Recently I started reading books. I was browsing online looking to buy a book when I came across 2 different shops. One was selling a book (I won’t name it) cheap then the other, more expensive (but still the same book). I wondered, are they the same and is the cheaper one “fake” or are there such thing as “fake” books?

  • MeluchWriter@alien.topBEnglish
    0·
    10 months ago

    Just listened today to a podcast interviewing an indie author. His book is distributed partially through a non-Amazon printer, and the price has been the same for its entire release. Even so, he has noticed that occasionally Amazon will revert to some seller with a ludicrous price, even though the book is still available for well under half of the new purchase price. Could be a shady reseller that you’re running into. Don’t know if this is what you’re running into, but it reminded me of it.

    • arvidsem@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      A lot of independent booksellers on Amazon are drop-ship bots. They will automatically create listings for books based on the cost of buying the book from another seller and re-shipping. Occasionally, two of those bots will find each other and start pricing a book based on each other which results in the price spiralling to crazy levels.

    • BJntheRV@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I’ve read something about this happening not just with books but with products in general. Basically, Amazon will push the lowest price option in an effort to drive sales through them (Amazon).