Amazon’s Curious Case of the $2,630.52 Used Paperback

New Your Times Article

By: David Streitfeld

• July 15, 2018

San Francisco — Many booksellers on Amazon strive to sell their wares as cheaply as possible. That, after all, is usually how you make a sale in a competitive marketplace.

Other merchants favor a counterintuitive approach:

Mark the price up to the moon.

“Zowie,” the romance author Deborah Macgillivray wrote on Twitter last month after she discovered copies of her 2009 novel, “One Snowy Knight,” being offered for four figures. One was going for “$2,630.52 & FREE Shipping,” she noted.

Since other copies of the paperback were being sold elsewhere on Amazon for as little as 99 cents, she was perplexed. “How many really sell at that price? Are they just hoping to snooker some poor soul?” Ms. Macgillivray wrote in an email.

She noted that her blog had gotten an explosion in traffic from Russia. “Maybe Russian hackers do this in their spare time, making money on the side,” she said. Amazon is by far the largest marketplace for both new and used books the world has ever seen, and is also one of the most inscrutable. The retailer directly sells some books, while others are sold by third parties. The wild pricing happens with the latter.

Supernaturally Charged...

Nothing Can Prepare You...!

What would you get when you cross Lex Luthor and the Joker?

In the Encounter Series, you would get... Carrillo El Duque Sanchez.

An extortionist who uses his powers of persuasion as a means of control. His weapons of choice are Pearl Handled Ice Picks, Straight Razors and .45 Automatic.

He is a sadistic villain who if crossed, scalps then skins his prey.

Prepare yourselves then look for El Duque this fall in Carl Alan Smith's new Book Release...Twisted.

Art Design by: Hareston Clay

A Look Inside...

Enjoy this glimpse of what is the chaos of my office. As you can see, it's filled with geeky stuff like art, and collectible toys. This is where I spend my time before and after a Sun's or Diamond Backs game checking the competition, perfecting my writing and developing characters.

Oh, a big Shout Out to my "Much Respected" colleague, "Red 1", Mr. Rick Cotton. "This is where I think of and develop all those Twisted story ideas and characters."