I’m left with a great impression of Amazon. I got everything I expected and more (the $25 credit). I didn’t get any contradictory emails, but I didn’t try to order multiple copies of anything, either.

I took a different tact when running an online retail site. If we made a mistake – we honored it. And we didn’t say one thing and then change our minds three times in three days.

I do understand the big picture- the publishing industry is hurting- retailers, publishers, everyone. Now isn’t the time for a “gotcha”.

Given the mistake, I would have handled it differently and was disappointed in the way I was treated. That’s all.

But, again, in the big picture, there are so many other important things to worry about: I was just reading about the massacre in Jos, Nigeria, and feel so petty to be whining about this.

First my ordered was “being shipped”.
Then they said they’d honor it, but not multiple copies of any book.
Then they informed me they were out of stock of all these books – which didn’t ring true. That prompted me to reach out to customer service.
Now I get a $25 GC….. which isn’t enough to even cover one of the books ordered.
I know it was a glitch and to be indignant is disingenuous- I get that.
But…I was VP Marketing for an online retail site back in the day (Bigstar.com- if anyone remembers) and I made it our policy to always deliver when we made a mistake.

Of course, we went out of business and Amazon is an industry leader, so I guess I’m not so smart after all, eh?

“In accordance with our posted policies on pricing, we’re unable to
offer items that have an incorrectly posted price. Therefore, we have
cancelled the item(s) from your order(s). You may view the current status
of your order by clicking the “Your Account” link at the top of our web
site and then clicking “Go” next to “open and recently shipped orders.”

At any given time, despite our best efforts, a small number of the
millions of items on our site may be misspriced. We do, however,
verify prices as part of our shipping procedures. If we discover that
an item’s correct price is higher than our stated price, we will, at
our discretion, either contact you for instructions before shipping or
cancel your order and notify you of such cancellation. This policy is
posted in the Help section and is accessible through numerous other
areas of our web site.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

We value your business and hope that you will give us a chance to
serve you again in the future.

Sincerely,

Customer Service Department
Amazon.com”

Very reasonable. At least I know I have to order the book from my mailorder dealer. Can’t complain too much.

The going price for the other Absolute titles of the same base price is $45 and change. So an extra few bucks would be nice. (not as nice as $13 for the book though:) )

With respect to items sold by Amazon.com, we cannot confirm the price of an item until you order; however, we do NOT charge your credit card until after your order has entered the shipping process. Despite our best efforts, a small number of the items in our catalog may be mispriced. If an item’s correct price is higher than our stated price, we will, at our discretion, either contact you for instructions before shipping or cancel your order and notify you of such cancellation.

I’m a bit of a whore for beautiful publishing … I’ll actually appreciate, and gush to others about endpapers. So take what I say with a grain of salt. :)

First is the size – these are practically coffetable books or art books. They can become impractical – if you’re the kind of person like my wife who dozes off while reading in bed and occasionally drops the book on her nose, Absolute Watchmen could send you to the hospital. But it achieves the same effect as a beautiful art book – it lets the art breathe and be examined. Obviously, the Perez volumes (JLA/Avengers and Crisis) really allow the detail to shine, but even other artists’ work shines as it increases in size.

Then there’s the production values – rich paper, often bound-in bookmarks, beautiful coverstock, etc. The bonus materials vary – Planetary doesn’t have much, but Watchmen and Crisis are packed with stuff.

There’s no doubt about it – these are collector’s pieces, books that you’ll have for a long time. If you just want to read the books, I suppose it’s overkill. Then again, a digest sized book of Rembrandt would give you a reference for what the pictures looked like, wouldn’t it? They are utterly gratuitious, like the back-of-Previews statues, but you can also open them up and read them. :)

It’s Marvel’s oversized hardcovers that got me back into comics, but once I discovered the Absolutes, I fell in love.

Ray, I know it’s a pipe dream, but it may give an interesting example of sales velocity for discount pricing. I wish I knew more about how to see Amazon sales figures, because I’d like to see rankings and orders both now and after they fix the mistake.

I’m such a fan of the format that I’m even considering books I might not consider in a standard trade/hardcover like Absolute Kingdom Come.

I’m actually sort of curious about the Absolute format, and have been wanting to see one to see what they are like.