Authors Blog

FUNNY NUMBERS: Thrift Books is not very thrifty, but other booksellers may have lower prices than Amazon.

As both a shopper and a seller, I've long been fascinated by pricing.

• In a typical Greek-owned diner in the USA, the price of a slice of ordinary cheese can range from a dime to a dollar or more, depending on what it’s attached to.
• In a Chinese restaurant in Manhattan where I often ate, I could pay $3.95 for a small order of fried rice, or $2.95 for four chicken wings with the same rice.
• Advertisers know that because the initial digit is 4, not 5, a $4.99 price seems much lower than $5.
• “Quarter-pounder” seems to outweigh a mere four ounces.
• Book pricing can be especially strange, and often misleading and even fraudulent. Years ago, a company advertised "used" copies of one of my books—even before new ones were printed.

My newest book (Aging & Ending) has a $15.95 "cover price," and that's the price at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and many other booksellers. Fast free shipping is common.

But the misleadingly named "Thrift Books" (which touts "Read More. Spend less") will charge you $17.50. It can take a loooong time to receive a book ("8-12 business days + up to 48 hours for processing. AK, HI, PR, and GU: allow up to 45 days to arrive"). The company's website says that 50 copies of the book are available. That's insane. This book is printed on demand when copies are ordered. None should be sitting on shelves. 

I can't imagine why anyone would buy from "Thrift," when the web make comparison shopping so easy.

Allibris charges just $12.85 plus $4.99 for shipping my book, unless you spend $39. The company also offers used copies (which probably don't exist) priced at $35.75 plus a shipping charge.

As some ancient Roman said, "Caveat Emptor" ("let the buyer beware").