will help.

All's well that (hopefully) ends well!

Jeff Tanyard · « **Reply #13 on:** June 30, 2020, 07:22:23 AM »

Quote from: GarethKPengelly on June 30, 2020, 06:41:42 AM

Found a work-around, lol.

You can buy an American number on Skype for a fiver, so I did, and got them to ring me back on that!

Very helpful chap at KDP manually price-matched it while I was on the line, said it's gonna kick in within the next 48hrs.

I stressed that it's for a Bookbub promo and that I CANNOT have it dropping back off again, so he said he's gonna put a note on it, however that will help.

All's well that (hopefully) ends well!

That's tentatively good news. *fingers crossed*

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #14 on:** June 30, 2020, 07:26:10 AM »

Quote from: Jeff Tanyard on June 30, 2020, 07:22:23 AM

Quote from: GarethKPengelly on June 30, 2020, 06:41:42 AM
Found a work-around, lol.

You can buy an American number on Skype for a fiver, so I did, and got them to ring me back on that!

Very helpful chap at KDP manually price-matched it while I was on the line, said it's gonna kick in within the next 48hrs.

I stressed that it's for a Bookbub promo and that I CANNOT have it dropping back off again, so he said he's gonna put a note on it, however that will help.

All's well that (hopefully) ends well!

That's tentatively good news. *fingers crossed*

Aye, I'm not gonna hold my breath, but I'm allowing myself to be cautiously optimistic lol.

notthatamanda · « **Reply #15 on:** June 30, 2020, 11:57:35 AM »

I hope it stays free for ya.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #16 on:** July 02, 2020, 09:29:26 PM »

Aaaaargh! God give me strength!

So, after speaking to them on the phone, they assured me that they'd fixed the price matching issue. And, fair enough, slowly but surely over the last couple of days it did indeed start to revert back to permafree across each of the stores.

Just out of interest, I check again this morning. Y'know... just to be sure. Guess what?

Back to PAID again across all stores!

My god... this book has been permafree for the last two years, why on earth did they have to start messing about with it NOW of all times, with my one and only chance at a Bookbub less than three weeks away?

Trying to get through on the phone to them, but lines are closed apparently, even though the site says they should have opened half an hour ago...

notthatamanda · « **Reply #17 on:** July 02, 2020, 09:34:32 PM »

That is very argh. Sorry. Mine are still holding at free. I wonder why they are picking on you. Did you announce your upcoming bookbub on your website? Just a theory, a very paranoid theory.

TimothyEllis · « **Reply #18 on:** July 02, 2020, 09:35:06 PM »

Sounds like someone did an update to some code, and it now has a bug where changes to price to make it free are being reverse because some flag is set wrong.

I'd be trying to get whoever you speak to to get a programmer to to check the code.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #19 on:** July 02, 2020, 09:41:50 PM »

I know! I'm pulling my hair out, and I have little enough hair as it is!

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #20 on:** July 02, 2020, 10:25:22 PM »

Been on the phone to them again. Which is a ballache, as they require a US number, so I have to do it through Skype as I'm in the UK.

They said that it SHOULD work this time. We shall see...

She-la-te-da · « **Reply #21 on:** July 03, 2020, 09:47:43 PM »

Hope it works out. I've been seeing an increase in people reporting that their permafrees are kicking back to paid. Many seem to have it happen when they update something in the file. As Timothy said, someone has likely tweaked code somewhere and messed things up. Again.

Simon Haynes · « **Reply #22 on:** July 04, 2020, 07:19:44 AM »

My permafree just reverted to 99c on the US store. Wonder if it's a coincidence that they reverted to 99c just before the 'new release notification' was sent out??

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #23 on:** July 04, 2020, 09:07:15 AM »

Very annoying, eh?

Mine's STILL not back at free yet.

If it's not free by morning, I'm ringing again.

TimothyEllis · « **Reply #24 on:** July 04, 2020, 11:20:23 AM »

I've moved this into the What is Amazon doing now? area.

It meant changing private to public, so if anyone objects, let me know.

But in public, the Amazon bots might spot it and highlight the problem to someone who can actually fix it. Wishful thinking perhaps.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #25 on:** July 04, 2020, 08:09:48 PM »

Good thinking, Tim, cheers.

Also, two days later, still not back to free. Usually it takes about 24hrs or less for my books to switch to permafree, so they're either fiddling with something, or the person on the phone who assured me they were sorting the price match hasn't actually done anything.

notthatamanda · « **Reply #26 on:** July 04, 2020, 09:15:41 PM »

Rhetorical - what's the date on your book bub. You might want to let Bookbub know you are having a big issue and ask them how late you can cancel and get your money back. Just a suggestion, feel free to ignore. Good luck.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #27 on:** July 04, 2020, 09:38:06 PM »

Quote from: notthatamanda on July 04, 2020, 09:15:41 PM

Rhetorical - what's the date on your book bub. You might want to let Bookbub know you are having a big issue and ask them how late you can cancel and get your money back. Just a suggestion, feel free to ignore. Good luck.

I've already spoke to bookbub about it. I've asked them whether, worst comes to the worst, I can take it out of wide, stick it into KU, then use my free days for the promo period.

Hopefully that will be amenable to them.

TimothyEllis · « **Reply #28 on:** July 04, 2020, 09:42:36 PM »

Will Bookbub shift the date later at all?

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #29 on:** July 04, 2020, 11:55:55 PM »

Yes, get in!

The price still wasn't matching, so rang them again and finally got through to someone who took the time to look into the problem properly.

Turns out, the title on Kobo/Nook/iTunes is slightly different to how it appears on Amazon. In addition, I've updated the cover on KDP and didn't upload the same cover to D2D.

The chap at KDP reckons that these small differences are what's stopping the price match from sticking.

So my job now is to get D2D titles and cover exactly matching that of the book live on Amazon, and it should well go free and stick.

Fingers crossed, guys. Fingers crossed.

notthatamanda · « **Reply #30 on:** July 05, 2020, 12:11:55 AM »

Fingers crossed for you.

Simon Haynes · « **Reply #31 on:** July 05, 2020, 03:47:49 AM »

Mine's back to free again. Will check the Kobo title/subtitle to make sure it's identical - thanks for that.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #32 on:** July 07, 2020, 10:11:23 PM »

Right, update then.

So after making sure all the metadata matched on D2D on Friday, I left it for a few days to see if it would then go on to price match by itself.

It's now Tuesday, and the book is free on Amazon.com and .co.uk. Now yet free on the other stores though.

I'll leave it till tomorrow to see if it's started to go free on them, if it hasn't, on the phone again lol

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #33 on:** July 09, 2020, 09:58:26 PM »

Yes! Finally!

After many emails and many phone calls, the book is now set to free across all Amazon marketplaces! And with only just over a week to go before the Bookbub!

Perseverance (and constantly complaining) does pay off.

Hopefully this thread will serve as a warning to anyone else who manages to blag themselves a Bookbub - if you're relying on Amazon to price-match your book for you before the promo, start pestering them early, just in case you find yourself in the same situation as me!

notthatamanda · « **Reply #34 on:** July 09, 2020, 10:24:35 PM »

Good luck!

Jeff Tanyard · « **Reply #35 on:** July 10, 2020, 06:09:51 AM »

Quote from: GarethKPengelly on July 09, 2020, 09:58:26 PM

Yes! Finally!

After many emails and many phone calls, the book is now set to free across all Amazon marketplaces! And with only just over a week to go before the Bookbub!

Perseverance (and constantly complaining) does pay off.

Hopefully this thread will serve as a warning to anyone else who manages to blag themselves a Bookbub - if you're relying on Amazon to price-match your book for you before the promo, start pestering them early, just in case you find yourself in the same situation as me!

Glad to hear it, and good luck with the promotion.

cecilia_writer · « **Reply #36 on:** July 11, 2020, 04:09:57 AM »

Well done for persevering and good luck with your promotion.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #37 on:** July 11, 2020, 06:41:38 AM »

Quote from: Jeff Tanyard on July 10, 2020, 06:09:51 AM

Glad to hear it, and good luck with the promotion.

Quote from: cecilia_writer on July 11, 2020, 04:09:57 AM

Well done for persevering and good luck with your promotion.

Quote from: notthatamanda on July 09, 2020, 10:24:35 PM

Good luck!

Thanks all! I'll be sure to post a Bookbub results thread once the big day is done. Always find those kind of threads really informative!

Simon Haynes · « **Reply #38 on:** July 12, 2020, 06:36:22 AM »

Mine just reverted from 0.00 back to 99c (again). Emailed KDP support.

it's a prequel novella, originally intended as a newsletter magnet but now offered as a permafree. Or at least, it's meant to be a permafree.

GarethKPengelly · « **Reply #39 on:** July 12, 2020, 07:30:41 AM »

Quote from: Simon Haynes on July 12, 2020, 06:36:22 AM

Mine just reverted from 0.00 back to 99c (again). Emailed KDP support.

it's a prequel novella, originally intended as a newsletter magnet but now offered as a permafree. Or at least, it's meant to be a permafree.

Don't know what's going on at KDP atm! They must have updated their software and have some kind of bug in the system, because they had to look into my issue for some days to find the problem and finally sort it out.

Hopefully they'll get yours back free again quickly!

TimothyEllis · « **Reply #40 on:** July 13, 2020, 02:03:38 PM »

Adding to the list of weird....

I just discovered my 3rd book in a series, which I changed all of them from 3.99 to 4.99 and updated the blurbs for each, was back at 3.99, and without the changes I made to the blurb.

Seems to be the same problem, in the change system.

Simon Haynes · « **Reply #41 on:** July 13, 2020, 07:54:11 PM »

They told me I was seeing 99c on the US store because I was viewing it from Australia. I told them Australia was free (as well) last week, and had also reverted.

I think they've fixed it now.

The annoying thing is when you're running Bookbub ads stating the thing is free, and suddenly it isn't. At least with AMS ads (with no text), the ad still works.

News:

Author Topic: Anyone know what's going on with Permafree? (Read 3596 times)