Overpricing? $23 vs $7

Gabe Orea
Gabe Orea Member Posts: 83 ✭✭
edited November 2024 in English Forum

An honest question,

Is it normal/regular to have a Kindle book for $7 and the Logos version for $23?

See Cultural Intelligence, by David Livermore.

(Don't take me wrong, I own near 5,000 Logos resources. But I was quite surprised when I almost bought this book in Logos, then decided to check it first in Amazon). 

Thanks,

Gabe.

Comments

  • JohnB
    JohnB Member Posts: 1,085 ✭✭

    It would be interesting to know what the hard book priced  was for Kindle.
    Amazon often vary their prices dramatically compared to the hard book price dependant (no doubt) on the pricing policy of the day. 

    The type of book will determine the amount of tagging in the Kindle version but there will always be a lot more work put into the Logos one than the Kindle one. Kindle don't even have tagging for page numbers never mind anything else.  On the more academic ones with some Greek/Hebrew/transliterated text the Kindle tends to be more buggy in my limited experience. 

    Ultimately both Logos and Amazon are free to choose to price things as they want and we are free to buy from who we want.

    Incidentally I find it quite common to have prices in Amazon higher than on Logos. I wonder how many Logos members write to Amazon to complain about their high pricing and accuse them of over charging?? 

    To me the use of the word "over charging" is relevant to a monopoly where there is no choice and not to a free market capitalistic society where no prices are fixed.


  • Mark Barnes
    Mark Barnes Member Posts: 15,432 ✭✭✭

    Gabe Orea said:

    Is it normal/regular to have a Kindle book for $7 and the Logos version for $23?

    Cultural Intelligence is showing up as $15.02 on Kindle for me. Perhaps it was on sale.

    This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!

  • DAL
    DAL Member Posts: 10,847 ✭✭✭

    It depends on the publisher too, some books are sometimes a little more expensive than a Logos version. Other books are only a couple of dollars less than a Logos book. And sometimes, yes, some Logos books are overpriced.

    DAL

  • Sean
    Sean Member Posts: 1,803 ✭✭✭

    JohnB said:

    The type of book will determine the amount of tagging in the Kindle version but there will always be a lot more work put into the Logos one than the Kindle one. Kindle don't even have tagging for page numbers never mind anything else.

    I have bought a few theology books on Kindle, ones that were pennies on Logos's dollar, too cheap to pass up.

    I have consistently been disappointed with them. They're okay for casual reading but for any serious work Logos editions are vastly superior. In my opinion some are overpriced, but there's no doubt that they are of much greater value than Kindle editions.

  • Jan Krohn
    Jan Krohn Member Posts: 3,873 ✭✭✭

    Cultural Intelligence is showing up as $15.02 on Kindle for me. Perhaps it was on sale.

    It depends on a variety of parameters. $19.48 on Kindle for me.

  • Mike Childs
    Mike Childs Member Posts: 3,135 ✭✭✭

    Gabe Orea said:

    An honest question,

    Is it normal/regular to have a Kindle book for $7 and the Logos version for $23?

    See Cultural Intelligence, by David Livermore.

    (Don't take me wrong, I own near 5,000 Logos resources. But I was quite surprised when I almost bought this book in Logos, then decided to check it first in Amazon). 

    Thanks,

    Gabe.

    It is certainly not unusual.  There are obvious advantages to having some books in one's Logos Library.  For one thing it will be tagged so that it integrates with your whole Logos Library. So, it is not unreasonable that the extra tagging makes the Logos edition a bit more expensive.   For me it is more important to have reference books, such as commentaries, Bible Dictionaries, and language tools in Logos format.  It is not so important with many other kinds of books. So I have bought lots of Logos books (over 7500), but I have also bought a significant number of books in other formats, including Kindle.


    "In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church," John Wesley

  • Into Grace
    Into Grace Member Posts: 692 ✭✭

    I now prefer Kindle books over Logos. That is, unless they are commentaries, Bibles, theological journals, lexicons, etc. Most of my reading and studying involves a tablet. Kindle books have a copy and paste feature, their app is more stable (I have to restart Logos app multiple times per day), they have collections with nice book icons which makes finding something in my library easy, and they have an easy search feature (with Logos app I have to go find the book from a list of books, which is annoying. 

    http://www.TrinityExamined.com

  • Eduardo Espiritu
    Eduardo Espiritu Member Posts: 54 ✭✭

    Yes, it is normal and expected. The golden goal of pricing is airline ticket pricing.  The price paid should be the most that an individual is willing to pay. Just as a seat on a plane to Amman, Jordan, has a different value to different people, so too an electronic book of a given level of quality.

  • Myke Harbuck
    Myke Harbuck Member Posts: 1,646 ✭✭✭

    Jan Krohn said:

    Cultural Intelligence is showing up as $15.02 on Kindle for me. Perhaps it was on sale.

    It depends on a variety of parameters. $19.48 on Kindle for me.

    $14.74 for me.....Interesting.

    Myke Harbuck
    Lead Pastor, www.ByronCity.Church
    Adjunct Professor, Georgia Military College

  • Whyndell Grizzard
    Whyndell Grizzard Member Posts: 3,523 ✭✭✭

    Once again individuals need to make their own decisions as to what is valuable to them in Logos- I have passed on about 90% of their current offerings due to the fact I can get the same resources for 10- 40% of their pricing- how? books, paper books- yep and it does not hinder my study at all.

    So grow up, you lived before Logos, you'll live- and hopefully keep studying after Logos- I have. One great benefit I appreciate is their PBB utility- I have compiled hundreds of resources they will never offer- and have hundreds in PBB that it took them 10 years to offer.

    I have so much trash publications from FL from upgrading packages I would gladly purge and surrender the license to if there was an easy way to do it.

    So if you don't like the pricing- shop elsewhere or do without.

  • Gabe Orea
    Gabe Orea Member Posts: 83 ✭✭

    Interesting to see some of you guys got different prices on Amazon. I just checked again and took a picture, see it attached. My price is quite lower than the price some of you reported. I wonder if it is related to the amount of books we have bought there? Or maybe other factor? Anyway, thanks for your input.

    Cheers.

    Gabe

  • DAL
    DAL Member Posts: 10,847 ✭✭✭

    Are you a “Prime Student”? According to the add you get 50% off, maybe that’s why. I’m just assuming.

    DAL

  • Jan Krohn
    Jan Krohn Member Posts: 3,873 ✭✭✭

    I don't think Amazon will tell you the factors.I know that location is one of them. Possibly Prime membership. They might also do some A/B marketing tests with different prices...

    I've recently said in a different thread already, the good thing about Logos is, that it has the same price for everyone. Same free offers for everyone. (Almost) no discrimination on the country of residence.

    Amazon quite often doesn't even provide freebies made available by the publisher to me!

  • DMB
    DMB Member Posts: 14,392 ✭✭✭✭

    DAL said:

    Are you a “Prime Student”? According to the add you get 50% off, maybe that’s why. I’m just assuming.

    DAL

    His screen copy does says that. But that's just assuming.  :)

    Never mind.  

    "If myth is ideology in narrative form, then scholarship is myth with footnotes." B. Lincolm 1999.

  • DAL
    DAL Member Posts: 10,847 ✭✭✭

    Denise said:

    DAL said:

    Are you a “Prime Student”? According to the add you get 50% off, maybe that’s why. I’m just assuming.

    DAL

    His screen copy does says that. But that's just assuming.  :)

    Never mind.  

    👍😁👌

  • Gabe Orea
    Gabe Orea Member Posts: 83 ✭✭

    No, I am not registered as a Prime Student in Amazon. What you see there is the advertisement, a link to apply to be one. Also, if you see a little below, it says "Try Prime," which means I am not. 

    Anyway, again, thanks everyone for all the input. I'm glad I can still have the $7 price there. :)

    Gabe. 

  • JoshInRI
    JoshInRI Member Posts: 1,942 ✭✭✭

    Gabe I often find cheaper pricing in Wordsearch but prefer the Logos app as I am more familiar with it.  I sometimes buy hardcopies from Christianbook too and yes occasionally from Amazon Kindle.

    One software to rule them all would be nice, huh?

  • Jonathan Bradley
    Jonathan Bradley Member Posts: 1,155 ✭✭✭

    Gabe, do you own a physical copy of the book your purchased through Amazon? 

    Pastor, Mt. Leonard Baptist Church, SBC

  • Gabe Orea
    Gabe Orea Member Posts: 83 ✭✭

    Hi Jon,

    No, I don't have a physical copy of this book.

    Actually I have bought two copies now, but both are Kindle. The first order I sent it as a gift; the second one was for me. On both separate purchases I got the same $6.95 price. Nice. :)

    Gabe

  • Mark Barnes
    Mark Barnes Member Posts: 15,432 ✭✭✭

    Jan Krohn said:

    I don't think Amazon will tell you the factors.I know that location is one of them. Possibly Prime membership. They might also do some A/B marketing tests with different prices...

    They must be picking up location from your IP address, because I'd already checked that I was getting the same price regardless of whether I was logged in.

    I think location is the major factor, because in the UK store I would be charged £11.39, which equates to $15.01, which is almost identical to what Amazon is charging me in the US store.

    This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!

  • Mark Barnes
    Mark Barnes Member Posts: 15,432 ✭✭✭

    According to eReaderIQ this book is currently $14.74 on Amazon:

    Price Summary

    • We started tracking this book on April 8, 2014.
    • This book was $13.33 when we started tracking it.
    • The price of this book has changed 87 times in the past 1,296 days.
    • The current price of this book is $14.74 last checked 5 hours ago.
    • This book is at its lowest price in the past 90 days.
    • This lowest price this book has been offered at in the past year is $12.51.
    • The lowest price to date was $6.50 last reached on November 29, 2015.
    • This book has been $6.50 one time since we started tracking it.
    • The highest price to date was $14.74 last reached on July 14, 2017.
    • This book has been $14.74 4 times since we started tracking it.
    • This book is currently at its highest price since we started tracking it.

    This is my personal Faithlife account. On 1 March 2022, I started working for Faithlife, and have a new 'official' user account. Posts on this account shouldn't be taken as official Faithlife views!

  • Jan Krohn
    Jan Krohn Member Posts: 3,873 ✭✭✭

    The IP address is definitely factored in. I once did some testing with various VPN settings to research the best server location to run the scripts for my "Free Kindle Books" website (books.heidoc.net)

    When recenly moving from Cambodia to the Netherlands, most Kindle prices went up double or threefold. And many Kindle freebies are no longer applicable for me.

    Gabe Orea said:

    Actually I have bought two copies now, but both are Kindle. The first order I sent it as a gift; the second one was for me. On both separate purchases I got the same $6.95 price. Nice. :)

    Does that mean we can send you $6.95, and you purchase the book for us at the discount price? [:D]

    (I'm just kidding of course!)