To ask for a discount on a book?

[sterlitza]

I was on ebay and saw a book that I've really wanted for a while. It's a fairly academic/history book so expensive. Turns out the seller is the author.

I sent a very very polite message saying that I would love a copy of his book as the subject is of interest. I explained that money is short at the moment, and wondered if he would be willing to offer a discount. I then thanked him and wished him well.

I received a fairly short reply explaining the price of the book is already heavily discounted, and if I were to go to Waterstones I would pay double the price. He would not be willing to offer a discount, but he would offer a "cheek discount" of 5% off. Now I can't tell if this was a joke or if I had upset him.

I bought the book in the end, as I need something to read over lockdown.

Was I unreasonable?

YABVU

Very CF behaviour on your part.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable ... you asked (politely) and he agreed, he didn’t have to agree.

I was sent a renewal for an annual contract yesterday ... I politely asked for a discount, they politely agreed and I saved £77.

I work in a charity shop and occasionally people ask for a discount, if I know something has been on sale for a couple of weeks, or if they are spending quite a bit of money, or if it is something that is hard to shift, I am happy to give a discount.

Selling is a skill .... good sales people know how to get the best price and offer the best customer service at the same time ... but it’s often not recognised as a skill. Maybe this author has missed a trick, the OP might know other students who would be interested in buying the same academic book ... could he had offered a deal, or a free online talk about his book to encourage other sales?

Rather crass to ask OP.

The value of his work isn’t dependent on your ability to pay.

He was very kind in the circumstances; I hope you leave him stellar feedback on eBay.

Bloody hell, I wish I had your confidence! If you can’t afford something you don’t buy it. If you wanted a Range Rover, would you offer them £50
and hope for the best or just go for something in your price range. Sometimes you just have to accept that others have more than you do.

Isn’t the point of eBay to try and get something cheaper than you normally would though? People asking for discounts, submitting best offers is the thing on eBay. If you aren’t willing to accept that probably best not to sell on there.

People asking for discounts, submitting best offers is the thing on eBay. If you aren’t willing to accept that probably best not to sell on there

That’s what the “offer” button is for. If he didn’t use it, it’s because he didn’t want offers.

He probably got it for free from his publisher and can ask for more (some will be more stringent than others). If more a scholarly monograph type, he likely has a stack somewhere.

YABU

You don't get to decide that your budget is the problem of someone selling an item you want.

It's rude to put any seller on the spot and ask them to reduce their clearly advertised price but even worse when the seller is the author themselves.

You're basically saying "I want to buy your work, but I can't afford what you think it is worth so rather than wait until I'm in a position to pay the full value, I'm going to ask you to give me it for less purely because I want it."

Surely if the author is selling himself, he gets all the profit from that sale. No royalties to pay? (Bar sunk costs if self published of printing)
I'd assume it's far more profitable to buy direct from them than via Waterstones.
I'd assume 5% cheeky discount was just them being funny (well trying to)

I'm am really surprised by these responses, do you all not use Ebay? I'me it's completely par for the course to get messages asking you to sell for cheaper and most without a please or thank you. As a seller you decide if you're happy to lower the price.

I suggest the delicate souls above don't ever use Facebook marketplace to sell anything.

I suggest the delicate souls above don't ever use Facebook marketplace to sell anything

I use it all the time. I just don’t engage with people trying to haggle/people without the basic about of politeness. Works marvellously!

I think over ebay, asking is fine. Its the nature of the site. You don't wonder into Waterstonea and asked an employee with no authority to give you money off.

You asked nicely, they answered. They could've said no and 5% is not really much of a discount. If I was hard us for money I'd rather have 95% of something than 100% of nothing if the book wasn't selling.

YANBU. They could have said "no". They didn't. Nothing wrong with asking politely if you're prepared to accept a refusal without throwing a strop. It's eBay ffs, this is perfectly normal.

Embarrassed you obviously wouldn’t offer £50 for a Range Rover but surely everyone knows that it’s common place to ‘haggle’ a car price.

Good car salespeople are highly regarded.

I use it all the time. I just don’t engage with people trying to haggle/people without the basic about of politeness. Works marvellously!

That's exactly my point, if people are objecting to a politely worded request for a reduction on eBay they'd be horrified by the sorts of messages you get as a seller on Facebook. No need to engage with either yet most posters are taking offence on behalf of the Ebay seller.

YABU. Authors still need to pay their bills.

Cringing for you 😳

If you go to a second hand/antiquarian book fair, most dealers will happily give you 10% off if you ask nicely. I've had people ask for discounts on books on eBay - depending on the tone of their message and how long I've had the book, I usually offer them a discount. So I don't think you were being cheeky, the seller was within their rights to either ignore you or refuse, but if you don't ask, you don't get!

MarieQueenofScots

It’s actually a new thing from 6/7 months ago where you can send the seller an offer via message if an item has been listed a certain amount of time without the best offer function being on the actual sale page.

He chose to offer you 5%. He could have ignored you. It’s not something I’ve not ever done as a prospective buyer and I do think it’s cheeky. Shouldn’t worry about it as it’s done now.

Would the opinion have been different on MN had it not been the author selling the book?

It’s actually a new thing from 6/7 months ago where you can send the seller an offer via message if an item has been listed a certain amount of time without the best offer function being on the actual sale page

Ok so make an offer without a sob story. That’s the crass bit!

I remember when my dad was selling books that his uncle (well known author wrote). The number of “he’s my favourite author but I can’t afford it and that’s just the one I’m missing”. Just be businesslike!

Maybe this author has missed a trick, the OP might know other students who would be interested in buying the same academic book ... could he had offered a deal, or a free online talk about his book to encourage other sales?

@ragwort, that's not how academic publishing works. It wouldn't be worth anyone's time to do an online talk to encourage sales. It's not a stream of income for the author - it's more like a way for them to get their ideas out there without having to pay to do it.

Of course many academic books are strategically marketed - some won’t be due to being very niche, but quite a few authors do go out of their way to market their books (esp. via Twitter, small book signings and launches). Every academic publisher will have a marketing team and publicists.

This is a bit cheeky, unless the price was really extortionate.