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Comment by adrianN | Hacker News Reader

In Germany books on Amazon cost exactly the same as in the store by law. I still go to Amazon because it's much more convenient to get things delivered and because there is often a used version available that doesn't require killing trees (and is cheaper).

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In my case the local bookshop [1] two doors down the street offers the perfect compromise: You order online on said website, then pick up the book in the store the next day. Typically faster than amazon, same offers, obviously same prize (because it is fixed in Germany) and a generally much nicer experience.

[1] http://ichwilllesen.de/

What's the difference between this and using a parcel locker ?

People.

A lokal bookshop in my hometown just opened a digital order mechanism. You can order your book there, have it available for retrieval within one, at the most two days.

I think, they even think about partnering with local delivery providers to make delivery possible.

But it is hard to beat Amazon on the "no cost for shipping" thing for books in Germany.

If I would still live there, I would totally use this instead of Amazon for books.

Most large bookstore chains in Germany offer this service as well (e.g. Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel - not that their business practices are any better than Amazon's). I chatted with a few employees but almost nobody seems to use that service. Except for mine, all other books were either ordered in person or by phone.

If there was an independent bookstore here that offered that I would totally use it. But it's even hard to find any independent bookstore here (eastern Germany), so I'm back to Amazon.

I totally understand this. I do not have an independent bookstore near where I work or where I live, since moving away from my hometown for work.

So yeah - sadly I am also back to Amazon.

ebooks are still often cheaper than physical books on German amazon.

They are often more expensive on Amazon as well: http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-version-expensive-paperback-dol...

For books published in Germany, the ebook price is the same for every shop as well (but doesn't need to be the printed price).

What's the government's rationale here? How can you have market competition if they ban competition?

It's controversial:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_book_price_agreement#Ass...

Some people think it improves availability of less popular books.

The law (BuchPrG) provides a rationale to restrict the free market in this particular case in it's first section (translation by me):

> This law provides protection for books as a cultural heritage. Fixing prices for customers ensures availability of a wide range of books. Additionally, this law ensures that this offer is available to the broad public by encouraging the existence of a large number of stores.

Fixing the prices makes books more expensive but ensures that even small niches are filled that would otherwise be unprofitable and bookstores sell those. It's supposed to be a cross-subsidy by buyers of popular books. Additionally, almost every book store will sell you almost any book (if it isn't in stock they get them overnight).

I think around half of the EU members have such laws in place. It is widely debated whether the law has the predicted effects.

> How can you have market competition if they ban competition?

By having the competition on other levels than prices (not totally, since the prices at which the shop buys the books are not fixed, so they compete for good deals on that end)

Ah, I mostly buy English language ebooks so my situation might be different. Buying English paper books in German stores is usually more expensive for me.

Yes, the fixed price only applies to books published in Germany (even in other languages, if they are directed at the German market).

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