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Q –
My Amazon list says this in the right side buy box:
Save an extra $13.96 (74%). Buy the Kindle Edition instead.
FREE Shipping for Prime members in one case available.
Usually ships within 1 to 2 months.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
Why are they telling people that it takes one to 2 MONTHS to ship???!!! I have notified them that this is an mistake and they say they've contacted my publisher merely they did NOT. It is disruptive my buyers!
A – Back in 2008, Amazon started making phone calls to impress on demand publishers, threatening to remove their buy buttons from Amazon.com if the publisher didn't beginning paying Amazon to print their books. This meant the book would not exist bachelor for purchase directly through Amazon. Readers would only exist able to purchase copies through re-sellers who had listings on Amazon. Buyers want to be able to buy directly through Amazon because they don't know those re-sellers. Buyers trust Amazon, a proper name they do know.
At BookLocker.com, we received the same threatening phone call from Amazon. We afterward filed a class-activeness lawsuit confronting Amazon for (alleged) federal anti-trust violations. Our main concerns were: 1. Amazon's printing division's prices, and two. The quality of their books was non acceptable to usa. After a federal judge refused to dismiss the instance, Amazon quickly settled our case, and paid our attorneys $300K. You can read more almost our case, and the events leading up to it, Here.
Things quieted down after that but Amazon appeared to exist happy considering many of our competitors had caved to Amazon's demands, and signed their contract before our instance ended up in front of a federal judge.
Over that menstruation of time, Amazon was sending orders for print on need books directly to Ingram's printing sectionalization, which would and so print and send the book directly to Amazon's customers, fifty-fifty using an Amazon.com return accost label. (And, that printing partitioning and Ingram recently confirmed to us that Amazon nonetheless does that for many orders.) Ingram was even aircraft some books published past traditional publishers directly to Amazon's customers. Everything was working great and customers were getting their books very quickly. Amazon didn't even demand to lay a finger on those books. The transactions were automatic and Amazon was earning money on copies sold fifty-fifty when they didn't demand to warehouse or transport books.
Fast-forward a few years and, now, at that place are MANY more publishers and fifty-fifty more print on demand printers offering their services to authors. Obviously, Amazon isn't printing books for all of them.
There is speculation in the industry that Amazon has plant some other way to try to get publishers and authors to use their printing services.
In a nutshell, Amazon is:
Listing print on need books either as unavailable or "out of stock," available only through third-political party resellers, or available but with very long lead times that don't accurately reflect how speedily buyers can really obtain that book, fifty-fifty if Amazon orders it from the distributor. For instance, it does Non have 1-ii months to obtain a copy of a print on demand book! Rather, it takes just a few days.
Amazon's latest shenanigans have been affecting a variety of impress on need (and other) books for quite awhile now. Based on numerous reports we've received, this appears to be what's happening when an writer or publisher notices their book can no longer be purchased straight through Amazon (which is called "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Get it by (insert appointment hither – some are available in a little as 2 days)."
Authors hear from their readers that people can no longer buy the book directly from Amazon. When those authors complain direct to Amazon, Amazon offers up a variety of excuses, including everything from "your publisher needs to open an Amazon account," to "we can't obtain any copies of your book from Ingram (the distributor)," and more. With print on need books distributed by Ingram, those excuses aren't flying at all. Ingram is, of course, non only denying the books are unavailable, simply they are as well happy to provide screenshots of their system, proving the book is indeed available. Publishers can simply login to their ipage business relationship at Ingram to see the book'southward availability. Of course, the same automated Ingram feed almost the print on demand books goes to other stores as well, similar BarnesandNoble.com, and those books are listed equally available on those sites. Amazon is the only retailer we know of that'south altering the listing info. for print on demand books.
When confronted with proof (two screenshots) that one book in item most definitely WAS bachelor through Ingram AND their printer, Amazon continued to debate their example, just backed downwards when they were asked for a screenshot of what they were seeing on their end, claiming the information was proprietary. Magically, that book's buy button appeared one time again a week later, after the author got upset. During the discussions, Amazon pitched their printing division to that author. Their actions backfired. The writer was and so upset about the whole scenario that he has no interest in doing business organisation directly with Amazon.
Based on reports from numerous publishers and authors, this appears to be what'south happening now with Amazon's "availability" issues:
NEW BOOKS
1. A new print on demand volume goes up for sale and the buy button on Amazon works just fine.
ii. The buy button disappears a few days afterwards, and is replaced by a variety of dissimilar things, like:
* Temporarily out of stock. Social club now and we'll deliver when bachelor.
* Simply 2 left in stock. Ships from and sold by (proper name of a tertiary-political party reseller on Amazon).
* 2 Used from $ten.xx; i New from $10.xx (also from resellers on Amazon – and those "used" copies aren't always used; in fact, many don't even exist yet!)
* ten used & new offers (all from resellers on Amazon)
* Usually ships in 1 to 2 months
* Ordinarily ships in 1 to iii weeks
* Usually ships in 1 to 4 weeks
* Normally ships in 5 to 6 weeks
and
* Ships from and sold past Amazon.com. Get it by (ii days from now). Costless Aircraft on eligible orders. (Some books remain available through Amazon with this list. Peradventure they take been inadvertently overlooked. Who knows?)
Hither's the beef. All of the books I only looked up on Amazon.com to copy/paste the text above take the verbal same publisher, printer, and distributor. And, Amazon tin can yet have that printer and distributor ship those copies directly to Amazon's customers, with 24-hour turn-around! Amazon's availability quotes are incorrect and ridiculous and authors and publishers akin are FURIOUS considering this IS affecting their volume sales.
three. Publisher/author complains to Ingram's printing partitioning (the largest Print on Demand printer in the world).
4. Printer opens "a ticket" at Amazon.
5. Amazon appears to set a very small percentage of those volume listings very apace after receiving those tickets, simply appears to ignore nearly of the other ones. We know of "unavailable" books that were initially reported to Amazon vii months ago, and after reported three more than times over the following five months, and they yet oasis't been "fixed" at Amazon. If Amazon fixes one volume, and if that book has the same publisher, printer, and distributor as all the others, why hasn't Amazon stock-still ALL of those books?
6. Unfortunately, the printer does non announced to follow-upward on all these old tickets and merely resubmits them if the publisher and/or writer complains again. We're not sure what'southward going on there but I imagine they have tens of thousands of ticket open with Amazon. They would likely demand to rent more employees just to proceed up with the incorrect listings on Amazon.
7. Some books that practice get their purchase buttons back tin can lose them again a few days or weeks later.
eight. The author gives up on the publisher, printer, and distributor, and contacts Amazon straight.
9. Amazon's usual response is to incorrectly blame the trouble on the benefactor or publisher, saying they can't get the book from the publisher (not true – that printer is nether contract with Amazon to impress/ship the books to Amazon in 24 hours), that the publisher needs to open an account with Amazon (which is non needed since Ingram, the largest benefactor, which ships millions of books to Amazon each yr, as well carries the volume), that the benefactor has the volume listed as "unavailable" (and Amazon continues to insist this even when provided with screenshots from Ingram'south system showing the book is available), and more.
10. In some cases, Amazon pitches their own printing division to the author as an alternative. Audio familiar??
eleven. When the author signs up for an "Writer Primal" account (which they might think they need to exercise to complain to Amazon), they offset receiving emails pitching Amazon'south printing partition (which has numerous complaints posted about information technology online). Incidentally, Amazon is rolling out a "new" printing service that many industry folks believe is just an attempt to rebrand their former one. (If I had that many complaints about me online, I'd want to rename and rebrand myself, too!)
OLDER BOOKS
12. Some older books are still available on Amazon. Perhaps the listings are as well former or as well much trouble for Amazon to jiggle them around.
13. Some other older books lose their buy buttons but like new books.
fourteen. Go back to #3 in a higher place.
PLAYING WITH DISCOUNTS
Some publishers have tried increasing their discounts on some of their books while others have not. They think giving Ingram and, afterwards, Amazon, a bigger chunk of each sale will alter their book'due south availability on Amazon.
Some books with new, higher discounts will remain unavailable while some will be made bachelor in one case again. In that location is no noticeable blueprint on which books Amazon will flip the switch on or not. The reactivated buy push button on Amazon may have cipher at all to do with the initial disbelieve, nor the changed disbelieve. There is no fix disbelieve rate that automatically makes Amazon plow the buy button back on over again.
Some books that don't accept inverse discounts will suddenly popular upward as bachelor once again (this seems related to how loudly the publisher or author screams at Ingram and/or Amazon). Some authors have reported that purchasing copies of their book from Amazon (despite the long lead times) and/or Amazon's resellers have spurred Amazon to make the book "bachelor" through Amazon over again.
There's no rhyme or reason to the process Amazon is using to remove the active buy buttons, nor for re-adding them, nor for leaving some old books lone vs. removing the buy buttons from other older book pages on their site. Neither Ingram nor Amazon is providing real, right information to publishers or authors nigh what's happening backside the scenes. Based on correspondence I have received from some employees at Ingram'southward printing division, they are NOT happy with Amazon, which is a no-brainer since they're the ones fielding the first circular of complaints from publishers and authors, and they're the ones processing countless "tickets" with Amazon back up, with very little success.
I recently asked Ingram for an official argument about the situation that we and other publishers can give to authors almost this situation. They stated they are under contract with Amazon to impress/ship books to Amazon in 24 hours and that Amazon does however have the printer/Ingram print/ship books directly to Amazon's customers. Amazon chooses where each order will be shipped.
Obviously, Amazon and Ingram are withal butting heads. Peradventure legal activeness is brewing.
In the concurrently, each time Amazon changes a book's availability, that increases the chances that an author is going to mutter direct to Amazon. And, in one case that author is in contact with Amazon, Amazon can then pitch their printing partitioning to the author, thus bypassing the publisher (and Ingram) altogether.
What practise you think? Has Amazon found a new mode to play the "turning off the purchase button" game with authors and publishers? They didn't threaten to remove the purchase buttons. They just did information technology, with no alarm. And, now they accept a way to contact those authors directly, opening the possibility of removing the publisher and Ingram from the moving picture entirely. And, if they are successful, so Amazon gets the printing business for that book.
On a final note, another publisher I know reported receiving the "switch to CreateSpace or else" phone call in 2016. Hmmm….
What are your thoughts on this state of affairs? First, delight check your book on Amazon. If y'all see these issues, immediately contact your publisher AND Ingram. So, please contact me HERE with your comments. We will not publish our name on WritersWeekly (unless you want usa to). I'd REALLY like to hear from an Amazon employee or two but I know the chances of that happening are virtually incommunicable. Echo: We will not publish your name on WritersWeekly.
ONE AUTHOR'S Experience:
I just came from your page, 'Is Your Book Suddenly "Unavailable" on Amazon? Are They Upwards to Their Old Tricks Over again?!' YES, they are! The first book of my (title removed) serial is listed as 'Temporarily out of Stock' on Amazon. That's foreign (once again), since (name removed) IS the publisher of the offset title, and (Ingram'due south press sectionalization, Lightning Source) DOES print books for u.s.a.. I tried to phone their Customer Service Center (866.216.1072) — only to find out — they are Non ACCEPTING my 'kind of calls'. What exactly does that mean?
Today (three-sixteen-2017) I get an automatic answer that they are having 'technical' issues and can just reply to sure full general questions. Anything specific— call back later. OK…and then I did…just now.
I got a customer service rep who, the moment she found out what my complaint was, tried to go on a 'chatty' first proper name ground with me. That didn't piece of work out for her so she tried to transfer me 'upwards the line'. Now I am on concord for 10+ minutes……zzzzzzzzzzz
While I wait,I wonder why people are so stuck on Amazon? Barnes and Noble have the books listed as 'In Stock' and their aircraft is by far and away much cheaper. I actually asked people in our Facebook group to forget Amazon from the beginning, or cancel their orders and go to B&Due north.
Ah Ha — persistence paid off –a human existence! Now the man claims not to know Lightning Source. The proper noun 'CreateSpace' just came up and I just told the human that Amazon could take and #@%& CreateSpace, and don't send them to me after this call is finished! Now he doesn't know how to solve the trouble of the 'Out of Stock' title. He but said, "Where am I going to send this? If it were every bit like shooting fish in a barrel as CreateSpace….."
That annotate died chop-chop. Now I am in a 'property pattern' (the Blackness Hole I fear) while he runs off to the 'john' for all I know. He finally returned to the telephone.
"Take it up with Author's Central," he told me, "We tin't set their problems."
"Oh, but the problem is with Amazon — not Lightning Source or Ingram," I replied.
"Well, I can't help you," he said and that ended the call.
So, in the cease, the book is all the same 'Temporarily out of Stock', even though Lightning hasn't run short of newspaper to print on, and the entire Ingram shipping department isn't grounded. This is the blow-past-accident of what only now happened to me (three-16-2017 @v:45 pm).
Update: 3-25-2017
They are still listing (title removed) as 'Temporarily out of Stock', only Simply in the The states (Not in Canada, France, or Germany). Then, a phone call to Amazon's Customer service had no affect. The 'CreateSpace ploy' is still being touted every bit 'the solution' for all 'non-traditional publishers, according to Amazon. If you do go into a new litigation with the 900 lb gorilla, I volition exist pleased to exist involved.
ANOTHER AUTHOR'S Experience:
Amazon shows (title removed) as available only through tertiary party resellers. When I contacted Amazon, they told me that Ingram has listed my book as out of print (which is not true – this author was provided with screenshots from Ingram and Lightning Source that his books were available and they continued to be bachelor on other sites, like BarnesandNoble.com). Amazon has not responded to my latest electronic mail. Amazon will simply talk to Ingram, and continues to insist that Ingram informed them that the book is out of print (Amazon has refused to send me proof, citing their privacy policy and unwillingness to expose their internal processes). Other than Kindle sales and tertiary-party sales, I take sold no books for six weeks.
UPDATE
I received a telephone call from Amazon just now, and they insist that Ingram set the problem. They said it was probably a technical glitch that the Ingram direction or technical people can solve. Aagain, this was non truthful – the author had already provided screenshots to Amazon proving the point.)
THE EMAIL COMMENT FROM AMAZON WHERE THEY PITCHED CREATESPACE TO THE AUTHOR:
I empathise that this is frustrating and we want to become this corrected as quickly as possible as you do likewise. The simply other option is if you would like to publish this book through one of Amazon's Print on Demand channels nosotros tin create a listing fulfilled by Amazon…
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