Amazon makes switch to agency terms with three publishers

01.11.10 - The Bookseller - Graeme Neill

Amazon.co.uk has moved on to the agency model in the UK with publishers Hachette, HarperCollins and Penguin now setting their own e-book prices. Customers buying an e-book from the Kindle store from any of the three publishers are told: "This price was set by the publisher." A Penguin spokesperson said: "I can confirm we are now on the agency model with Amazon as of today."

Penguin and HarperCollins have followed Hachette, which switched to agency pricing in September. Amazon is the first online e-bookseller to make the switch, with no Penguin or Hachette e-books yet available for sale on either Waterstones.com or W H Smith's website.

A small number of HarperCollins' e-books are available at Waterstones.com and W H Smith, with a note from Waterstones.com indicating that loyalty card points do not now apply to e-book purchases. It is believed that an issue over loyalty card payments was behind the removal of Hachette titles from sale at Waterstones.com when the publishers switched to agency in September, suggesting that the wrinkes in the transition may soon be ironed out across all booksellers who agree to the new terms. One retailer said: "It's still a bit fluid. Everything is still being resolved."

The only publishers who have signed up to the agency model but have yet to implement its pricing are Canongate, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster.

Last month Amazon.co.uk launched a broadside against agency model saying that it would "fight" the transition, and that US publishers who were on agency model had seen their sales growth in e-books curbed as a result of the "higher prices". The email, sent to its customers, was widely seen as an indication that a switch to agency terms was impending, as reported by The Bookseller last week.