The Coalition for Cheaper Books today congratulates Tim Winton for winning this years celebrated Miles Franklin Award for literary fiction.
“This is a remarkable achievement for one of Australia’s great authors”, Coalition Chairman and Dymocks CEO Don Grover said of Winton’s fourth Miles Franklin Award.
Whilst we celebrate Tim’s achievement we lament the fact that his book is over 30% cheaper for his fans in the United Kingdom than it in his homeland.
A copy of Breath can be purchased online from BookDepository.com in the UK for the A$ equivalent of $14.70. This includes free delivery to Australia.
The recommended retail price of the book in Australia is $25 while the current wholesale price is $13.72 before freight. A survey of Bookshops in Sydney today has the book priced between $19.00 and $28.00. After GST is removed the price is between $2.60 and $10.75 or 17% and 73% more expensive in Australia than online. Online purchasers will not attract GST making them even cheaper than Australian bookshops.
How can Australia’s most celebrated current novel be so much more expensive in Australia than overseas? The ludicrous situation means the online delivered price is less than a dollar more than the Australian wholesale price without freight.
The current laws restricting parallel importation of books result in higher Australian book prices and place booksellers in Australia at a huge competitive disadvantage.
Australian consumers who want to support Australian booksellers are similarly disadvantaged and no one can blame them for looking for value online.
Removing parallel importation restrictions on books will mean the Publishers will have to treat Australian consumers with the same respect they afford to those in the UK today.
Note regarding exchange rates: At the ten year average Stirling/A$ exchange rate of approximately 40 pence to the dollar the current UK online price would be $18.00 – still $4.70 ( 27%) cheaper than the current RRP less GST.
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:35 pm
What an absolute farce this price comparison is. Maree McCaskill, CEO of APA has already denounced this example as misleading and deceptive. what the coalition for cheaper books fails to mention is that you can buy this book at Big W for $16.21! Maree McCaskill said in her statement, “If Dymocks wanted to, it could sell the same book for the same price. ‘In fact, it is selling the book online for $24.95, plus $5.50 delivery. The fact that Dymocks is not selling it for the same price as BigW and the UK website says more about the Dymocks business model than copyright rules for books. It appears the Coalition for Cheaper Books is really the Coalition for Bigger Retail Profits”.
The Coalition For cheaper Books is becoming known for what it omits rather than what it actually says.