Not only U.S. publishers price discriminate their books

Price discrimination in books is not only common in U.S. books, but also in other countries. For example, in China many titles are available in both Traditional Chinese Characters and Simplified Chinese Characters. While Simplified Chinese editions are being sold in mainland China for a lower price, Tradition Chinese editions are being sold in Hong Kong where people’s buying power is relatively high.

Online market place lead to the selling of international editions in the U.S.

In the past, some foreign students would buy texts books from their countries and used in the U.S. After the semester, they may even sell them as used books and still make some profit out of it. However, not many people in the U.S. have access to buy books from foreign countries. While many bookstores may not want to sell international edition of U.S. books in the U.S. because of legal concern. However, more and more online market allow people to sell books less costly and more effectively. People with small capital can start their own book selling business through the internet, and some of them are willing to take risk to sell international edition of U.S. books.

However, some online market place like www.amazon.com are banning some users who are selling international editions of U.S. books from their website because of the legal concern.

Conclusion

Geographic different was an ultimate tool for the book publishers to price discriminate their book in foreign counties. However, the growth of online market place brings the buyers and sellers together. It became much harder for the publishers to hide the price from the U.S. customers. For U.S. publishers to grow healthily, beside expanding in the global market, they have to ensure not to hurt their market in the local market.

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