What's going on on eBay??

[katelynschoumaker]

For my self-published authors: have any of you noticed or been told that your book is being sold on eBay? I just found out that mine (published exclusively through Amazon on August 8) is being sold from the UK and Australia on eBay through a company/business called the Nile. It retails on Amazon for $17.99 USD, and they're reselling it for $30+ USD. My sales report also don't show that anyone from the UK or Australia has purchased my book.

I know pirates are always out there reselling authors' works, but is that what's happening here? I'm assuming they're waiting for sales before purchasing the book from Amazon and sending it out to their buyers since I haven't seen any UK or Australian sales yet. Has anyone else experienced this, and is there any way to get a handle on it? I don't want people to pay double the original cost and I definitely don't want someone else profiting off of up-charging my book by over 50%. That feels so unfair to any potential readers who might find my book through eBay. Any advice? Thanks!

 

[Finchbearer]

Ebay is the Wild West…

Your book is also available to purchase through Waterstones in the UK - you’ve must have made your book widely available.

 

[katelynschoumaker]

Ebay is the Wild West…

Your book is also available to purchase through Waterstones in the UK - you’ve must have made your book widely available.

I did - I have expanded distribution. I'm glad I have ED so my book can be sold across multiple marketplaces, but my concern is how these people got their hands on the book in the first place. It looks like they're hoping to drop ship - buy the book from Amazon when a customer buys it from their eBay page, then ship it directly to the buyer from Amazon. That goes against eBay's policies especially since one of these sellers is putting the book up for sale for $45!!! My other concern is that they're taking the ebook and reprinting the book for sale. I'm not sure what can be done about that.

 

[Finchbearer]

Report them as fraudulent is all I can think, if you have an Ebay account. Welcome to the world of plagiarism! It’s a constant never ending battle.

 

[pmmg]

I think contact amazon. If they are scammers, they are scamming Amazon too, and amazon may have better way of looking into it.

 

[ThinkerX]

This got me curious enough to check...

At least three of my books are on eBay, priced in Australian dollars. Oh well, at least they're the revised editions...

I considered selling my books on eBay a few times, but it seemed like too much of a hassle.

Time for Skip, pmmg, AE Lowan, and other folks here to check eBay...

 

[Finchbearer]

It’s not just Ebay, it’s rife everywhere, people either trying to undersell or oversell a plagiarised product. What they will do is just add on the cost of them distributing it ‘like a bookstore’ might do, so unfortunately it might be something that they make say $15 - $20 profit on. Amazon have some products for crazy money, I suppose in the hopes that some gullible sap will buy it.

 

[pmmg]

I am on there too via a company named 'the nile store'.

Near as I can tell, they are somewhat legit, just a middleman. Since the prices are so high, I would not want someone to buy from them, but I am not sure its a crime what they are doing. If they sell one of my books, they may have to get it from amazon, and so, I should get the same royalty.

I would expect they have everyone's books. I think the joke is on them, cause its not like people are beating down my door to buy things at the actual list price.

I suppose I would like to attach a note to say, hey, this is a lot cheaper if you get it from amazon, but I dont see how.

In part, I have to think this is somewhat on the consumer. If they dont know that's too much for a book, what am I to do? Sometimes you get punished for not looking in the obvious places.