Price matching issues

[alhawke]

So I'm wide. I'm just ending a promotion and both Google Play and Amazon are price matching. This is bad because it could conceivably take a long time for either one to drop their price matches. It's going to be hard to convince Amazon to drop a price match if Google Play continues a lower price. And it's going to be hard to get Google Play to drop their price match if Amazon is lowered. So... Any ideas out there? I contacted GooglePlay first. I think I have to wait this one out. Wouldn't it be nice if we update a price and it's just accepted? 

[Jeff Tanyard]

Someone else--I think it was Patty Jansen--had the same problem years ago, though I can't remember exactly how she resolved it.  Just keep escalating up the corporate chain of command, I guess.

[alhawke]

Someone else--I think it was Patty Jansen--had the same problem years ago, though I can't remember exactly how she resolved it.  Just keep escalating up the corporate chain of command, I guess.

Thanks, Jeff. That's what I'm doing. I'm a bit worried about going in circles. 

[alhawke]

I'm curious, why don't a lot more authors who are publishing wide have this issue?

It happens every time with me. Lucky, I guess. Occasionally it can take up to two weeks to return my Amazon book to regular price. Usually, it's a few days. It's most concerning when more than one retailer are matching.

For this reason, I didn't extend available retailers to Streetlib and a few other markets. As it is, when I change a price, I have to change it in Kobo, nook, Smashwords, GooglePlay, Apple, and Amazon. And each one that goes awry seems to mess up Amazon. Amazon is the most aggressive with their price matches.

[Cephus]

Honestly, it doesn't matter. At least with KDP, you get paid the same amount no matter what the cost to consumers for your book is. They're doing it for competition and to make the book look more appealing to consumers. Does it really matter?

[alhawke]

Honestly, it doesn't matter. At least with KDP, you get paid the same amount no matter what the cost to consumers for your book is. They're doing it for competition and to make the book look more appealing to consumers. Does it really matter?

It can. The price remains at 99c. They only honor your higher royalty at 70 instead of 30. So that's 70% of 99c instead of 30%. The sell is still for a 99c book. That's a loss of revenue. And I've had books not return to regular price for two weeks before.

Aside from venting, I was hoping someone's thought of a way around this. I don't think there is. It was far easier when I had a book in KU. The price is scheduled and then immediately returns to regular price after midnight.

In this case, I'm happy to report all prices returned to normal after GooglePlay dropped the price match after I emailed them.

[Cabbages and kings]

Honestly, it doesn't matter. At least with KDP, you get paid the same amount no matter what the cost to consumers for your book is. They're doing it for competition and to make the book look more appealing to consumers. Does it really matter?

It can. The price remains at 99c. They only honor your higher royalty at 70 instead of 30. So that's 70% of 99c instead of 30%. The sell is still for a 99c book. That's a loss of revenue. And I've had books not return to regular price for two weeks before.

Aside from venting, I was hoping someone's thought of a way around this. I don't think there is. It was far easier when I had a book in KU. The price is scheduled and then immediately returns to regular price after midnight.

In this case, I'm happy to report all prices returned to normal after GooglePlay dropped the price match after I emailed them.

How did you explain the situation in the email?

[alhawke]

Just told them they were price matching and to please return price to asking price. After Google returned the price, Amazon followed without me having to call them.

I think other wide writers don't talk about this cause nothing else can be done.  It's just accepted. I'm done. I won't talk about it anymore, unless there's a solution. Nevertheless, it'd be nice if we didn't have to contact retailers every single time.

[Jeff Tanyard]

Honestly, it doesn't matter. At least with KDP, you get paid the same amount no matter what the cost to consumers for your book is. They're doing it for competition and to make the book look more appealing to consumers. Does it really matter?

It can. The price remains at 99c. They only honor your higher royalty at 70 instead of 30. So that's 70% of 99c instead of 30%. The sell is still for a 99c book. That's a loss of revenue. And I've had books not return to regular price for two weeks before.

I would add that Amazon historically frowns upon a book in the 70% bracket that is price-matched to a price in the 35% bracket.  And by "frowns upon" I mean they'll remove your book from the store and send you a nasty email and maybe even lock your author account.  Back in the day, unscrupulous authors were intentionally doing this sort of price-matching, and Amazon didn't like it one bit.  If you value your KDP account, then this sort of price-matching is something to avoid by any means necessary.  (This does not apply to permafree, only to non-zero prices.)

Of course, that stuff all happened years ago, and maybe Amazon doesn't care anymore.  But I wouldn't chance it.

[alhawke]

I understand and I wouldn't do that. I was referring to pricing the book back up to $3.99 or $4.99 and clicking the 70% when rising the price up. Amazon will honor 70%, not your asking price, and still only return 70% of a 99c sale until they stop their price matching thing.

[Cabbages and kings]

Honestly, it doesn't matter. At least with KDP, you get paid the same amount no matter what the cost to consumers for your book is. They're doing it for competition and to make the book look more appealing to consumers. Does it really matter?

It can. The price remains at 99c. They only honor your higher royalty at 70 instead of 30. So that's 70% of 99c instead of 30%. The sell is still for a 99c book. That's a loss of revenue. And I've had books not return to regular price for two weeks before.

I would add that Amazon historically frowns upon a book in the 70% bracket that is price-matched to a price in the 35% bracket.  And by "frowns upon" I mean they'll remove your book from the store and send you a nasty email and maybe even lock your author account.  Back in the day, unscrupulous authors were intentionally doing this sort of price-matching, and Amazon didn't like it one bit.  If you value your KDP account, then this sort of price-matching is something to avoid by any means necessary.  (This does not apply to permafree, only to non-zero prices.)

Of course, that stuff all happened years ago, and maybe Amazon doesn't care anymore.  But I wouldn't chance it.

So you can take a book that is in the 70% bracket  and make it permafree, and the Amazon bots won't flag it as gaming the system? Has anyone done this without any problems? I mean a human would understand, but will the bots understand? I know it depends on the bot's programing, but sometimes programs aren't set up to handle things correctly.

[Jeff Tanyard]

So you can take a book that is in the 70% bracket  and make it permafree, and the Amazon bots won't flag it as gaming the system?

Correct.

I mean a human would understand, but will the bots understand? I know it depends on the bot's programing, but sometimes programs aren't set up to handle things correctly.

I've never heard of bots flagging a permafree book for this sort of thing.  And besides, there's no money being made, so why would they?  The royalty bracket is irrelevant.  It's zero either way.

To the best of my recollection, the only times permafree books have been flagged is when they're in KU and the author is obviously violating the exclusivity clause.  In that instance, the author is usually trying to promote the book on the same day the book goes live in order to get a bunch of KU reads before Amazon discovers the hustle and removes the book from the store.  The book would only be available for a few days at most, but if the author had a huge mailing list and was able to motivate lots of KU subscribers to read all the way through, then it could be quite lucrative.  Publish a new book every week, and you've got a business model, at least until Amazon gets tired of your shenanigans and locks your KDP account.  Which does eventually happen, not to mention the possibility of having those KU reads taken away before payout or, if you're really egregious and stubborn, having Amazon take you to court in order to make an example of you.  Even in this case, though, it's the violation of the KU exclusivity clause that is the casus belli here, not anything specific to permafree.

This particular scam was only possible because the people at KDP doing the price-matching weren't the same as the people policing KU for exclusivity violations.  The left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing, and this created a window of opportunity.

There many KU scams back in the day, and this was just one of them.

But a permafree book that's NOT in KU will almost certainly be okay with Amazon so long as it's not plagiarized or something.

[TimothyEllis]

the only times permafree books have been flagged is when they're in KU and the author is obviously violating the exclusivity clause.

That is the reason why the exclusivity clause exists.

To stop people with free books making money on them in KU.

[notthatamanda]

So you can take a book that is in the 70% bracket  and make it permafree, and the Amazon bots won't flag it as gaming the system? Has anyone done this without any problems? I mean a human would understand, but will the bots understand? I know it depends on the bot's programing, but sometimes programs aren't set up to handle things correctly.

Technically you can't take a book that it is in the 70% bracket and make it permafree. You can't make any book free on Amazon outside of your KU days. What you do is ask them to make it free. I have two trilogies and both book ones are priced in the 70% royalty range and are on Amazon for free right now. When they make the book free they give you a little speech about how it is their decision and they can take it away at any time. If the book reverts back to priced, you would have to contact them again.

[alhawke]

When they make the book free they give you a little speech about how it is their decision and they can take it away at any time. If the book reverts back to priced, you would have to contact them again.

This is why running free promos wide can be a nail-biting experience. They can always say no.

[notthatamanda]

That's true. I am wide and I just keep the first in series free as much as possible everywhere. I've done no promos this year and the two free books have been downloaded 200+ times each.