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The Cost of Being North
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Willow
May 12, 2013, 10:26:59 AM5/12/13
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Buying a book from the US has become increasingly frustrating and now seems impossible...
According to one Seller, the minimum cost to shop a book to Canada is $19+. That other Sellers ship a similar book for $9 is thus merely an aberration. New books are not an issue thanks to Book Depository in the UK, which ships here, there and everywhere shipping free. Other sellers in the UK and other parts of Europe ship a book here for under $10.
Bearing in mind that prices on everything - all the goods in Target, for example - are often 20 to 25% higher up here, the shipping charges are a major consideration for those of us addicted to internet shipping.
I know the USPS is in financial hot water but deterring customers seems a strange way to solve that problem...
That is still better than UPS. items shipped UPS Air are fine - thy arrive at your door with no additional charges. UPS land is a different matter altogether. They add a "customs clearance charge" of over $30 to most items. I normally will not buy from a US Seller who uses UPS, but once in a while I forget to check and their fellow arrives at our doorstep with a grin and charge to pay. Nope.
This is starting to make the electronic readers of more interest...
Willow
According to one Seller, the minimum cost to shop a book to Canada is $19+. That other Sellers ship a similar book for $9 is thus merely an aberration. New books are not an issue thanks to Book Depository in the UK, which ships here, there and everywhere shipping free. Other sellers in the UK and other parts of Europe ship a book here for under $10.
Bearing in mind that prices on everything - all the goods in Target, for example - are often 20 to 25% higher up here, the shipping charges are a major consideration for those of us addicted to internet shipping.
I know the USPS is in financial hot water but deterring customers seems a strange way to solve that problem...
That is still better than UPS. items shipped UPS Air are fine - thy arrive at your door with no additional charges. UPS land is a different matter altogether. They add a "customs clearance charge" of over $30 to most items. I normally will not buy from a US Seller who uses UPS, but once in a while I forget to check and their fellow arrives at our doorstep with a grin and charge to pay. Nope.
This is starting to make the electronic readers of more interest...
Willow
Message has been deleted
John Oliver
May 12, 2013, 8:18:28 PM5/12/13
to
On Mon, 13 May 2013 10:06:02 +1000, Mike Burke <mbu...@pcug.org.au>
wrote:
>I feel your pain, Willow. We don't have your problems with charges
>for Customs clearance and the like, but with shipping charges the way
>they are to and from the US buying hard cover books from their country
>of origin (a fetish of mine) is becoming ridiculously expensive.
>
>I have a Kindle and an iPad. For me, who reads a lot in bed at night,
>the backlit iPad is by far the better electronic reader. Now that
>Barnes and Noble have closed down their eReader.com operation, Kindle
>is pretty much the only source of ebooks that I use these days and as
>time passes I'm sure that ebook adaptations of print publications will
>become much better as publishers adapt to, and optimise towards, that
>medium.
>
>Mique
And ebooks from Amazon are getting rediculous. I'm finding lots of
cases where the paperback is $15 and the Kindle ebook is $13. Given
the shipping costs for paperbacks, the ebook is still much cheaper but
the price annoys me.
--
John Oliver
jdol...@westnet.com.au
wrote:
>for Customs clearance and the like, but with shipping charges the way
>they are to and from the US buying hard cover books from their country
>of origin (a fetish of mine) is becoming ridiculously expensive.
>
>I have a Kindle and an iPad. For me, who reads a lot in bed at night,
>the backlit iPad is by far the better electronic reader. Now that
>Barnes and Noble have closed down their eReader.com operation, Kindle
>is pretty much the only source of ebooks that I use these days and as
>time passes I'm sure that ebook adaptations of print publications will
>become much better as publishers adapt to, and optimise towards, that
>medium.
>
>Mique
And ebooks from Amazon are getting rediculous. I'm finding lots of
cases where the paperback is $15 and the Kindle ebook is $13. Given
the shipping costs for paperbacks, the ebook is still much cheaper but
the price annoys me.
--
John Oliver
jdol...@westnet.com.au
Brian
May 12, 2013, 9:02:03 PM5/12/13
to
countries without extra charges. At least nothing like $30?
Brian
May 12, 2013, 9:04:49 PM5/12/13
to
On Mon, 13 May 2013 10:18:28 +1000, John Oliver
<jdol...@westnet.com.au> wrote:
>And ebooks from Amazon are getting rediculous. I'm finding lots of
>cases where the paperback is $15 and the Kindle ebook is $13. Given
>the shipping costs for paperbacks, the ebook is still much cheaper but
>the price annoys me.
I just got a tablet and am using the Kindle app so I'm new to this but
<jdol...@westnet.com.au> wrote:
>And ebooks from Amazon are getting rediculous. I'm finding lots of
>cases where the paperback is $15 and the Kindle ebook is $13. Given
>the shipping costs for paperbacks, the ebook is still much cheaper but
>the price annoys me.
I have noticed that some of the e-books are more expensive than the
paper versions. I've seen an explanation that the publisher won't
allow discounts on e-books.
Mike Burke
May 12, 2013, 9:25:28 PM5/12/13
to
individual titles, particularly on recent releases of popular authors'
books. Another apparent anomaly I've noticed recently is where second-hand
books are advertised, on Amazon, at prices several times the new price.
That said, I often buy new release books second- hand from the Amazon
marketplace for cents on the new price dollar. Even with international
shipping such books are a bargain.
--
Mique
John Briggs
May 12, 2013, 9:32:06 PM5/12/13
to
it was stamped "Damaged" on the title page.
--
John Briggs
IanG
May 12, 2013, 9:58:02 PM5/12/13
to John Oliver
it; nor donate it and take a charitable deduction on your taxes; nor
lend it to your friends; nor give it away.
I may eventually have to get an e-Reader of some kind, but I am resisting.
ian
IanG
May 12, 2013, 9:58:52 PM5/12/13
to
On 5/12/2013 8:18 PM, John Oliver wrote:
Bill Gill
May 13, 2013, 9:09:09 AM5/13/13
to
a book I don't want it to be held ransom by the seller. I figure
if I buy it it is mine and I can do what I want to with it as
long as I don't copy it.
Of course I also want to read that book wherever I am, not just if
I happen to have that particular brand of e-reader. E-books should
not be locked. I should be able to transfer them to whatever reader
I am taking with me. Again keeping in mind that I should only have
one copy of it.
And then I read on some blog where somebody was quoting a friend
who was supposedly working in the publishing business that the FOAF
(Friend of a Friend) always broke the lock on his e-books because
he thought it was wrong. Of course the FOAF in any story is a
quick reminder that you should accept the story with a great
deal of skepticism.
Bill
John Oliver
May 13, 2013, 2:41:10 PM5/13/13
to
On Mon, 13 May 2013 08:09:09 -0500, Bill Gill <bill...@cox.net>
wrote:
>And then I read on some blog where somebody was quoting a friend
>who was supposedly working in the publishing business that the FOAF
>(Friend of a Friend) always broke the lock on his e-books because
>he thought it was wrong. Of course the FOAF in any story is a
>quick reminder that you should accept the story with a great
>deal of skepticism.
>
>Bill
It can be done. Use Calibre to store your books on a computer. Then
google for Apprentice Alf which should bring up a link to DRM removal
tools. Install that as a plugin for Calibre.
Transfer your ebook to Calibre. That removes the DRM and then you can
use calibre to move the book anyplace you want.
--
John Oliver
jdol...@westnet.com.au
wrote:
>And then I read on some blog where somebody was quoting a friend
>who was supposedly working in the publishing business that the FOAF
>(Friend of a Friend) always broke the lock on his e-books because
>he thought it was wrong. Of course the FOAF in any story is a
>quick reminder that you should accept the story with a great
>deal of skepticism.
>
>Bill
google for Apprentice Alf which should bring up a link to DRM removal
tools. Install that as a plugin for Calibre.
Transfer your ebook to Calibre. That removes the DRM and then you can
use calibre to move the book anyplace you want.
--
John Oliver
jdol...@westnet.com.au
J
May 13, 2013, 6:32:30 PM5/13/13
to
On May 12, 8:06 pm, Mike Burke <mbu...@pcug.org.au> wrote:
>
> I feel your pain, Willow. We don't have your problems with charges
> for Customs clearance and the like, but with shipping charges the way
> they are to and from the US buying hard cover books from their country
> of origin (a fetish of mine) is becoming ridiculously expensive.
There have been several British books in the last few years that
>
> I feel your pain, Willow. We don't have your problems with charges
> for Customs clearance and the like, but with shipping charges the way
> they are to and from the US buying hard cover books from their country
> of origin (a fetish of mine) is becoming ridiculously expensive.
either didn't come out in hardcover here in the States, or didn't come
out here at all. Transatlantic shipping is getting so high that it's
closing in on the price of a book! The mail delivery services are only
speeding their own demise by these outlandish charges, IMO.
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