<story><title>I won’t buy ebooks anymore</title><url>https://dustri.org/b/i-wont-buy-ebooks-anymore.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wilwade</author><text>I refused to buy Amazon ebooks when I learned that I didn&amp;#x27;t own them. I only owned a right to read them (dependent on many legal things).&lt;p&gt;The price of an ebook has so far been the same as the price of a physical book. Considering the resale value of a book is on average about 50% of the original price, the real price of an ebook for the user with this limitation should be ~50% less than the cost of the paper book. (Not taking into account shipping costs, etc...)&lt;p&gt;This became real to me when my aunt died. She had purchased thousands of dollars worth of ebooks. Had she purchased physical books, those books would have been donated or resold. At a loss to the publisher, but a gain to the original purchaser and secondary purchaser. (or estate in this case).&lt;p&gt;Unless I as the purchaser am at least partially compensated for this loss of value by a price decrease, I cannot buy ebooks with a resale limitation.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>TheOtherHobbes</author><text>The resale value of most books is nowhere near 50% of the original price. The more popular the title and the bigger the print run the less it&amp;#x27;s worth - until you get to remainder mountain title like 50 Shades of Grey, which are literally worthless, except perhaps as fuel for a wood stove.&lt;p&gt;I had a library with thousands (and thousands) of books. When I moved I decided to get rid of many of them, because decluttering. Long story short - by the time you&amp;#x27;ve allowed for post&amp;#x2F;carriage, listing time, packaging, and so on, you&amp;#x27;re more likely to be left with 5-10% of the nominal cover price - and that only after endless hours of work.&lt;p&gt;I donated most of mine, and I still got complaints from the local recycling facility that they were worthless because they were &amp;quot;too obscure&amp;quot; (i.e. pop science, math, stats, and such.)</text></comment>
<story><title>I won’t buy ebooks anymore</title><url>https://dustri.org/b/i-wont-buy-ebooks-anymore.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>wilwade</author><text>I refused to buy Amazon ebooks when I learned that I didn&amp;#x27;t own them. I only owned a right to read them (dependent on many legal things).&lt;p&gt;The price of an ebook has so far been the same as the price of a physical book. Considering the resale value of a book is on average about 50% of the original price, the real price of an ebook for the user with this limitation should be ~50% less than the cost of the paper book. (Not taking into account shipping costs, etc...)&lt;p&gt;This became real to me when my aunt died. She had purchased thousands of dollars worth of ebooks. Had she purchased physical books, those books would have been donated or resold. At a loss to the publisher, but a gain to the original purchaser and secondary purchaser. (or estate in this case).&lt;p&gt;Unless I as the purchaser am at least partially compensated for this loss of value by a price decrease, I cannot buy ebooks with a resale limitation.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>foob4r</author><text>For that reason, I mostly get books from not the most legal sources, and then buy a copy from a local bookstore. I either donate that book to a library or give it to a friend as a gift.&lt;p&gt;I get what I want while supporting a local bookstore and the author.</text></comment>