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!

[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

John

[Charms7]

I found this link:

http://www.walmart.com/search/search....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

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/SB1255...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.