Re: Beware of Amazon.com
Think of Amazon as a Mall with lots of little stores. Whenever you see a
seller, usually labeled Amazon marketplace or just sellers, it isn't
from Amazon.
For example William Crawford's Keeper's of Light is out of print but
available on Amazon from other sellers.
http://www.amazon.com/Keepers-Light-History-Photographic-Processes/dp/0871001586/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-3150362-2579851?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189192897&sr=8-1
This is much like the Ebay buy it now feature. Any seller can name any
price. It's the ultimate demonstration of caveat emptor.
Amazon is just a business - whose pricing and interactions are fairly
public unlike many other businesses. Like any business there are pros
and cons. 20 Years ago if you wanted an out-of-print book and didn't
live in NYC or Chicago - it was very difficult to get and involved many
hours on the telephone. Now you can quickly search and find most
anything between Amazon, Abe, bookfinder.com and Alibris.
Amazon is a big business but so was Kodak (not so big anymore). They
aren't a charity or a non-profit (although they didn't turn a profit for
a long time) so they can charge what they want in a free marketplace. I
use them as well as other bookstores. I find my transactions with them
are straight-forward, error-free, and consistent. I also support my
local bookstores but the local bookstore inventory is by necessity
limited whereas Amazon can aggregate it's own, and it's marketplace
sellers into a limitless selection.
Just my 3 cents worth. -thom
Judy Seigel wrote:
Some months ago, a colleague e-mailed to tell me that Amazon.com was
charging $150 for, I think it was Reilly's book of Albumen & Salted
Paper printing.
Absurd of course, so could I suggest some other source? I figured it
was simply an overblown estimate of value of an out-of-print book you
could download for free (I heard) from University of something in
California. Or find for $20 on Abe Books.
But today, speaking with my friend, publisher of Midmarch Press (small
press that umbrella-ed Post-Factory, among others), I learn that
Amazon is charging $150 for Midmarch's most recent book, which is
actually priced at $25 (deliberately low, so artists can afford it).
She learned this from the book's editor, who called, distraught,
because a friend of *hers* had tried to buy it and been quoted that
price.
It seems that Amazon is like E-bay that Ryuji can't reach -- Cynthia
(the publisher) cannot get to speak to any person at Amazon, they
ignore her e-mails, and don't take phone calls, or surface mail. She
told her friend the obvious, send a check for $25 to Midmarch, 300
Riverside Dr, NYC 10025 (as I've mentioned on this list before, it's
always preferable to buy direct from author or small press as Amazon
takes a 60% cut -- you heard me, SIXTY PERCENT, plus publisher's cost
to ship to them)...
But I wonder how many more such cases exist, whether it's a mere
computer glitch, or intentional. (How Amazon treats small publishers
is anyway outrageous... I'd bet the farm they don't treat large
publishers that badly. They get away with it because people are
lazy...Don't want to think or move their butt -- just order it on
Amazon.)
This particular book by the way, is especially interesting to me and
one I intend to buy (and pay full price for!) myself... I've been
asked so many times about "The Club" (in part no doubt because there
are panels and snippets of its history in my own "Mutiny and the Main
Stream" and probably also because I've heard so much about it from,
for instance, Cynthia, whose late husband was also one of the
founders, as I believe was Harold Rosenberg). It's a memoir (title:
"Club without Walls") from the notes of the late Philip Pavia, another
founder & longtime Club secretary, edited by his wife, Natalie Edgar...
Meetings were on 10th street, ending at the Cedar Tavern, also in this
general neighborhood... Another spot for tourist groups to stand in
front of and listen to lectures of loosely related facts, tho my real
estate tax will feel it anyway. ... I don't remember but heard about
the days when you could get a nice studio on 10th Street for $20 or
$30/month. (You will I trust excuse the mention... No communication
from these parts can go out by land sea or air without mention of real
estate. It's the law.)
But lest my point get lost: beware of Amazon. com. They're out of
control.
love & kisses,
Judy
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