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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Books Canada's Amazon Controversy

Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Mar 11, 2010 at 11:35 AM

According to MobyLives, Canada will probably allow Amazon to set up a Canadian warehouse and shipping center.

Meanwhile, a day after the Canadian Booksellers Association called for the government to block the move (see yesterday’s MobyLives report), saying “no American dot.com retailer could ever purport to understand or promote” Canadian culture, an Amazon spokesperson finally spoke out — to call the charge “preoposterous.”

Meanwhile, Amazon has also removed the option to buy many comics following last week's weird funnybook discounting controversy. Which means that if you're looking for a comic, you should buy it from an independent comic book store, instead.

I have called Amazon.com (again) for comment on both these issues. If they respond with a comment, I will probably have a heart attack out of sheer surprise and after I get medical attention, I'll let you know.

Comments (6) RSS

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I hope they meet Canadian content regs.

Yes, that means prominent placement for books, music, videos and other cultural content whose authorship is Canadian.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on March 11, 2010 at 12:42 PM

I'm sure folks like Rich Johnston are all over them, as well as CBR and Newsarama, but they, Diamond, and even to a degree Marvel & DC are small potatoes compared to other publishers. If this continues beyond whatever it is they're likely doing to prevent it happening again, I would surprised if WB & Disney don't reach out to Amazon as it will begin to affect their bottom line and exposure somewhat.

Posted by Joe Szilagyi

on March 11, 2010 at 12:49 PM

Wait, what has amazon.ca been doing all these years, then?

Posted by GlennFleishman

on March 11, 2010 at 1:27 PM

In other words: "We much prefer our inefficient and out of date business model to Amazons and since we cannot compete fairly, we ask the government to protect us."

Posted by giffy on March 11, 2010 at 1:31 PM