But here’s the thing: Their books, dvds etc, are generally cheaper than bricks and mortar stores, and in this economy, that counts for a lot.
So it didn’t surprise me to read (more…)
I have a confession to make – my name is Karen Scott, and I worry constantly about giant corporations with too much power.
So much so that when I learned back in 2003 or 2004 that Tesco was taking £1 of every £8 spent in the high streets, I started shopping at Asda and Morrison’s. I still do the odd shop at Tesco, but not as exclusively as I used to.
When Princess Diana was killed back in 1997, I stopped purchasing tabloid newspapers. Why? Because I’d been very uncomfortable about some of the methods that were used to gain information about public figures, prior to her death, but when I learned about the part the paps played in her death, I decided that I couldn’t in all consciousness endorse people who would stop at nothing to get a story.
Of course I don’t mind reading the odd tabloid paper, but it’s been years since I actually purchased one, and I intend to keep it like that for as long as possible.
My latest worry is over the fact that Google pretty much owns the internet, and that nobody else seems to think that this is a problem.
Hasn’t anybody noticed how great they are at acquiring start-up companies that have great innovative products? Blogger anybody? Youtube? Keyhole Inc? Has anybody taken any notice of their partnerships lately? Microsoft? AOL? Nokia?
Read thusly:
Hello,
Thank you for contacting Amazon.com.
This is an embarrassing and ham-fisted cataloging error for a company that prides itself on offering complete selection.
It has been misreported that the issue was limited to Gay & Lesbian themed titles – in fact, it impacted 57,310 books in a number of broad categories such as Health, Mind & Body, Reproductive & Sexual Medicine, and Erotica. This problem impacted books not just in the United States but globally. It affected not just sales rank but also had the effect of removing the books from Amazon’s main product search.
Many books have now been fixed and we’re in the process of fixing the remainder as quickly as possible, and we intend to implement new measures to make this kind of accident less likely to occur in the future.
Thanks for contacting us. We hope to see you again soon.
Sincerely,
Customer Service Department
Amazon.com
Hmmm, maybe it was an error, maybe not. Who knows?
Are all the sales rankings restored now?
Then let’s help The SBs Googlebomb Amazon. Commence, Amazon Rank, because Amazon really are fucking rank.
Full instructions on how to Googlebomb can be found at this Smartbitches Trashy Books site.
Dear me.
When did Amazon.com turn into a bunch of right-wing lunatics? How the fuck did that happen?
Smartbitch Sarah tweeted earlier that Amazon have begun systematically stripping all gay & lesbian fiction, and erotic fiction of their Amazon sales rankings.
Jaci Burton, Shannon Stacey, Maya Banks and Larissa Ione have reportedly lost their Amazon rankings on some of their books.
They’ve also targeted gay non-fiction. WTF?
So, I was on Amazon the other day, and I happened to notice that the link to a book by an author, who’s latest book I wanted to purchase, wasn’t working properly, so I did the decent thing and e-mailed the author to let her know that there seemed to be a problem with links to her books.
Anyway, this is the e-mail that she sent back to me:
Hi Karen,
Thanks for your email. I am aware of the problem. Amazon and Hatchette, the parent company of my publisher, are in a dispute at the moment and this is Amazon’s way of getting at Hatchette. They’re doing it to several authors in different ways.
The dispute is over Amazon demanding bigger discounts from publishers, which aren’t to be passed on to consumers, and Hatchette said no. So, Amazon are doing things like this and will keep doing it, apparently, until the stand-off is resolved.
Unbelievable.
So Amazon are purposely messing up book links so that authors published by specific houses, can’t sell their work?
Does anybody know how true this is?
