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Audible controversy (Amazon how could you?!!)

Nena Trinity

Summary

(1) If you are a Audible exclusive you get 40% for each digital book (most likely 21%)

(2) If you are not you only get 25% for each digital book (actually is just 13%)

(3) WORST OF ALL TAKING THE FULL HIT OF REFUNDS AND THE REFUND WINDOW IS A JOKE! (not just the 13%, this means -87% profit)

(4) Spacedock advice people to boycott Audible, lets be fair he is fully justified.

(5) Amazon does not share the numbers with the authors, this makes it really hard to tell what is happening.

 

Quotes

Quote

image.png.fbb06d33cb0f11aa8ca5134826db43bc.png 

image.png.f355aff9f8dbeefbbe20e989e82cef80.png

 

My thoughts

Holy crap how can Amazon scam hard working people giving them only 13% of the 25% they were suppose to get?! This is utterly ridiculous!!! O3O

 

Sources

Spacedock VS Audible | Boycott (#AudibleGate) - YouTube

Spacedock is the creator(s) of Sojourn (Sci-Fi audio book)

Lake-V-X6-10600 (Gaming PC)

R23 score MC: 9190pts | R23 score SC: 1302pts

R20 score MC: 3529cb | R20 score SC: 506cb

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Case: Cooler Master HAF XB Evo Black / Case Fan(s) Front: Noctua NF-A14 ULN 140mm Premium Fans / Case Fan(s) Rear: Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (red) / Case Fan(s) Side: Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX 60mm Premium Fan / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo / CPU: Intel Core i5-10600, 6-cores, 12-threads, 4.4/4.8GHz, 13,5MB cache (Intel 14nm++ FinFET) / Display: ASUS 24" LED VN247H (67Hz OC) 1920x1080p / GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX Vega 56 Gaming OC @1501MHz (Samsung 14nm FinFET) / Keyboard: Logitech Desktop K120 (Nordic) / Motherboard: ASUS PRIME B460 PLUS, Socket-LGA1200 / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 850W / RAM A1, A2, B1 & B2: DDR4-2666MHz CL13-15-15-15-35-1T "Samsung 8Gbit C-Die" (4x8GB) / Operating System: Windows 10 Home / Sound: Zombee Z300 / Storage 1 & 2: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD / Storage 3: Seagate® Barracuda 2TB HDD / Storage 4: Seagate® Desktop 2TB SSHD / Storage 5: Crucial P1 1000GB M.2 SSD/ Storage 6: Western Digital WD7500BPKX 2.5" HDD / Wi-fi: TP-Link TL-WN851N 11n Wireless Adapter (Qualcomm Atheros)

Zen-II-X6-3600+ (Gaming PC)

R23 score MC: 9893pts | R23 score SC: 1248pts @4.2GHz

R23 score MC: 10151pts | R23 score SC: 1287pts @4.3GHz

R20 score MC: 3688cb | R20 score SC: 489cb

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Case: Medion Micro-ATX Case / Case Fan Front: SUNON MagLev PF70251VX-Q000-S99 70mm / Case Fan Rear: Fanner Tech(Shen Zhen)Co.,LTD. 80mm (Purple) / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: AMD Near-silent 125w Thermal Solution / CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 6-cores, 12-threads, 4.2/4.2GHz, 35MB cache (T.S.M.C. 7nm FinFET) / Display: HP 24" L2445w (64Hz OC) 1920x1200 / GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GD5 OC "Afterburner" @1450MHz (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / GPU: ASUS Radeon RX 6600 XT DUAL OC RDNA2 32CUs @2607MHz (T.S.M.C. 7nm FinFET) / Keyboard: HP KB-0316 PS/2 (Nordic) / Motherboard: ASRock B450M Pro4, Socket-AM4 / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 550W / RAM A2 & B2: DDR4-3600MHz CL16-18-8-19-37-1T "SK Hynix 8Gbit CJR" (2x16GB) / Operating System: Windows 10 Home / Sound 1: Zombee Z500 / Sound 2: Logitech Stereo Speakers S-150 / Storage 1 & 2: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD / Storage 3: Western Digital My Passport 2.5" 2TB HDD / Storage 4: Western Digital Elements Desktop 2TB HDD / Storage 5: Kingston A2000 1TB M.2 NVME SSD / Wi-fi & Bluetooth: ASUS PCE-AC55BT Wireless Adapter (Intel)

Vishera-X8-9370 | R20 score MC: 1476cb

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Case: Cooler Master HAF XB Evo Black / Case Fan(s) Front: Noctua NF-A14 ULN 140mm Premium Fans / Case Fan(s) Rear: Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (red) / Case Fan(s) Side: Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX 60mm Premium Fan / Case Fan VRM: SUNON MagLev KDE1209PTV3 92mm / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo / CPU: AMD FX-8370 (Base: @4.4GHz | Turbo: @4.7GHz) Black Edition Eight-Core (Global Foundries 32nm) / Display: ASUS 24" LED VN247H (67Hz OC) 1920x1080p / GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GD5 OC "Afterburner" @1450MHz (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX Vega 56 Gaming OC @1501MHz (Samsung 14nm FinFET) / Keyboard: Logitech Desktop K120 (Nordic) / Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING, Socket-AM3+ / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 850W PSU / RAM 1, 2, 3 & 4: Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1866MHz CL8-10-10-28-37-2T (4x4GB) 16.38GB / Operating System 1: Windows 10 Home / Sound: Zombee Z300 / Storage 1: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD (x2) / Storage 2: Seagate® Barracuda 2TB HDD / Storage 3: Seagate® Desktop 2TB SSHD / Wi-fi: TP-Link TL-WN951N 11n Wireless Adapter

Godavari-X4-880K | R20 score MC: 810cb

Spoiler

Case: Medion Micro-ATX Case / Case Fan Front: SUNON MagLev PF70251VX-Q000-S99 70mm / Case Fan Rear: Fanner Tech(Shen Zhen)Co.,LTD. 80mm (Purple) / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: AMD Near-silent 95w Thermal Solution / Cooler: AMD Near-silent 125w Thermal Solution / CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K Black Edition Elite Quad-Core (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / CPU: AMD Athlon X4 880K Black Edition Elite Quad-Core (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / Display: HP 19" Flat Panel L1940 (75Hz) 1280x1024 / GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SuperSC 2GB (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GD5 OC "Afterburner" @1450MHz (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / Keyboard: HP KB-0316 PS/2 (Nordic) / Motherboard: MSI A78M-E45 V2, Socket-FM2+ / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 550W PSU / RAM 1, 2, 3 & 4: SK hynix DDR3-1866MHz CL9-10-11-27-40 (4x4GB) 16.38GB / Operating System 1: Ubuntu Gnome 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) / Operating System 2: Windows 10 Home / Sound 1: Zombee Z500 / Sound 2: Logitech Stereo Speakers S-150 / Storage 1: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD (x2) / Storage 2: Western Digital My Passport 2.5" 2TB HDD / Storage 3: Western Digital Elements Desktop 2TB HDD / Wi-fi: TP-Link TL-WN851N 11n Wireless Adapter

Acer Aspire 7738G custom (changed CPU, GPU & Storage)
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CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600, 2-cores, 2-threads, 2.4GHz, 3MB cache (Intel 45nm) / GPU: ATi Radeon HD 4570 515MB DDR2 (T.S.M.C. 55nm) / RAM: DDR2-1066MHz CL7-7-7-20-1T (2x2GB) / Operating System: Windows 10 Home / Storage: Crucial BX500 480GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5" SSD

Complete portable device SoC history:

Spoiler
Apple A4 - Apple iPod touch (4th generation)
Apple A5 - Apple iPod touch (5th generation)
Apple A9 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
HiSilicon Kirin 810 (T.S.M.C. 7nm) - Huawei P40 Lite / Huawei nova 7i
Mediatek MT2601 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - TicWatch E
Mediatek MT6580 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - TECNO Spark 2 (1GB RAM)
Mediatek MT6592M (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone my32 (orange)
Mediatek MT6592M (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone my32 (yellow)
Mediatek MT6735 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - HMD Nokia 3 Dual SIM
Mediatek MT6737 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - Cherry Mobile Flare S6
Mediatek MT6739 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone myX8 (blue)
Mediatek MT6739 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone myX8 (gold)
Mediatek MT6750 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - honor 6C Pro / honor V9 Play
Mediatek MT6765 (T.S.M.C 12nm) - TECNO Pouvoir 3 Plus
Mediatek MT6797D (T.S.M.C 20nm) - my|phone Brown Tab 1
Qualcomm MSM8926 (T.S.M.C. 28nm) - Microsoft Lumia 640 LTE
Qualcomm MSM8974AA (T.S.M.C. 28nm) - Blackberry Passport
Qualcomm SDM710 (Samsung 10nm) - Oppo Realme 3 Pro

 

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I feel like i am missing a whole bunch of context.

40% what? 25% what?

Why should I boycott Audible based on these numbers?

 

"He is not the only one"

Who is 'he'?

 

EDIT: keep in mind the topic has been majorly edited. At the time of posting it was only the summary, a quote saying "He is not the only one" and the link to a YouTube video

"We're all in this together, might as well be friends" Tom, Toonami.

 

mini eLiXiVy: my open source 65% mechanical PCB, a build log, PCB anatomy and discussing open source licenses: https://linustechtips.com/topic/1366493-elixivy-a-65-mechanical-keyboard-build-log-pcb-anatomy-and-how-i-open-sourced-this-project/

 

mini_cardboard: a 4% keyboard build log and how keyboards workhttps://linustechtips.com/topic/1328547-mini_cardboard-a-4-keyboard-build-log-and-how-keyboards-work/

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4 minutes ago, Moonzy said:

I'm assuming money from the sales generated

And the author have to cover the refund in full of there one requested

Bingo! You get a 🍪

Lake-V-X6-10600 (Gaming PC)

R23 score MC: 9190pts | R23 score SC: 1302pts

R20 score MC: 3529cb | R20 score SC: 506cb

Spoiler

Case: Cooler Master HAF XB Evo Black / Case Fan(s) Front: Noctua NF-A14 ULN 140mm Premium Fans / Case Fan(s) Rear: Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (red) / Case Fan(s) Side: Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX 60mm Premium Fan / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo / CPU: Intel Core i5-10600, 6-cores, 12-threads, 4.4/4.8GHz, 13,5MB cache (Intel 14nm++ FinFET) / Display: ASUS 24" LED VN247H (67Hz OC) 1920x1080p / GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX Vega 56 Gaming OC @1501MHz (Samsung 14nm FinFET) / Keyboard: Logitech Desktop K120 (Nordic) / Motherboard: ASUS PRIME B460 PLUS, Socket-LGA1200 / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 850W / RAM A1, A2, B1 & B2: DDR4-2666MHz CL13-15-15-15-35-1T "Samsung 8Gbit C-Die" (4x8GB) / Operating System: Windows 10 Home / Sound: Zombee Z300 / Storage 1 & 2: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD / Storage 3: Seagate® Barracuda 2TB HDD / Storage 4: Seagate® Desktop 2TB SSHD / Storage 5: Crucial P1 1000GB M.2 SSD/ Storage 6: Western Digital WD7500BPKX 2.5" HDD / Wi-fi: TP-Link TL-WN851N 11n Wireless Adapter (Qualcomm Atheros)

Zen-II-X6-3600+ (Gaming PC)

R23 score MC: 9893pts | R23 score SC: 1248pts @4.2GHz

R23 score MC: 10151pts | R23 score SC: 1287pts @4.3GHz

R20 score MC: 3688cb | R20 score SC: 489cb

Spoiler

Case: Medion Micro-ATX Case / Case Fan Front: SUNON MagLev PF70251VX-Q000-S99 70mm / Case Fan Rear: Fanner Tech(Shen Zhen)Co.,LTD. 80mm (Purple) / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: AMD Near-silent 125w Thermal Solution / CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 6-cores, 12-threads, 4.2/4.2GHz, 35MB cache (T.S.M.C. 7nm FinFET) / Display: HP 24" L2445w (64Hz OC) 1920x1200 / GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GD5 OC "Afterburner" @1450MHz (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / GPU: ASUS Radeon RX 6600 XT DUAL OC RDNA2 32CUs @2607MHz (T.S.M.C. 7nm FinFET) / Keyboard: HP KB-0316 PS/2 (Nordic) / Motherboard: ASRock B450M Pro4, Socket-AM4 / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 550W / RAM A2 & B2: DDR4-3600MHz CL16-18-8-19-37-1T "SK Hynix 8Gbit CJR" (2x16GB) / Operating System: Windows 10 Home / Sound 1: Zombee Z500 / Sound 2: Logitech Stereo Speakers S-150 / Storage 1 & 2: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD / Storage 3: Western Digital My Passport 2.5" 2TB HDD / Storage 4: Western Digital Elements Desktop 2TB HDD / Storage 5: Kingston A2000 1TB M.2 NVME SSD / Wi-fi & Bluetooth: ASUS PCE-AC55BT Wireless Adapter (Intel)

Vishera-X8-9370 | R20 score MC: 1476cb

Spoiler

Case: Cooler Master HAF XB Evo Black / Case Fan(s) Front: Noctua NF-A14 ULN 140mm Premium Fans / Case Fan(s) Rear: Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition (red) / Case Fan(s) Side: Noctua NF-A6x25 FLX 60mm Premium Fan / Case Fan VRM: SUNON MagLev KDE1209PTV3 92mm / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo / CPU: AMD FX-8370 (Base: @4.4GHz | Turbo: @4.7GHz) Black Edition Eight-Core (Global Foundries 32nm) / Display: ASUS 24" LED VN247H (67Hz OC) 1920x1080p / GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GD5 OC "Afterburner" @1450MHz (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX Vega 56 Gaming OC @1501MHz (Samsung 14nm FinFET) / Keyboard: Logitech Desktop K120 (Nordic) / Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING, Socket-AM3+ / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 850W PSU / RAM 1, 2, 3 & 4: Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1866MHz CL8-10-10-28-37-2T (4x4GB) 16.38GB / Operating System 1: Windows 10 Home / Sound: Zombee Z300 / Storage 1: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD (x2) / Storage 2: Seagate® Barracuda 2TB HDD / Storage 3: Seagate® Desktop 2TB SSHD / Wi-fi: TP-Link TL-WN951N 11n Wireless Adapter

Godavari-X4-880K | R20 score MC: 810cb

Spoiler

Case: Medion Micro-ATX Case / Case Fan Front: SUNON MagLev PF70251VX-Q000-S99 70mm / Case Fan Rear: Fanner Tech(Shen Zhen)Co.,LTD. 80mm (Purple) / Controller: Sony Dualshock 4 Wireless (DS4Windows) / Cooler: AMD Near-silent 95w Thermal Solution / Cooler: AMD Near-silent 125w Thermal Solution / CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K Black Edition Elite Quad-Core (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / CPU: AMD Athlon X4 880K Black Edition Elite Quad-Core (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / Display: HP 19" Flat Panel L1940 (75Hz) 1280x1024 / GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 SuperSC 2GB (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GD5 OC "Afterburner" @1450MHz (T.S.M.C. 28nm) / Keyboard: HP KB-0316 PS/2 (Nordic) / Motherboard: MSI A78M-E45 V2, Socket-FM2+ / Mouse: Razer Abyssus 2014 / PCI-E: ASRock USB 3.1/A+C (PCI Express x4) / PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2, 550W PSU / RAM 1, 2, 3 & 4: SK hynix DDR3-1866MHz CL9-10-11-27-40 (4x4GB) 16.38GB / Operating System 1: Ubuntu Gnome 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) / Operating System 2: Windows 10 Home / Sound 1: Zombee Z500 / Sound 2: Logitech Stereo Speakers S-150 / Storage 1: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD (x2) / Storage 2: Western Digital My Passport 2.5" 2TB HDD / Storage 3: Western Digital Elements Desktop 2TB HDD / Wi-fi: TP-Link TL-WN851N 11n Wireless Adapter

Acer Aspire 7738G custom (changed CPU, GPU & Storage)
Spoiler

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo P8600, 2-cores, 2-threads, 2.4GHz, 3MB cache (Intel 45nm) / GPU: ATi Radeon HD 4570 515MB DDR2 (T.S.M.C. 55nm) / RAM: DDR2-1066MHz CL7-7-7-20-1T (2x2GB) / Operating System: Windows 10 Home / Storage: Crucial BX500 480GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5" SSD

Complete portable device SoC history:

Spoiler
Apple A4 - Apple iPod touch (4th generation)
Apple A5 - Apple iPod touch (5th generation)
Apple A9 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
HiSilicon Kirin 810 (T.S.M.C. 7nm) - Huawei P40 Lite / Huawei nova 7i
Mediatek MT2601 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - TicWatch E
Mediatek MT6580 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - TECNO Spark 2 (1GB RAM)
Mediatek MT6592M (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone my32 (orange)
Mediatek MT6592M (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone my32 (yellow)
Mediatek MT6735 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - HMD Nokia 3 Dual SIM
Mediatek MT6737 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - Cherry Mobile Flare S6
Mediatek MT6739 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone myX8 (blue)
Mediatek MT6739 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - my|phone myX8 (gold)
Mediatek MT6750 (T.S.M.C 28nm) - honor 6C Pro / honor V9 Play
Mediatek MT6765 (T.S.M.C 12nm) - TECNO Pouvoir 3 Plus
Mediatek MT6797D (T.S.M.C 20nm) - my|phone Brown Tab 1
Qualcomm MSM8926 (T.S.M.C. 28nm) - Microsoft Lumia 640 LTE
Qualcomm MSM8974AA (T.S.M.C. 28nm) - Blackberry Passport
Qualcomm SDM710 (Samsung 10nm) - Oppo Realme 3 Pro

 

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20 minutes ago, minibois said:

I feel like i am missing a whole bunch of context.

40% what? 25% what?

Why should I boycott Audible based on these numbers?

 

"He is not the only one"

Who is 'he'?

I will explain:

27 minutes ago, Nena Trinity said:

(1) If you are a Audible exclusive you get 40%

If you publish your audible book exclusively on Audible then you will get only 40% from every copy sold.

27 minutes ago, Nena Trinity said:

(2) If you are not you only get 25% (actually is just 13)

Same here (but not exclusive publishing),just replace the percentage numbers.

27 minutes ago, Nena Trinity said:

(3) WORST OF ALL TAKING THE FULL HIT OF REFUNDS!

So if someone buys your book for $1,

You get $0.4

The buyer applies for a refund

You return $1

Amazon keeps the $0.6 from the purchase for themselves.

 

So basically you "return" more than you earned for every refund.

 

It's even worse if you get only 25% or even 13%.

 

It's a scam.

A PC Enthusiast since 2011
AMD Ryzen 7 5700X@4.65GHz | GIGABYTE GTX 1660 GAMING OC @ Core 2085MHz Memory 5000MHz
Cinebench R23: 15669cb | Unigine Superposition 1080p Extreme: 3566
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I work for an eBook distributor and we sell eBooks on Amazon and the refund policy is true there too. Amazon keep it's cut refund or not. They are the only store that does this to my knowledge.

We had an issue a few years back where we saw 1000s of refund every months, they looks really suspicious, the time between purchase and refund was always the same, same 10-20 adresses. etc. We informed Amazon that someone seem to be downloading everything and getting refunded. This stop afterward, but i'm not sure we got compensated for all the money lost on that.

Most store takes from 30% to 50% of the sale. The bigger you are/the more you sell, the better the condition you can get with resellers. So those % are different, but are probably close for everyone. (We don't sell on Audible, probably because the rate are too bad, so I don't know)

In general Audio books popularity is relatively recent. We are seeing a lot more from our publishers. Big resellers have move to their solution for Audio books, from using someone else, including Audible. New Audio specific reseller are doing in some specific (English) market, hopefully something change in the English market.

 

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Oh wow, that's just scum behavior right there.

Wtf Amazon, I knew they weren't great, but DAMN this takes the cake.

Makes me wonder if they are doing this with everything else or just Audible.

 

Why is Amazon doing this? Other than pure greed?

And why is refunding audiobooks even a thing. Listen to it, get refunded?

https://help.audible.com/s/article/can-i-return-exchange-my-book?language=en_US

Holy shit they got a whole year to get refunded. You kidding me? You could listen to the same book hundreds of time, have copies made and what not during that time frame and still get your refund that ends up hurting the author/publisher because Amazon doesn't refund their portion of the deal... It shouldn't be hard for Amazon to make it so once you've downloaded it once, a "timer" starts and you get like, 2 hours before you can no longer refund it.

 

2 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

No context. Shitpost

I agree that the OP provides no context, but context has been provided:

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3700x / GPU: Asus Radeon RX 6750XT OC 12GB / RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB DDR4-3200
MOBO: MSI B450m Gaming Plus / NVME: Corsair MP510 240GB / Case: TT Core v21 / PSU: Seasonic 750W / OS: Win 10 Pro

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19 hours ago, RejZoR said:

And people have issue with Steam's and Apple's 30% or whatever it was and Audible here is taking 75% ? Dafaq?!

They're both just as shit. Just for different reasons.

"We also blind small animals with cosmetics.
We do not sell cosmetics. We just blind animals."

 

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Honestly, fuck Amazon for this. This is probably one of the most egregious policies in the tech industry, and that is saying a lot. Frankly, I can't think of a worse relationship/contract that is this wide spread. Amazon needs to fix this.

 

To OP, please make the commentary a little more clear, its a little confusing.

GPU: XFX RX 7900 XTX

CPU: Ryzen 7 7800X3D

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6 minutes ago, Orangeator said:

Honestly, fuck Amazon for this. This is probably one of the most egregious policies in the tech industry, and that is saying a lot. Frankly, I can't think of a worse relationship/contract that is this wide spread. Amazon needs to fix this.

 

To OP, please make the commentary a little more clear, its a little confusing.

Well, Amazon is the richest company in the world where its founder is literally wiping his rear with whatever largest bills are in America. No company ever becomes the richest and mosgt widespread with honesty and decent treatment of people and/or its business partners.

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Something that I’d like to clarify is the source of this information and the project they undertook that led them to Audible.

 

Spacedock is a YouTube channel that specializes in making videos going into the (fictional) technical details behind spaceships from various sci-fi franchises(Star Trek/Wars, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galatica, etc).  What makes their channel as a whole enjoyable to watch is the seriousness with which they approach the ships, treating each one as a real object.

 

Last year they decided to try something new and to create something using their “expertise” about spaceships. They decided to make an audio drama (think radio shows from the 1930s) called The Sojourn set in space with spaceships that they designed using their “technical” knowledge. They released a prologue episode (I’d link it but I can’t find it) that I like to point out they animated for what was meant to be an audio only series.  This extra effort, in addition to the depth behind the fictional universe they were creating, pleased the fans who funded the entire project within a matter of days.

 

If I’m going to be honest I haven’t listened to the series yet (I’m a broke college student) but for $5 I have no excuse not to at this point and given what I’d previously seen/heard about this project I’d highly recommend others to do so. It’s a unique project which you can tell has a group of passionate creators behind it.


In comes Audible, an Amazon company (which makes me automatically despise them, but I’ll try to stay unbiased) who decides to screw them over.  Others above have gone into detail about the rates but I’ll summarize.  Audible offers a 40% cut of all sales to the creators if they sign an exclusively contract, otherwise creators get a 25% cut.  As Spacedock found out, through some legal finagling, the actual cut creators get is closer to 13%! In addition to this, the cost of refunds (which Amazon is very generous about on most of their platforms) is shouldered entirely by the creators with Audible still making a slight profit at the end of the transaction.

 

The worst part in all of this is the alternative platforms (or lack of) they have.  Google Books (which I hadn’t heard of until I watched their video) takes a 50% cut of all sales which is better than Audible, but is still a significant cut.  Patreon (which isn’t a real e-commerce platform) is the only other place you can “buy” (it’s on Apple Books as well) The Sojourn from(they take a 5-8% cut). As far as I know there aren’t any real competitors to the monopoly Audible holds which probably hasn’t raised attention in the past because it’s a niche market. As a result the series is staying up on Audible, but Spacedock is telling their fans to not get it from there.

 

The good news for them in all of this is that they’re about to reach a funding goal on Patreon where they will be able to continue production of season 2 based solely off of funds from Patreon (although I do wonder how many people are going to cancel their subscriptions).  The issue with this is that it’s not a real solution and there are plenty of other creators out there who don’t have the fanbase to make this a viable option.

 

TLDR: Audible(Amazon) bad, creators hurt

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2 hours ago, JLO64 said:

Something that I’d like to clarify is the source of this information and the project they undertook that led them to Audible.

 

Spacedock is a YouTube channel that specializes in making videos going into the (fictional) technical details behind spaceships from various sci-fi franchises(Star Trek/Wars, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galatica, etc).  What makes their channel as a whole enjoyable to watch is the seriousness with which they approach the ships, treating each one as a real object.

 

Last year they decided to try something new and to create something using their “expertise” about spaceships. They decided to make an audio drama (think radio shows from the 1930s) called The Sojourn set in space with spaceships that they designed using their “technical” knowledge. They released a prologue episode (I’d link it but I can’t find it) that I like to point out they animated for what was meant to be an audio only series.  This extra effort, in addition to the depth behind the fictional universe they were creating, pleased the fans which funded the entire project within a matter of days.

 

If I’m going to be honest I haven’t listened to the series yet (I’m a broke college student) but for $5 I have no excuse not to at this point and given what I’d previously seen/heard about this project I’d highly recommend others to do so. It’s a unique project which you can tell has a group of passionate creators behind it.


In comes Audible, an Amazon company (which makes me automatically despise them, but I’ll try to stay unbiased) who decides to screw them over.  Others above have gone into detail about the rates but I’ll summarize.  Audible offers a 40% cut of all sales to the creators if they sign an exclusively contract, otherwise creators get a 25% cut.  As Spacedock found out, through some legal finagling, the actual cut creators get is closer to 13%! In addition to this, the cost of refunds (which Amazon is very generous about on most of their platforms) is shouldered entirely by the creators with Audible still making a slight profit at the end of the transaction.

 

The worst part in all of this is the alternative platforms (or lack of) they have.  Google Books (which I hadn’t heard of until I watched their video) takes a 50% cut of all sales which is better than Audible, but is still a significant cut.  Patreon (which isn’t a real e-commerce platform) is the only other place you can “buy” The Sojourn from(they take a 5-8% cut). As far as I know there aren’t any real competitors to the monopoly Audible holds which probably hasn’t raised attention in the past because it’s a niche market. As a result the series is staying up on Audible, but Spacedock is telling their fans to not get it from there.

 

The good news for them in all of this is that they’re about to reach a funding goal on Patreon where they will be able to continue production of season 2 based solely off of funds from Patreon (although I do wonder how many people are going to cancel their subscriptions).  The issue with this is that it’s not a real solution and there are plenty of other creators out there who don’t have the fanbase to make this a viable option.

 

TLDR: Audible(Amazon) bad, creators hurt

 

I appreciate the summary and that it super shitty of Amazon. From a customer perspective, a good refund policy is great but, really, what's the purpose of having a refund policy THAT "generous". It almost feels as if Amazon designed it intentionally to screw over publishers and allow them to keep money with no risk. At max, the refund policy should be 90 days or after you've finished a book whichever comes first. And the publisher should only shoulder their portion of the refund.

 

Amazon's policy here is so bad that I even feel bad for the shitty major book publishers, not to mention how much it royally fucks over the smaller folks. It's a pity that Audible has become the de-facto place for audiobooks these days, Amazon buying them has been nothing but bad for the industry as a whole.

 

All that said, this has drawn my attention to a new audio drama and I might just have to subscribe to Spacedock's Patreon and check it out. While Patreon is it's own pile of garbage, at least they're miles better than Audible/Amazon in this situation.

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2 hours ago, JLO64 said:

The worst part in all of this is the alternative platforms (or lack of) they have.  Google Books (which I hadn’t heard of until I watched their video) takes a 50% cut of all sales which is better than Audible, but is still a significant cut.  Patreon (which isn’t a real e-commerce platform) is the only other place you can “buy” The Sojourn from(they take a 5-8% cut). As far as I know there aren’t any real competitors to the monopoly Audible holds which probably hasn’t raised attention in the past because it’s a niche market. As a result the series is staying up on Audible, but Spacedock is telling their fans to not get it from there.

Apple Books? Or Bandcamp? It might be counter-intuitive, but it's just a platform for audio content and you could easily upload an audio book.

 

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4 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Well, Amazon is the richest company in the world where its founder is literally wiping his rear with whatever largest bills are in America. No company ever becomes the richest and mosgt widespread with honesty and decent treatment of people and/or its business partners.

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1 hour ago, Arika S said:

image.png.e9f0082bd7660ce3ba2d3fac05643b3b.png

 

https://brandirectory.com/rankings/global/table

 

 

i find this VERY amusing.

And Apple surely treats everyone with dignity, honesty and good business practices? Basically you posted all 3 worst offenders. I bet Fecesbook isn't far behind on those charts...

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It's things like this that make me want to develop a platform for audio books.  Just create a simple ecommerce website and an app (I hate Audible's app anyways), secure a few publishers to put their library onto it by not categorically fleecing them, and let the money roll in.  There's got to be some barrier to entry that I'm not considering because on its face this has got to be the easiest monopoly ever to break.  "You keep 70% of your proceeds."  Bam.  Everybody suddenly wants you to win.  With a user base of probably 10-20 thousand people, what basically amounts to a side project becomes profitable.  I guess the user base isn't that big?  But it seems like it is...

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4 hours ago, HenrySalayne said:

Apple Books? Or Bandcamp? It might be counter-intuitive, but it's just a platform for audio content and you could easily upload an audio book.

Actually I just looked into it and they did post it to Apple Books it’s just not something they really talked about in their video.  I’m not into audiobooks so I’m just not aware of the space as a whole and what alternatives exist.  Honestly, I kinda forgot about Bandcamp and it doesn’t seem like a bad option for their fans who already know about the series, but if they want to reach people other than them it’s (probably) a horrible platform for discoverability which I think is the reason they left the series on Audible.

2 hours ago, Rybo said:

It's things like this that make me want to develop a platform for audio books.  Just create a simple ecommerce website and an app (I hate Audible's app anyways), secure a few publishers to put their library onto it by not categorically fleecing them, and let the money roll in.  There's got to be some barrier to entry that I'm not considering because on its face this has got to be the easiest monopoly ever to break.  "You keep 70% of your proceeds."  Bam.  Everybody suddenly wants you to win.  With a user base of probably 10-20 thousand people, what basically amounts to a side project becomes profitable.  I guess the user base isn't that big?  But it seems like it is...

After doing a quick search, Apple Books takes a 30% cut of all sales (say what you will about Apple but they’re consistent).  The issue is that they’re not an option for people who don’t have an Apple product which is a significant portion of customers.  Additionally, I think you’re overestimating how much the average person really cares(or thinks about) the the financial situation of the creators behind their favorite works. I really do think the issue is the HUGE brand recognition that Audible has which has enabled it to dominate the space over time.  That has enabled them to enforce the exclusivity contracts which would also deter any other potential rivals from going against them.  I don’t think it’s out of the question to launch a competing service(floatplane? jk), but at best it would be a small service operating within a (growing) niche dominated by Audible.  Honestly at the end of the day I’m just hoping that the antitrust and anti monopoly investigations happening right now in the US against Big Tech cover this part of Amazon but I’m not holding my breath for that. (Plus Jeff Bezos apparently donated a boatload of cash to Biden’s presidential campaign soooooo...)

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One last thing I forgot to mention (I really should get out of bed) is that in order to be eligible for certain awards for audiobooks you need to have your series up on Audible.  These awards would presumably help a lot with discoverability but I really do have to question if it’s worth it in this case. Either way it’s just another example of Amazon using questionable methods to maintain the monopolies they hold.

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4 hours ago, HenrySalayne said:

Apple Books? Or Bandcamp? It might be counter-intuitive, but it's just a platform for audio content and you could easily upload an audio book.

 

also soundclould

but bandcamp you might as well have a MP3 player or a music player app (ie vlc or sony music app)

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Should be pointed out, audio books not ebooks (as the ebook royalties are better).

 

With that said, the refund policy is terrible.

 

1 hour ago, JLO64 said:

After doing a quick search, Apple Books takes a 30% cut of all sales (say what you will about Apple but they’re consistent).  The issue is that they’re not an option for people who don’t have an Apple product which is a significant portion of customers.  Additionally, I think you’re overestimating how much the average person really cares(or thinks about) the the financial situation of the creators behind their favorite works. I really do think the issue is the HUGE brand recognition that Audible has which has enabled it to dominate the space over time.  That has enabled them to enforce the exclusivity contracts which would also deter any other potential rivals from going against them.

That would be for e-books (which on Amazon e-books priced between $3 - $10 only 30% is taken)...actually Apple for e-books was actually fined for price collusion (they wanted to lift prices to $14 or something, while Amazon was incentivizing pricing at $9.99).

 

From what I've quickly gathered from quickly googling it's not an Audible controversy but ACX.  Still owned by Amazon, but different.  40% when exclusive to ACX (which includes Audible, iTunes and Amazon).  So really, it seems as like there might have been some collusion occurring again (would really like things to be looked into).  As a note as well, Google offers it at 50% payout...which is a bit surprising, because I really wouldn't have thought it would be that high.

 

I'm wondering if there are separate laws in place that put more risk in selling audio books, or whether a trend was just set and the companies continued it.

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53 minutes ago, sub68 said:

but bandcamp you might as well have a MP3 player or a music player app (ie vlc or sony music app)

It's a platform to distribute and monetize your content. People can download the files and are not bound to this platform.

 

1 hour ago, JLO64 said:

but if they want to reach people other than them it’s (probably) a horrible platform for discoverability which I think is the reason they left the series on Audible.

True. But you are able to keep 3/4 of the revenue and you don't have to put any effort into the payment process or distribution.

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Just now, HenrySalayne said:

It's a platform to distribute and monetize your content. People can download the files and are not bound to this platform.

I know what bandcamp is

 

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