Calvin Reid has a story up on PW with more insider comments on what’s going on, and it looks like it may take a little while to get everything fixed:
A source knowledgeable about the situation told PW that Amazon has been forced to temporarily take down buy buttons for all titles supplied by Diamond in order to correct the problem. According to the source, Amazon has to do an audit to figure out which customers got books and at what prices. While the situation is temporary, the source said, “there is no timetable for when this will be completed.”
According to Rich Johnston, there are also some price irregularities on B&N.com but at nowhere near the number as on Amazon.
B&N has since corrected their pricing.
This whole thing’s been a lot of fun. I managed to get 3 books from B&N last night, 3 books from Amazon and a $25 credit from Amazon. One hell of a good week!
So, was it a good thing to be able to buy books at (presumably) wayy below the cost to manufacture them, due to a pricing error?
Puts a whole new slant to the term Free Comic Book Day.
I’m thinking that not only is this costly to Amazon, but also to publishers who move a lot of books on Amazon (unless they’re still seeing some of those sales through Amazon’s third party sellers, which I’ve heard has been happening, but are those sales equal to what they sell through the main Amazon?).
I hope everyone who…profited? from this has tipped Rich Johnston for each book they received.
Want to save even more? Get a library card.
Even if your library doesn’t have many graphic novels, they can get them via Interlibrary Loan.
Reminds me of the Amazon/Phantom Records cockup of 2005.