https://twitter.com/b6n/status/258785250145087488
The message "This price was set by the publisher" only appears when he's logged in. That message is a tipoff that the book is sold under the agency model, where the publisher sets the price and Amazon takes a cut off the top. Under the agency rules, Amazon had no choice but to sell at that price.
HarperCollins, the publisher of this book, was one of the three publishers that settled with the DoJ in the lawsuit that accused the publishers of colluding with Apple to use the agency model to impose price-fixing on ebooks. As part of the settlement they agreed to knock it off. [1] But obviously the DoJ does not have jurisdiction outside the USA, so they presumably would still be free to force that model elsewhere.
Tim Bray is based in Canada, so if he's logged in Amazon presumably would treat it as a Canadian sale, and still sell the book under the agency pricing?
edit to add: I tried going to Amazon.ca to see what they'd show a US-based customer, but they don't seem to show me Kindle versions of that book at all.
[1] http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/06/apple-ebooks-idUSL...
Logged in as "me, US guy with US credit card, US registered Kindle, shipping address, etc..", I get $9.48.
With an anonymous browser window, here in Italy, I get: $14.27 includes VAT* & free international wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet.
I would imagine that if he attempted to check out as an anonymous user, as soon as he put in his address, the first price would be shown.
The anti trust action makes more sense, but he probably didn't make that connection.
don't like the price? don't buy it.
Amazon is doing the same thing but with numbers.
I don't think that applies in this case, which seems to be as a result of either Canadian Value Added Tax and/or the agency model, but it's why prices in other countries might seem to differ from the price you see when you're just browsing Amazon.com.
If you don't like a product then don't buy it, the price will most likely come down. It might be hard for people to understand how cold the mathematics and economics are but it really does go both ways.
This is roughly the same as the $9.48 Amazon-set price that Tim sees, plus 20% VAT.
