Though Amazon now own them, apparantely they are pretty much allowed to operate independently as they always did.

remy wrote:
Though Amazon now own them, apparantely they are pretty much allowed to operate independently as they always did.

They are clearly not operating independently, as overall, they are nowhere near as cheap as they used to be a year or so back, except on a handful of selected loss-leader items (e.g this copy of the Hobbit which is only AUD 7.99).

Their imaginary "RRP" (including postage) in Australia is quite often just the same price as going to a physical book store these days. Also, since the merger, the free shipping to Australia with Amazon for orders over 25 pounds has also gone, so the delivered prices between the two are much of a muchness. It is also worth noting that their "Free Shipping" is no such thing. If they were more honest, their prices would be advertised as "Inclusive of Shipping", given that the price you pay is completely different depending on the IP address you use to create your order. In Australia, for instance, you will be quoted a higher RRP (often a completely fictitious number) and a higher overall price. Now that isn't "Free Shipping" at all.

I'm actually trying to buy some books locally to try and keep the real stores alive a bit longer, as once there is no competition, there won't be any cheap books....

Can only speak from my own experiences with the .com and the .co.uk sites, but I always find them the cheapest place to buy tolkien books.

And no limits of £25 sterling total order etc for free shipping.

I agree Stu, except on one count --in the future there will definitely still be cheap books. In fact that's probably all there'll be: cheap, low quality books, with little intellectual value... & very little else.

BH

remy wrote:
And no limits of £25 sterling total order etc for free shipping.

Book Depository do not have FREE shipping. Their prices are different depending on where you are located. Their shipping is, therefore, priced into the item cost that you are shown. If I buy the book in the UK it cost 10 pounds, and if I buy the same book in Australia it costs the equivalent of 15 pounds. The shipping - in this example - is (for an Australian buyer), 5 pounds. For BD to describe this as being free is fraudulent.

Now, in some ways including the shipping in the item price makes life easier, as with Amazon you have to put an order together and go through the whole process to find out the total cost, which is a pain.

However, my objection is solely to the description of it being "Free". It isn't, and I'm surprised that they have gotten away with claiming that it is. Just use a UK proxy and an Australian Proxy to view BD and you will see the massive differences in pricing applied to different countries.

Indeed!

To get totally nerdy about it --I've always documented my buying, both the price paid & postage. (For no other reason, in respect to postage, than habit.) As I think we've discussed before: years ago Amazon did do zero postage if you placed an order over a certain amount (£15 it was.) This did apply for multiple items though. So, if you bought a paperback for £5 you paid postage. But if this order was placed at the same time as, say, a £20 hardback, the postage was waved, for all of it. To me this was true "free" postage, as in one case you paid, & in the other you clearly did not. Now that they've scrapped UK postage all together, I now consider postage as incorporated into the list price. Therefore all my Amazon purchases appear as "£15 (Inc. postage)" etc.

You do get other circumstances though. I buy books from a company called Tartarus Press & they do "All prices include postage and packing worldwide". So this means I'm paying £35 for a book, & this probably includes, say, £5 postage. But guys in the US are obviously "hypothetically" getting the book itself for cheaper. No shifty IP address nonsense from them.

Either way, I agree Stu --I'm not sure how BD get away with this sham; it's incredibly un-transparent. If I recall did Amazon not get pulled up for actually having variant prices depending on your browser history & shopping habits? i.e. lower prices to entice just you (--which was deemed illegal.)

BH

Just three days later (from ordering) & I'm sitting with that nice "Penguin Classics" Hobbit from HarperCollins...

It's very nice.

BH

I can't remember if this was discussed previously, but has anyone actually bought "The J. R. R. Tolkien Collection" --the 2012 five volume (H, LR, Silm., CoH, & Tales from the Perilous Realm) deluxe incarnation? The HC site claims they've only made 100 of these sets i.e. they've only made 100 slipcases.

Tolkien Home > Fiction > The Lord of the Rings > The J. R. R. Tolkien Collection

BH

Deagol (since you're browsing), you bought it?

BH

I have bought one, they also claim that the 4 volume The J.R.R. Tolkien Collection is sold out.

I will list the impression numbers when I get the set.