Amazon selling books that I haven't put through distribution??? [ Edited ]

[magicrealms]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could advise me on what do to? I have found four booklets / chapbooks that I published on Lulu, with the intention of only selling on via the Lulu marketplace -- they have no ISBNs -- but they are filed under General Access.

I have, just this morning found these booklets being sold via a third party seller on Amazon (this is the link -- they are the bottom four books under my name, Dianna Hardy) http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=dianna+hardy&x=1...

These books are actually available as free downloads and the copyright on them is Creative Commons, non-commercial, no derivatives. I advertise them here http://www.freebites.bittenfruitbooks.com/

I find it totally weird that they're being sold (I use the term loosely as their price is nonsensical) on Amazon, and wondered if they're actually allowed to? I have not placed these books through distribution and I have not paid for MarketReach -- I don't even know how they're on Amazon.

Any advice would be appreciated. Are they allowed to do this? Would they take the books off if I asked them? Or should I contact Amazon? I'm not panicked about it -- hey, publicity is good -- but I feel a bit irked, and would like to know if other books I DON'T put through distribtuion are likely to turn up being sold on Amazon?! This makes me wary of publishing through Lulu.

Thanks,

Dianna.

[Ken Anderson]

Did you perhaps opt for Marketplace?

[magicrealms]

I didn't pay for MarketReach -- or for any kind of distribution -- and to my knowledge, I didn't opt for any kind of distribution at all.

[Peter May]

Don't sweat

It is not Amazon, it is a opportunist third party using Amazon marketplace.

This happens all the time. These people advertise a book at a high price. If some fool decides to buy from them the seller then buys the book and sends it to their customer. You get paid and the opportunist takes the cream.

That's why you see 'second hand' books advertised on Amazon marketplace even before the book has sold one copy.

Don't worry, no laws broken, no theft, no loss of revenue to you.

[magicrealms]

Thanks Peter,

I'm just curious though, as to how it's even on Amazon when I didn't put it through distribution (not even MarketReach)? How did the third party seller get the listing details and how would they know who to order from if someone actually bought a copy? Any thoughts on that?

Thanks again.

Dianna

[Peter May]

As I explained, it is someone who has registered themselves as a Amazon Marketplace seller.

Anyone can do so and sell anything. I did it myself to sell signed copies of my book because I was irritated by other Marketplace sellers listing my book so I undercut them.

Fo how to do it see http://www.amazon.com/gp/seller-account/mm-product-page.html

Seriously, don't worry. If they sell a book - unlikely at $300 - you'll get your fee from Amazon.

What you could worry about is giving your work away for free -- surely the labourer is worth their hire? - and under the creative license because someone could just take your PDF, reformat it and advertise and print it.

There are a couple of large companies that are doing this very thing -- one scrapes Wikipedia entries into high priced books.

IMO if yourbook is worth reading then it is worth buying - even a nominal amount - and keep the copyright yourself.

P.S. Nice to find another Brit here

[magicrealms]

Hi Peter,

I sell most of my books -- the freebies are literally chapbooks, 2 of them only eight pages long and 2 of them no more than thirty pages. I don't mind giving them away as they help to boost the sales of my other books and help to get my name out there. Piracy, well, there's not much you can do about that, even if you fully copyright your work and use DRM... (that's a whole other forum post!).

The free chapbooks DO NOT have ISBNs, and I didn't list them for distribution -- this is why I'm confused about them appearing on Amazon. I also sell my books as a third party when they take too long to appear on Amazon, but those books have ISBNs and as far as I knew, needed to have the ISBNs in order to be listed.

I'm not worried about my books being on there, persay (although in future, if I don't want a book listed on Amazon, I'd better keep it private or direct access only), I'm simply confused, and am looking for an explanation on how it can be on there with no ISBN and no distribution plan.

Thanks,

Dianna.

[Peter May]

I am not sure how many different ways I can say it.

These people list items for sale as a Marketplace seller. I imagine they use automated tools to scrape details from  Lulu and elsewhere. It is them that has cause the items to appear, not Amazon.

For items listed under the category of  books I imagine that Amazons own tools link the authors name to an existing authors name, so it appears then under the list of 'legitimate' books.

As a professional seller it costs them little to list 100s of thousand of items. If they make a sale they then work out how to get the book. They need to sell only a few to make a profit. They have no stock to keep, they only buy once they have made a purchase.

[magicrealms]

---

Peter May wrote:

I imagine they use automated tools to scrape details from  Lulu and elsewhere. 

---

I see ... this makes sense. I'm under the impression that these sellers list books to boost their numbers / rankings, as I doubt they actually expect to sell a copy.

I sell on Amazon under the basic service (free), but maybe as a pro-seller, you can add your own products without ISBNs if they're not listed on Amazon in the first place...

Thank you Peter, that's falling into place now. I like to know the "how" of things -- it keeps me happy  

Dianna

[Peter May]

I don't  need to be a pro seller. As a private seller you can list free of charge books with an ISBN and books without -- remember anything published before the 1960s will not have an ISBN and many sell second hand books. And other non-book items.

What happens when a sale is made  you get an email - its up to you to package and despatch the goods to the customer in an agreed time - you then  get the money minus Amazons cut in your Amazon account,