Netherlands Amazon Store now online

[Katsunami]

Source

Synopsis:

Starting next Wednesday, Amazon will start selling e-readers, 20.000 books in Dutch, and 3 million books in other languages in The Netherlands. Amazon hopes to be able to make a difference regarding their devices and apps functionality, as they think they will not be able to lower the price of e-books in The Netherlands. "Normally, the price of a book is decided by the publisher or the author," says Amazon.

This will put Amazon in a very different position towards publishers, compared with the US, where Amazon is now fighting Hachette regarding e-book pricing. "Dutch publishers are modern, and have embraced digital reading, so negotiations went well, compared to other countries," says Ezequiel Szafir.

Amazon will be selling around 20K books in Dutch; less than Bol.com, who is working together with Kobo, selling around 30K titles in Dutch. Amazon does sell a lot more titles in other languages; 3 million vs. 2 million. Almost 60% of Dutch e-books in the Netherlands are sold by Bol.com.

Amazon will sell three Kindles:
Kindle Basic, €59.
Kindle Paperwhite, €109 (temporarily; later €129)
Kindle Voyage, €189

Books sold by Amazon can only be read on the Kindle. However, Dutch stores now normally sell EPUB ooks protected by a watermark only, which will make them readable on all (EPUB) devices and apps.

It's not yet clear if other parts of Amazon, such as clothes an physical goods will be brought over to the Netherlands.

[Katsunami]

PS: The Kindle Voyage already has a Dutch translation; finally. Does this mean the other current Kindles will have this as well, or may be upgraded to include it? I don't really care, but the fact that the Kindle didn't support Dutch and didn't have a Dutch dictionary has been a major roadblock for many people over here, making them buy other readers instead; mainly Kobo.

[Lynx-lynx]

Amazon opened its Aus website maybe 2 years ago now, and it's still as lousy a site today as it was then.

Instead of creating anything particular for the Aus site, they merely removed all the bits and pieces off the US site that didn't apply to Aus. And that was heaps that got removed.

The only advantage as far as I'm concerned is that the prices are now shown in AUD and that's the amount that I pay. Previously the amount shown was USD and then Amazon determined the exchange rate.

Occasionally they especially highlight Aus authors, and there is a category to find them, but you can't break that search down into genres. So if I want to select Aus authors I must view all genres instead of choose the genre/s that I want.

[DreamWriter]

The Amazon Kindle Store is now open in The Netherlands! Here's a link to Kindle devices currently being sold there. Kindle e-books are also available.

[Rumpelteazer]

It looks like the only payment method on the Dutch site is credit card and not iDeal (Dutch debit card payment method). I don't think this is a smart move, since many Dutch people haven't got a credit card and iDeal is the standard for online payment. There is also no wishlist option. I think for now I'll be staying with the US site.

A bit of a disappointment really.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

A bit of a disappointment really.

Also, for the Kindle, the options are to either buy in Germany, or in the UK, not on the Dutch site itself. That's disappointing too; I already could buy everything from DE and UK, except for the Kindle itself (and have been doing so for a time).

So basically, Amazon.nl is a storefront for the German and English stores. In the past, it redirected to the UK site.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Also, for the Kindle, the options are to either buy in Germany, or in the UK, not on the Dutch site itself. That's disappointing too; I already could buy everything from DE and UK, except for the Kindle itself (and have been doing so for a time).

So basically, Amazon.nl is a storefront for the German and English stores. In the past, it redirected to the UK site.

You can't even buy Kindle accessories from the Dutch webstore. So you'll have to order a Kindle from Amazon.nl and then go to another Amazon webstore to buy a case, charger, skin, etc if you want.

It looks like the Dutch webstore were pooping in their digital pants for nothing. Though, of course, it could all change and items and options will be added to Amazon.nl.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

You can't even buy Kindle accessories from the Dutch webstore. So you'll have to order a Kindle from Amazon.nl and then go to another Amazon webstore to buy a case, charger, skin, etc if you want.

You can't even buy the Kindle itself from the Dutch webstore. You're redirected to the German store (which is then still in German, even though you get redirected with a country code).

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

It looks like the Dutch webstore were pooping in their digital pants for nothing. Though, of course, it could all change and items and options will be added to Amazon.nl.

The only thing this changed is that people that don't want to bother with Calibre and do want Dutch books on a Kindle, can now have what they want.


Oh, and the price mentioned in the OP is also not true.

The Kindle Paperwhite is €100,99, because of the holiday season.

[fjtorres]

Well, there's a couple less visible changes:

http://davidgaughran.wordpress.com/2...thor-services/

However, only 20,911 of these titles are in Dutch and only 1,221 of these e-books are by Dutch authors.

That may change now that KDP has launched a local portal for Dutch writers and small presses. The opening of the Dutch Kindle Store also means the abolition of the regressive and unpopular Whispernet Surcharge in the Netherlands which added $2 onto the price of many e-books.

For those already publishing via KDP, your book is on sale in the Dutch Kindle Store without any further action needed at your end. You will earn 70% on sales between €2.60 (~$3.24) and €9.70 (~$12.08) – matching the terms of the other Euro-based Kindle Stores, and reversing an unwelcome trend where 70% royalties were only available if that title was enrolled in KDP Select (as is the case for Kindle Stores in Brazil, Japan, Mexico and India).

Wouldn't surprise me to see KU headed that way in a while.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Well, there's a couple less visible changes:

Wouldn't surprise me to see KU headed that way in a while.

Libraries can close their doors if Kindle Unlimited comes to the Netherlands. To be able to match KU in number of borrowable books, you'd need to get the "Royal" subscription 45 euro per year, and then pay per checked-out book. KU might not even be more expensive depending on the price.

The only reason libraries might still be able to exist is for reference works, and books not available as e-books.

(Yes, I'm of the opinion that the selection and costs of Dutch libraries are not good.)

[xendula]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

"Royal" subscription 45 euro per year, and then pay per checked-out book.

Did the NL embrace this model for their libraries?! Do library patrons pay per borrowed book? I remember soemone wrote about Sweden thinking about embracing a similar model a while back.

The only thing I don't like about KU, and the reason why I still haven't tried it out, is that there are less traditionally published and more self-published books available on KU, and those usually cost much less anyway.

Good for Amazon to try the waters in the NL (competition is always good). The store may grow or may not. I have a feeling their ebook business is not doing too great in Italy, Spain and France, judging by the number of reviews for books. It's definitely doing better in Germany and the UK.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by xendula

Did the NL embrace this model for their libraries?! Do library patrons pay per borrowed book? I remember soemone wrote about Sweden thinking about embracing a similar model a while back..

Yes. Generally depending on the subscription you have.

(check this post and one some below that for my response)

[xendula]

^ Wow.

[Bertolt]

Isn't it time we had a European Amazon shop with all the stuff that gets shipped from Luxemburg available to all Europeans at the same price regardless of whether its delivered by wifi, the post office or pigeons? What ever happened to the Common Market/Marche Commun etc? Amazon make life really difficult for Europeans to buy things from other EU countries and the men in suits in Brussels and Strasbourg have done sweet f a to help. Problem is we don't all spend all our lives in one EU country. When I go home to the UK from Spain, the plane is full of UK pensioners who live in Spain and young Spaniards who work in the UK. We all speak several languages but can only buy books and movies in the language we speak and understand worst!

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Bertolt

Isn't it time we had a European Amazon shop with all the stuff that gets shipped from Luxemburg available to all Europeans at the same price regardless of whether its delivered by wifi, the post office or pigeons? What ever happened to the Common Market/Marche Commun etc? Amazon make life really difficult for Europeans to buy things from other EU countries and the men in suits in Brussels and Strasbourg have done sweet f a to help. Problem is we don't all spend all our lives in one EU country. When I go home to the UK from Spain, the plane is full of UK pensioners who live in Spain and young Spaniards who work in the UK. We all speak several languages but can only buy books and movies in the language we speak and understand worst!

The way I understand it the common market simply means no tariffs or added paperwork on stuff moving within the EU. It does not imply identical tax regimes on products or identical business climates.

You don't get that even in the US, which is a single nation with a common set of federal laws including prohibition on hampering interstate commerce. We still have thousands of different tax rates and business climates. Most are friendlier than the EU baseline but there are enough variations to impact where businesses setup shop and how they do business.

Two examples:
Tesla motors sells its advanced electric cars direct without relying on middlemen yet in some states it is illegal for auto manufacturers (and only auto manufacturers) to sell direct. So if you live in one of those states, you have to buy your Tesla car out of state and pay the sales tax elsewhere.

California's population and economy has boomed over the past 50 years but they have not allowed the construction of new power plants for decades. Nobody wants a power plant anywhere near their city but everybody needs power. So the local utilities are forced to buy electricity from out of state, from as far away as Texas, under long term high priced contracts. At times when electricity prices drop elsewhere, their prices remain high and provide an incentive for businesses to move out of state or never move in. (Tesla builds their cars in California and was looking to build a "Gigafactory", thousands of jobs and billions of dollars worth of automotive batteries, and ended up in Nevada instead because they got a better deal and less hassles.)

On paper it is easy to imagine simple, uniform rules for everybody but in democracies people burden themselves with all sorts of "unnecessary" handicaps either as side effects of what they think are vital concerns or through inattention to what their politicians do.

Never underestinate the power of human short-sightedness or crooked politicians.