Martin McDowell's Blog

Logic dictates that an e-book should be cheaper than its paper counterpart, yes? One of the main reasons why people should buy e-book readers is the fact that you don’t have to pay for the overpriced printing and hopefully can save a few trees at the same time. OK, lets ignore the fact that a lot of books are already made from recycled paper and that making an e-book reader creates a marked size number 11 carbon footprint of its own.

This was why it was very surprising that I found an e-book on Waterstone’s website that was more expensive than the printed version.

As you can see the cheapest paperback edition is £4.79 and the e-book edition is £6.25. This screen capture was taken after calling the following URL.

I have looked around the website and could not find this repeated again. I would welcome anybody else’s feedback. Has someone found the same anomaly?

I did contact Waterstones and this is what they said:

Dear Martin,

Thank you for your email.

I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with the price difference between Waterstones.com and our High Street stores.

There are a number of reasons that there are different prices online to instore. Firstly there is the difference in overheads, and secondly there are the negotiations that take place through Waterstones.com . We have a buyer who negotiates different special deals and promotions for the site outside of those negotiated for the high street. All our books are sourced from one third party distribution centre, which in itself allows reductions in price that are not always seen in the high street stores. We also compete in an online environment that is very different to that of the high street.

That said I appreciate that sometimes this can be a confusing message when coming from the same company so please accept my apologies for any disappointment or confusion caused.

Kind regards,

[name witheld by blog author]
Customer Service Team
Waterstones.com

Fair enough. I hope this will not be a common discrepancy, otherwise I cannot see myself getting the currently overpriced e-book reader that are marked at about £200.