AIBU to think these books might be counterfeits?

[Bluepolkadots42]

A while back an ad popped up on one of my social media accounts for bargain value children's books- £2.50/title. I was surprised and pleased to see some Julia Donaldson titles on there as my DC loves her books ( as do I). So I placed an order and chucked some other things in too to qualify for the free delivery amount.
The books have just arrived and there is something off about the JD title ones... the paper quality feels wrong and the 'blackness' of the ink (for want of a better word) is less dark than the titles I've bought recently from a leading supermarket. The letter outlines are slightly wobbly, rather than clear and straight- so printing quality is obviously a big crap. Reminds me of when at work you photocopy a photocopy- quality of the font outline etc. goes down. Although it isn't as terrible or as obvious as that.
DH thinks I'm being overly suspicious about nothing and thinks the idea of a counterfeit market in JD books is laughable... I can't shake the feeling that the books are weird though. Is there such a thing as a counterfeit children's book market?! I don't even know who I would report my suspicions to tbh.

Report to trading standards I think

Does it matter though when you got them on the cheap? If you were paying full whack then I would understand your concern

Probably seconds from the publisher I.e. not up to shop standards but fine to get them on the cheap

I don't think it's that cheap if you were buying say a pack of 10, that would be £25

Where did you buy them from?

@GreyGardens88 of course it matters. If they're counterfeit then the buyers and sellers are stealing from the author and publisher. Buyers might be doing it unwittingly but the sellers are doing it knowingly and are criminals. They are probably involved in other more unsavoury crimes as well.

I saw counterfeit adult novels (best sellers at the time) on sale in Thailand years ago so can quite believe that there are counterfeit children's books about. Report to Trading Standards.

It sound like books you can buy India. They are sold for less than you would pay in the UK but the quality is not as good.
From memory they did not normally say not for sale outside of India and would have a price in rupees.

Unwanted books from the publisher end up in The Works or Poundshop - not being sold via social media.

@ShoppingBasket yes I wondered if that could be a possibility. I am tempted to email the company and ask. I contacted them after placing the order as the delivery estimate was 5 working days and it actually took 10 and they replied immediately, very friendly and explained delays due to staffing and covid.

@GreyGardens88 well if they are counterfeit then yes it does matter to me. My daughter and I get tons of enjoyment from JD books and as an author she deserves her percentage fee for every book of hers sold. Counterfeit goods deny her that.

@buckeejit- Well on the back it says RRP is £6.99 but Asda are selling lots of JD titles 2 for £7 as part of a deal at the mo. Assume large retailers can negotiate low unit prices because they can buy huge quantities, so this is cheaper than they are charging. I got 11 books for £25 (not all JD titles- quality of other books seems fine).

@BadEyeBri thank you- had forgotten the name of them!

I think I am going to email the company first and see what they say- if they say it's shop seconds or whatever then that's fine.

@marcopront the RRP on back is in £ and I've compared the backs of them to the back of other titles. Main thing I've noticed is that the titles from the SM company have 2 bar codes and the code on top of the smaller bar code is all 9s. Whereas books I've bought from Asda that are also JD only have 1 bar code which has a series of different digits on.

Sounds to me like they have been printed digitally rather than traditionally (I work in publishing) - was it someone like The Book People that you bought from? Publishers will do cheap deals with them and the quality won’t be quite as good as standard books. I very much doubt they are counterfeit - the margins wouldn’t make it worthwhile to do.

@GreyGardens88

Does it matter though when you got them on the cheap? If you were paying full whack then I would understand your concern

Yes it does matter. It's stealing from the publisher and author. Authors earn bugger all mostly and depend on royalties.

OP is the publisher the same as the author's usual UK publisher (you can do a quick check on Amazon)?

@marcopront

It sound like books you can buy India. They are sold for less than you would pay in the UK but the quality is not as good. From memory they did not normally say not for sale outside of India and would have a price in rupees.

That's what I was thinking, having bought books there on occasion.

As the OP has said they have a price in pounds it makes me think that yes, they're counterfeits/knockoffs.

As for nobody bothering to do that, there's always someone who will try anything to make a dishonest buck! Not to mention a world full of desperate people out there.

@JeremyIronsBenFolds no it isn't the Works or The Book People. I am loathe to mention the company/website because it seems like a pretty small set up and times are tough enough for small businesses without someone potentially smearing a reputation by implying goods are counterfeit. They do other 'big name' titles like Mog, Elmer and the Jill Murphy Large family series. The website looks pretty professional and they've obviously got enough money to pay for targeted ads on Insta and FB.

@Bluepolkadots42 I expect they’ve done a deal to sell box sets of books at a reduced price - it’s a good way to make money out of back catalogue titles for publishers. I’m sure it’s legit.

The beige book (Snail and whale) is from the online company. The other 2 books are from Asda. And I've noticed one of the asda books also has 2 barcodes.
All the books from online retailer have 2 barcodes with numbers at top of second, smaller barcode being all 9s.

Thanks @JeremyIronsBenFolds that makes me feel better!

I've just done a quick Google and lots of doing different retailers seem to be selling the same set of books for the same price: 2:50 each or a set of 10 for 16-18.

It seems pretty unlikely OP, that anyone would bother doing this. JD books are very cheap in Amazon regardless.

Books, like any other licensed product can be reprinted in different countries under different printing practices and will often sell the eight to publish or produce the 'same' product but more economically specifically for discount retailers. You will find similar with certain food brands in poundland (etc) for example or items produced under the same brand but created specifically to go I to a store as a discount or special buy item. The packaging may differ, the quality of things like paper may, the quality of printing ink etc.

I'd not worry about JD, the multimillionaire who knows this and will likely have approved the use of her materials to various ends to sell to these retailers. However if you're not happy with the the quality return them and buy elsewhere.

www.computalabel.com/aboutisbn.htm

Some info on how additional barcode identifications work. The 99999 is a legitimate coding that pertains to product produced for convenience retailing. I worked in retail management for a number of years and that is what we had on a number of the books ordered in and sold in the 'sale' at till points etc. I didn't work in a bookshop but we often got in things like this.

Ooh I've been told off

@GreyGardens88

Ooh I've been told off

If you earned the paltry royalties I earn you would be grumpy about the whole issue too!

@GreyGardens88 if you think that’s being told off you must be new here! Anyway of course it is shitty to buy illegal printings of copyrighted material. To me the OP’s books sound more likely to be cheaper versions made for a specific retailer/market but good for you OP for giving a shit.