Under the Dome for $9.00 at amazon???

[Shadowtron]

I see amazon.com is selling Under the DOme for $9.00...which Wal Mart promptly matched. Ms. Mod (or anyone) have any idea why the price is so low. It's a $35.00 book.

[Moderator]

I've been in touch with Scribner this morning to try to find out what's going on. This apparently is a price war between Wal-Mart and Amazon. Wal-Mart was the first to offer their 10 top pre-selling books for $10 including free shipping on their web site. Amazon then put those same titles for sale at $9. Wal-Mart has now matched Amazon at $9. The retail prices are at the discretion of the individual book sellers but they will still be paying the same wholesale price when they order from Scribner. Our guess is that they are using them as "loss leaders" with the hope that customers will buy other items and they will make up any losses on those sales.

[Doc Wilson]

Wow, thanks for the tip, I just ordered mine! :cool2:

[Shadowtron]

I've been in touch with Scribner this morning to try to find out what's going on. This apparently is a price war between Wal-Mart and Amazon. Wal-Mart was the first to offer their 10 top pre-selling books for $10 including free shipping on their web site. Amazon then put those same titles for sale at $9. Wal-Mart has now matched Amazon at $9. The retail prices are at the discretion of the individual book sellers but they will still be paying the same wholesale price when they order from Scribner. Our guess is that they are using them as "loss leaders" with the hope that customers will buy other items and they will make up any losses on those sales.

Gotcha. As a simple consumer, it's sometimes tough to see the big picture. To my thinking, Stephen (or any of the other authors) would be losing money. But I see it's really the retailers (especially those that can't afford to drop the price to $9) who lose. Thanks for clearing that up!

[jchanic]

Here's a story on today's front page of The Wall Street Journal.

Book Battle Between Wal-Mart, Amazon Escalates (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704322004574477050954174722.html?mod=WSJ_hpp _LEFTWhatsNewsCollection)

John

[Charms7]

I found this link:

http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_constraint=3920&ic=48_0&search_query=under+the+dome&Find.x=17&Find.y=6

Not sold in stores.

[AngelZ]

Here's a story on today's front page of The Wall Street Journal.

Book Battle Between Wal-Mart, Amazon Escalates (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704322004574477050954174722.html?mod=WSJ_hpp _LEFTWhatsNewsCollection)

John

Thanks for the link, but you have to be a subscriber to read the entire article.

[AngelZ]

I found this link that allowed me to read the article...http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125565024634288895.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular

[baylorbear2008]

You beat me to it...I canceled my pre-order at Amazon ($18.90) and then re-pre-ordered it because the price never updated on my order summary. I also informed 2 of my friends who are huge SK fans, and one of them was going to wait for it to come out in paperback and quickly went and pre-ordered it for $9 today. All I could say is 'Wow' when I saw the price. Add that to the Signed Collectors I am getting and I am a happy camper.

[heyguy]

hmm, i'll have to switch my order to walmart.com if amazon doesn't drop the $4 shipping charge.

[Doc Wilson]

This is very awesome. I was going to wait for the used hardcovers to trickle down to the resellers.

Its like having an extra birthday this year!

[Shadowtron]

I believe Wal Mart is also selling an unsigned collector's edition for $35.00.

[dw1345]

I believe Wal Mart is also selling an unsigned collector's edition for $35.00.

Do you mind posting where you see that? I'm only seeing it for $45.00 on the website (maybe that's what you meant?)

[newyearsevil01]

I just ordered Under the Dome along with It & Dreamcatcher all for under $30

[jchanic]

I just wondered what Stephen King thinks of his latest work being discounted so heavily. Because of, I'm sure, contractual details, I doubt this will affect his royalties, but I'm curious.

John

[Moderator]

It doesn't affect his contractual details as that's unrelated -- how much a book seller charges once they've purchased their inventory from the publisher is up to them. He, and others in the publishing industry, are concerned about what this could do for the paperback market and independent book sellers.

[Kymatty]

Yeah, cause, I can't imagine anyone who has internet would want to go to their independent book seller and pay full price when they can get it for only $9! I still love my indy store, but for $9, I can't pass it up!

[Wayne C. Rogers]

I evidently didn't understand what was going on between Amazon.com and Walmart last week when another member of the message board mentioned the price drops on certain books. Hunter Goatley sent me the information on Face Book about the price war between the two giants.

For better or worse, you can now order Under the Dome on Amazon.com for $9.00, plus several other forthcoming bestsellers for the same amount. Walmart has it for $8.99, plus free shipping. Now is definitely the time to buy. I've already ordered my copy, along with a couple of other bestsellers that are coming out in November.

This is at least good for the buyer, if not for the independent bookstores trying to make a living.

[jchanic]

I actually ordered two copies of Under the Dome from Amazon--one for my collection and one as a reading copy. After all, a paperback copy (when it eventually comes out) will cost nearly the same!

John

[Ma Kin]

Did anyone else hear you can order Under The Dome online from Wal-Mart.com and Amazon.com for only $9.00? Actually now Wal-Mart has it for 8.99 with free shipping. I think you HAVE to order it online and it doesn't ship until 11/10 so it would be a few days wait. Might be worth it though to save that much.

[Moderator]

Did anyone else hear you can order Under The Dome online from Wal-Mart.com and Amazon.com for only $9.00? Actually now Wal-Mart has it for 8.99 with free shipping. I think you HAVE to order it online and it doesn't ship until 11/10 so it would be a few days wait. Might be worth it though to save that much.

I'm thinking you missed this thread. :smile2:

[deluca2b]

Awesome-I am so excited about this deal!

[Shadowtron]

Do you mind posting where you see that? I'm only seeing it for $45.00 on the website (maybe that's what you meant?)

dw1345,

My apologies. You're right, it's going for $45 on Wal-Mart. Not sure where the hell that $35 came from, heheh. :biggrin2:

[tuttle300]

If some of you havent heard... you can order Under the Dome from WalMart, Target or Amazon dot com for a song. (Well, between 8.99 and 9.00 respectively)

In fact-- WalMart and Target offer free shipping/ Amazon (for now) offers free shipping if your total comes to over 25 bucks (so you'd either have to buy another hardcover or a few paperbacks in order to get free shipping, which is still a pretty good deal since shipping costs 3.99)

Now, while this is a great deal by anyone's standards, I will be one stubborn Constant Reader heading to the store to pick up a copy Tuesday morning.
I am assuming that I will be able to find it for maybe 40 or 50 percent off depending on where I go and the easiest way to find out prices is the local Sunday paper and checking the ads

So...with all this deep discounting available to all, I was wondering how many here are going straight to the bookstore Tuesday morning (after all, this IS the all new Stephen King novel ( all 1,038 pages of it!) VS how many had PLANNED to do that but when they found out about the 8.99 sale wars decided to order online and wait 4 to 5 days in exchange for buying it at such a great price.?

So....a show of hands??

[Nero]

i will be at the store the moment the book is available

i hate waiting on shipping times

plus borders usually has steep discounts on new hardback releases in my area... the last dan brown book was 15 bucks after all the discounts were applied

[Moderator]

Please, folks, do a search before posting to see if there are other threads already started. This makes at least the 3rd message about this topic that I've had to move to this thread. :sad: There's even a handy button right beside where you type in the title of the thread that says: Check if already posted and when you click it, it will bring up similar threads or tell you there aren't any started.

[psj77]

I pre-ordered from amazon. I also got the collector's edition for $40.50, but they have already raised the price on it to $50.62. If you go with the free shipping though it will NOT ship till Nov. 16th. If you go with standerd shipping it ships Nov. 10th & is estamated to arive between Nov. 16-18. Standerd shipping is $4.95

[scarywriter]

I am a big supporter of indie bookstores and would so much rather go buy it from one of my local booksellers, BUT it is very hard to justify spending $35+tax on something I can get for $9 just to avoid the big boxes.

[cinephonic]

they were just talking about this price war on the news, using Under the Dome and Michael Crichton's new book as examples. How does Mr. King feel about this and having his book go down to less than $9. The publishers must be furious.

[ChaseTx]

well, I went ahead and bought it from Target.com. Can't beat that price. Plus, when I've preordered CDs before, I got them a day or 2 before the release date. I'm hoping Target will be the same way.

the only thing I worry about is if the author/publishers lose any money on these prices. Hopefully it's only the stores losing money

[Countrygirl_sass]

I agree. I don't like to order online when you can get such a better deal in the stores. I use the coupons that Borders sends out, been having trouble printing them though. Hopefully by the time this book is out the glitch will be gone.

[ChaseTx]

I agree. I don't like to order online when you can get such a better deal in the stores. I use the coupons that Borders sends out, been having trouble printing them though. Hopefully by the time this book is out the glitch will be gone.

they have it online for $9. You cant beat that at Borders or anywhere else i'm aware of

[jchanic]

I felt the same way. Although I might use the on-line bookstores to get many items, I've always tried to get my trade editions from my local bookstore. I just can't justify to myself, though, spending that much when I can get a new trade hardcover for the price of a mass-market paperback. For that price, I actually ordered two--one for my collection and the other as a reading copy.

John

[Countrygirl_sass]

WOW! I agree that its going to be a problem for the smaller hometown places. But I think we all new Walmart didn't care, and and now its obvious Amazon doesn't either. But I do love to save money, and my husband loves for me to save money.lol:smile2:

[the_last_gunslinger]

I don't have a local bookstore, so buying off the Internet is how I acquire my books.

Back in July, I pre ordered the special edition from Amazon, back when it was around 55 dollars. At about the time the trade edition dropped to nine, the Collector's edition fell to 40.50, which is the price I'll be paying for it. Unfortunately, that only lasted a couple days. Back up to around fifty again. Still a good buy, though.

[hansel4150]

The second I could, I pre-ordered it on walmart for $22! Now it's $8!! I've never seen a new book come out for that low. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

[tuttle300]

There may be both positive and negatives to this trend

One possible downside, if it turns into an annual holiday trend, is that this will give publishers an opportunity to give out lower paychecks to authors (especially first timers)
They will of course, have tons of proof that this trend is costing them money and they will claim that they have to downsize advances and paychecks throughout the company

I personally don't see this as a bad thing since maybe it will be spread out accross the board so that maybe they'll also (be forced to) hand out lower advances to celebrities who, for the most part, get millions in advances and have ghostwriters do the writing

On the bright side maybe people will find time to read again now that books will be cheaper and maybe with the the bulk of new numbers of books being sold.....
maybe publishers will be able to continue giving us a wide variety of books

We'll all have to just sit back and see how it all plays out over the long term

[psj77]

If you pre-order through amazon & the price drops they give it to you for the lower price. If the price goes up you stay at the lower price. I've got the 1st edition for $9.00 & the collectors edition for $40.59. The collectors edition has gone back up to $50.59

[pixiedaark]

I personally think that places like Wal-Mart (especially wal-mart) and Target should stay out of selling books. Leave that to the people who know how to handle and appreciate books. Wal-Mart should stick to selling lawn furniture and other cheap, knock-off type merchandise!! Does Wal-Mart have to stick their nose into everything? (We already know the answer to this)

In my opinion Wal-Mart can keep their cheap prices and cheap books.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

I wonder if the books are being printed and produced in America?

Anyone know, since Walmart have built their business on importing unemployment from China and India etc?

Long days and pleasant nights

[jchanic]

If you pre-order through amazon & the price drops they give it to you for the lower price. If the price goes up you stay at the lower price. I've got the 1st edition for $9.00 & the collectors edition for $40.59. The collectors edition has gone back up to $50.59

Of course, when it first was announced, Amazon advertised the signed limited Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon for $500. Simon & Schuster then upped the price to $1000 after first announcing it as the $500 and Amazon cancelled all the $500 orders. Bush-league move on both companies.

John

[ChaseTx]

it's the same books everyone else is selling -- straight from the publisher. The difference is extremely competitive pricing

[Moderator]

Hi,

I wonder if the books are being printed and produced in America?

Anyone know, since Walmart have built their business on importing unemployment from China and India etc?

Long days and pleasant nights

They can't have them produced by other companies unless they've got a contract to do so, which they don't. They're ordering them from Scribner (and whatever other publishers are included in that list of top 10 pre-selling books) and then taking a loss on them. The term "loss leader" is correct to describe what's going on with these books. Also, it's assumed that once the book is officially released, this deal will stop as that book then drops off the pre-sale list. That will go into the assumption file for now, though, as I don't have confirmation through Scribner.

[JohnDalglish]

They can't have them produced by other companies unless they've got a contract to do so, which they don't. They're ordering them from Scribner (and whatever other publishers are included in that list of top 10 pre-selling books) and then taking a loss on them. The term "loss leader" is correct to describe what's going on with these books. Also, it's assumed that once the book is officially released, this deal will stop as that book then drops off the pre-sale list. That will go into the assumption file for now, though, as I don't have confirmation through Scribner.

Hi,

And I'm assuming that the massive buying power of Walmart and Amazon can push their purchase price way down on the kind of bulk they'll be buying, and I'd also ass-u-me that the actual price is a trade secret between Walmart and Scribners, as indeed it should be as a private contract.

But in order to make a profit themselves, for Walmart are infamous for driving their suppliers down, are Scribners etc resorting to far Eastern production, I was wondering?

Long days and pleasant nights

[Moderator]

No, Scribner doesn't alter their production because of that--the books are still produced in the U.S. to the best of my knowledge. They're happy to have more orders and I would imagine that the pricing would be different for those who place larger orders as that's the way it works in most industries. I'm not privy to that information so can't confirm or deny. The price that all the retailers/distributors are paying to Scribner was set before Wal-Mart and Amazon began their price war so it wasn't part of the equation for their production costs.

[Chelle71]

I saw this as well....I had to pre-order the book cause i live in Australia, I got the more expensive one because i was so shocked...surely it can't be true :wow:

[ChaseTx]

i wonder how much the publisher charges retailers... it damn sure isn't $35. I'm sure we get ripped off on virtually all mass produced items we buy.

[Ranger_Strider]

I've been mulling the notion of buying up DTS Hardbacks on Amazon and Ebay anticipating a huge fanbase after Abrams & Co. do a video treatment of the Cycle. Right now the first four Hardbacks are going for $15-$25 a (very good) copy. Last 3 can be had dirt cheap. Might be an investment opportunity!

[Ranger_Strider]

I think that the fear of e-books may be taking hold at the grass-roots. Once a thing is not so valued, its price follows.

[Moderator]

And it just keeps going. :oo: Steve told me about this this morning so have found a link (http://preschoolers.about.com/b/2009/10/22/thrifty-thursday-sears-wants-to-keep-america-reading.htm) about it, but even Sears is getting into the act in a roundabout way.

[jchanic]

Sears has it for $17.98 at this time:

http://books.sears.com/TRP/actions/searchHandler.do?itemNum=ITEM:1&key=0008201710&nextPage=booksDetails&parentNum=11532

John

[ChaseTx]

And it just keeps going. :oo: Steve told me about this this morning so have found a link (http://preschoolers.about.com/b/2009/10/22/thrifty-thursday-sears-wants-to-keep-america-reading.htm) about it, but even Sears is getting into the act in a roundabout way.

Thanks! looks like since i already bought it from Target, i get $9 at Sears for no apparent reason. (will probably use it on more books)

[ChaseTx]

Is this illegal? http://cgi.ebay.com/Under-the-Dome-by-Stephen-King-2009-Hardcover_W0QQitemZ330368883003QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Fiction _Books?hash=item4ceb85193b

[Moderator]

They're not shipping the books until the pub date and what a retailer charges for a book is up to them. The jacket price is only a suggested price. I can't see anything illegal about it in the listing.

[Nay53]

Ordered mine today from Wal-Mart online.

[Countrygirl_sass]

Well I pre-ordered from Wal-mart. And like they figured some people would do I got more than UTD. It was just too good a price to resist. We don't have book stores around here anyway. Just Wal-mart. And in the nearest city there is Books a million and Borders, and ofcourse my treasured used books tore.

[ChaseTx]

They're not shipping the books until the pub date and what a retailer charges for a book is up to them. The jacket price is only a suggested price. I can't see anything illegal about it in the listing.

my mistake. I thought they were shipping at the end of the bid

[RandallPennywise]

I go on Amazon.com usually 3 or 4 times a week looking for new books and I too spotted the $9 price for dome and also a $9 pre-order price for an upcoming James Patterson Cross book So I just went over to Walmart.com and they now have Dome for $8.98 LoL Maybe it will get lower if this keeps up. I ordered mine with Amazon.com though I could not pass that up.

Out

[The Outsider]

Hey, anyone ordering from Amazon, I suggest you do this: when you order your copy of UTD, try to sign up for a free trial of Amazon Prime. If you haven't done so before, it will allow you a free trial of about a month. Then, when you order the book, you can either: a) have free standard OR two day shipping (why not choose two day) or b) you can have $4 one day shipping. Basically, it reduces the price and the shipping time drastically. Then, after you order this, don't forget to go to your account on amazon, and edit your settings for amazon prime, and turn off the "auto-renewal" for prime, so that you don't get charged $80 when your trial runs out!!

[The Outsider]

I was planning to order mine through amazon, today probably, as I have known about the low price for quite a while. I even had a scheme (through the whole amazon prime trial membership deal) to get it quicker. But then I decided I would rather just go the day it came out to Barnes and Noble, use my membership and mayhap a coupon and/or gift cards from my stash to lower the price. So, that is what I am doing, as I have calculated that at B&N I can get it for aroun $8.50 to $10 while at amazon I have to wait two days to get it for $9-$12.

[ChristineB]

If I didn't get one of the signed book spots for the Atlanta signing, which i know I will so this is a mute point, but...

I would pre-order from Amazon. Why? Well we are premier memebers there so I get 2 day shipping free. And... I know what Amazon's customer service is like, yet to have any problems with returning merchendise bought through them, just say I don't want it and it goes back.

While I have yet to deal with Wal-Mart.com (and it is going to take alot for me to ever) I would rather deal with a seller I know (I would even pay the regular shipping over wally world's free shipping) then with one I know to be in it for the money and only the money. Wal-Mart is not high on my list of good customer service providers.

[ChristineB]

Is this illegal? http://cgi.ebay.com/Under-the-Dome-by-Stephen-King-2009-Hardcover_W0QQitemZ330368883003QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Fiction _Books?hash=item4ceb85193b

Sorry don't mean to spam here...

This is a ARC copy and as such has already been released, I don't understand why it would be illegal to sell one now, seeing as there were very few printed and there is no publisher in their right mind that would believe they are not going to end up on the market before the book actually comes out, especially an ARC of SK's work.

Correct me if I am wrong here Ms. Mod

[Moderator]

That sale wasn't illegal because they are holding the copies until after the publication date.

It is illegal to sell any ARC. It specifically states on the cover of the Advance Reader Copies "....Any duplication, sales or distribution to the public is a violation of law." The same is true for the unjacketed hardcovers that were distributed as review copies. They are being given out free of charge so that reviewers can publish reviews and book sellers can recommend it their customers, both with the hope of increasing sales, and it is not the intent that they should make a profit from them especially by selling them before the publication date when the prices fetched are exorbitant.

[gniknehpets]

I'm not rich, I don't have money to throw around but I ordered mine from our local small town bookstore who is just hanging on. They do so much for our community and kids that I can't make myself buy from a business that does nothing. It makes me sick that it is legal for them to do this. We all cut back where we have to, I will cut back somewhere else. I do know that in bigger cities those stores do give back to their communities, I'm not saying they are bad stores or people. And maybe I'm just plain stupid to pay so much more. Oh well.

[jchanic]

I'm not rich, I don't have money to throw around but I ordered mine from our local small town bookstore who is just hanging on. They do so much for our community and kids that I can't make myself buy from a business that does nothing. It makes me sick that it is legal for them to do this. We all cut back where we have to, I will cut back somewhere else. I do know that in bigger cities those stores do give back to their communities, I'm not saying they are bad stores or people. And maybe I'm just plain stupid to pay so much more. Oh well.

I'm glad you are supporting your local bookstore. I wish I had a local independent bookstore in the area in which I live, but all have closed. If there were one, I'd be buying mine there.

John

[ChaseTx]

I'm not rich, I don't have money to throw around but I ordered mine from our local small town bookstore who is just hanging on. They do so much for our community and kids that I can't make myself buy from a business that does nothing. It makes me sick that it is legal for them to do this. We all cut back where we have to, I will cut back somewhere else. I do know that in bigger cities those stores do give back to their communities, I'm not saying they are bad stores or people. And maybe I'm just plain stupid to pay so much more. Oh well.

If I knew of an independent bookstore around here, I might buy there. Provided they didn't charge the cover price ($35 for a plain old book is unjustifiable). I buy almost all of my books from used book stores anyway

[judythegeek]

I can't wait can't wait, can't wait. :) and for $9.00 who has to? reminds me of waiting outside my B&N before opening for Green Mile Installments. :laugh:

[misterwoe]

Because I live in Greece, I pre-ordered through Amazon UK, and I just found out my copy probably won't arrive until Nov. 20! The agony!!!! My countdown has been extended ... I've never been this excited about a book before.

[Ranger_Strider]

I think that sometimes people don't see a lateral shift in things when it occurs, but they do feel a bit queasy when it happens. It's true that a local bookstore is nice, but really most of them should and are doing business on Ebay and Amazon. I find that you can support not only local businesses but equally deserving online business without trouble or worry over selection, availibility, or the economy of the guy who has a job with package delivery over the guy who has a job selling books over the counter.