When the books are in KDP select, they are only available through amazon. You can have them through KDP but knock off the select bit. (I took it out of Select so that I could have it as an ebook on Google Play too). This book in particular, is not enrolled in the Select part which could be why people can do this. Theoretically, I should have nothing to worry about in that case ... And if that is the case, then it comes down to the moral issue of some bookseller making more money than me off my work, if someone is daft enough to pay that much money for a paperback. (yes, it's worth it but that's not the point ...)
I looked it up - the Kindle Select restrictions only apply to the e-book: What does it mean to publish exclusively on Kindle? When you choose KDP Select for a book, you're committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP during the entirety of its enrollment in the program. All content made exclusive to Amazon in KDP Select must remain for sale on our site only; it cannot be available for free or for purchase in digital format anywhere else, including publishing the content of your book on the web, including on your own website, blog, etc. However, you may choose to make up to 10% of your book available on other sites as a sample, as well as continue to distribute your book in physical format, or in any format other than digital. See the KDP Select Terms and Conditions for more information. https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A6KILDRNSCOBA So there are no concerns about that, if someone's selling your print books. I don't think there are any serious concerns about the reselling in general. It's pretty common, and, yeah, it's a bit weird, but probably not many people are stupid enough to pay that price, unless there's some reason they can't access Amazon. Nothing you can do about it, so... whatever. Think peaceful thoughts!
EBay is not selling your book. They're just the building owner. The seller is Wordery Specialists and with more than 100K feedbacks, and more than 300K items currently for sale, they are a high-volume book seller. I can't comment on the wholesale price they pay, but they clearly have a high volume deal with either Amazon or CreateSpace or both. And chances are they don't pay for your book until they sell it to someone else. I think it's akin to getting your book in another bookstore. The store charges what they want. If you don't like it, you could pay about 30 cents US a month and list the book yourself on EBay undercutting them. You might want to just wait and see if they sell copies. It could be a good thing. By the way, they aren't selling the Kindle version, they are selling the paperback.
I guess you can, but... why? I don't know. I guess I don't really worry about other people making money off my books, as long as I'm making my money.
After looking at CreateSpace's fine print and the fact this is a volume bookseller, doesn't that mean they probably have the proxy license to sell it?
I meant the sellers, not ebay themselves (slip of the fingers) I probably did my usual thing of panic before thinking.
Take a deep breath first. You may not be getting the bookstore's profits, but that's normal. Author sells to publisher, publisher takes cut. Publisher places books in bookstores, bookstore usually take the biggest cut. Much of the time a book price from the bookstore will be marked up double or more what they pay the publisher. I don't think they have any copies of your book. They probably have a print on demand deal with CreateSpace.
@GingerCoffee I don't know that they need a license from CreateSpace to sell it (maybe; not sure what CreateSpace's policies are). They might need a license from the State they are in to act as a volume reseller. I suppose whether or not to try to have it removed just comes down to what an author wants. There are reasons you might do it. An author's name is basically a brand. You might not want your brand associated with the eBay seller, and whereas sales of used works wouldn't create such an association, sales of new works arguably could create that impression. Also, given the difference in price, it could appear that the author is responsible for charging more, and an eBay purchaser who then sees the book much cheaper on Amazon may get the mistaken impression that the author is selling the book in both places, with the price raised substantially in another. I don't know that I'd care much, absent some evidence that the sales on eBay were somehow harming me, but if an author feels that the sales are damaging the author's brand, so to speak, I don't see a problem with submitting the takedown notice and making that point. If the seller challenges it, who knows how eBay will respond, since it is not a straightforward infringement. Also, if the terms and conditions the author agreed to with CreateSpace explicitly provide for resellers like this, that would be something to find out before trying to have the books removed from eBay.
I wish I could get my book at the wholesale price! Ok, so I'm going to take a deep breath and let this sink in for a few days. Thanks for all your help and advice, I really appreciate it.
@Steerpike, I know you know this stuff well, and I respect your expertise. I haven't forgotten our battle over Amazon not doing enough to stop plagiarists selling on Kindle. But isn't this a different kind of case? Edited to add: License may be the wrong terminology, I meant legal right to put the book in their online bookstore. That's what this is. And I posted this before I've read your post above which I will go read right now.
@GingerCoffee yes, it's definitely a different kind of case, and it would take to looking into the facts a bit more (underlying agreements, terms and conditions, etc.) before you could really make a final determination, or come up with a strategy if you didn't want the book there. I'm looking at it more from the OP's position, and just thinking of what arguments come to mind, of the top of my head, to support a take down, if he really doesn't want the book there. Ultimately, it might not be successful. I've had good luck with eBay, but those cases have all been outright infringement, usually of trademarks.
Well I've done more web surfing. I learn so much from you guys, we might need to move this informative thread to the publishing sub-forum. The Wordery advertises themselves as one of the largest online booksellers, based in the UK. Ties That Bind I'd bet you dollars to donuts they get a big data download from CreateSpace and these books are uploaded to their site and subsequently to EBay. I can't see how this is anything but electronic sharing of the listings. It's just a bookstore. Your books are in a bookstore, @cutecat22! That should be a yay, not a boo!
Wow! Check this out! The Worms of Wicher Woo is on EBay as well through the same seller. I'll send @peachalulu a PM. So are @BayView's books. Out of the Darkness and a couple more are on there when you search by author. You have to sign in to check sales, at least 6 of @BayView's sold in the last couple months. I'll check the rest and edit in the results. Neither of "Ties" or "Worms" sold any copies yet on EBay.
The interesting one is Sacrati, since it isn't even released until May. I'm tempted to order it just to see what they say... ETA: Their delivery estimate IS a bit later than their usual, but still before the book is officially released, I think.
I saw those too! (The complaints) My issue is that it could potentially stop me selling my own books through Amazon if amazon thinks I am in a contract with them as 'sole supplier'. But, the book is not listed with KDP Select so theoretically, Amazon cannot get shirty about this. What is interesting, is that my other book, which IS listed in KDP Select, is nowhere to be found on eBay. So maybe I have sort of gone off the deep end for no reason and worried over nothing ...
Dude, again... KDP Select doesn't care where you sell print books. KDP's exclusivity rule is only for e-books. So even if this book WERE in KDP Select, it still wouldn't be a problem that someone else is selling the print book. And if KDP Select DID apply to print books, that would mean these guys were buying the books they're reselling FROM Amazon, in which case Amazon would have nothing to complain about. You're fine, here. I can understand if this just sort of bugs you, but KDP Select really isn't an issue.
Having sold junk on Ebay for years I wasn't surprised when I saw my book on there. I think my brother pointed it out a month ago. I thought it was nice - extra advertising that I didn't have to set up. They're charging a bit more but that's not a big deal to me. Everybody wants a cut. But they still have to buy it from Create Space so I get mine. I leave it up to the buyer to find the best deal.
For the record, while they have few hundred complaints, they still have >99% approval rating. Sellers with such high sales figures always have a batch of complaints. While it sounds like a lot of the complaints were for out of stock items, that's probably an artifact of downloading some huge database of books from CreateSpace. It could be something like @BayView's where a small fraction of those books are not yet ready or don't ever become ready, I don't know the specifics but it's not hard to imagine there are some. And the rest of the complaints are people dissatisfied with the books, and that's going to happen to any seller if you sell enough stuff.
Yes, always read the complaints on Ebay to see whether or not they're legit. 10% of the buyers are NUTS and will complain about anything.
Regardless of legality, since you don't make anymore profit for the sale It seems rather unfair since it is a reseller. I think it's wrong selling a book for double the market price for any reason. Where is the demand for such a motion? EDIT: And it's eBay so it isn't the type of publicity you want either.
But you are back to the issue, would you care if this was a brick and mortar bookstore markup? If you have copies, you can undercut the seller on EBay. You might have to pay listing fees, though.
I guess that depends on the bookstore. It's the difference between a village bookstore run by a person who knows books and Joe Bloggs down the Sunday market looking to make a quick buck. I have nothing against ebay, I use it to buy and sell stuff I can't find on the high street. I guess I was just shocked. Now I know how actors feel knowing that their films are pirated. I know that's in a different league and no one is actually pirating my books but it gives you one hell of a Wayne Campbell moment "exqueeze me? Baking powder?"
EBay is just one outlet of the Wordery online bookseller. They have their own online presence separate from EBay. My guess is that this retailer has a deal with both Amazon and/or CreateSpace, and EBay. If the book sells through EBay, EBay gets 11% (or maybe less because of volume sales). People are taking a cut all the way down the line.
