Amazon: Only In It for Themselves; It's a Bonus if It Helps Customers, Writers, Publishers ...

That's good to know information, thank you for that. Did you do your homework on Books-a-million? I can understand your frustration with Amazon, but you don't want to let that be your only basis for switching something like this over. Have you contacted Hachette to see what they say about that particular retailer?

Really though, I see Amazon getting a little big for their britches. They may be huge in a lot of ways, but that doesn't entitle them to be jerks about it.

 

I've heard about this story. To me, it sounds a lot like "he said, she said" sort of bickering between two companies. I'll doubt as customers we'll ever get the whole story of what's actually going on here.

But as mythman said, it's not like you can just "quit" Amazon. It's one of the biggest (if not the biggest) internet consumer marketplaces on the internet. No other place has the quality or quantity of products that you can trust.

 

I've never had an issue with amazon so I wont be leaving them. I prefer amazon over ebay and thats how its staying until Im giving a reason to think otherwise.

This is good to know. I never heard this story so thanks for sharing. Still, doesnt effect me all too much.

 

I don't actually buy books on Amazon, I buy them on Half.com, so this story doesn't affect me personally but this is still a horrible story. It's disgusting that Amazon would stoop to discouraging customers from buying Hachette books. Wow, I guess if Amazon has a vendetta against you, you're screwed. I don't know if I can quit Amazon because I love everything else about the site, but I feel bad for the authors involved because Amazon is actually discouraging customers from buying their books.

 

All I can say about the article is "Biased much?". That's exactly the feeling it left me with; I expect more from the NYT. Shame on them. I would have liked to see direct quotes and links to all the "he said/she said" allegations.

I'm not saying Amazon doesn't cross the line, but back it up for crying out loud. The "suggested" books/authors deal is just upselling. They do it with all products, not just books. Heck, McDonald's does it when they ask if you want cheese on that. It's all part of the upsale game.

 

The only thing I have against Amazon is not being able to pick my carrier, I prefer not to get pkgs at the post office here. But other than that, Amazon is my 'go to' place for quite a few things, not just books. So I will continue to use them. Some things, Amazon is the best place to get, others not so much. That said, Amazon is the only place sometimes to find certain things. I avoid having to bid type sites like E-bay. I don't want to have to compete with someone just to get something I want, I prefer the straight up approach. E-bay is too much trouble.

 

Well all companies are in it for themselves technically. Otherwise they wouldn't make any money. I've never bought books from them so I don't know about that. Maybe there's some truth to this though and they're just terrible to writers and publishers. It doesn't change the fact that I've never had any problem with Amazon, though I've rarely dealt with them directly just individual sellers but since I've had good experiences after purchasing multiple times this article doesn't change anything for me.