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by AzAngel 5372 days ago
They used to, but then the publishers forced them to accept the agency model of e-book pricing.
1 comments

Actually, I believe it was Apple who promoted the agency model on the iPad which forced Amazon to convert to the agency model as well.
It was still the publishers, Apple just made themselves into a poker chip the publishers could use to play against Amazon.
Sure ultimately it was the publisher's decision to go to the agency model but if Apple and Amazon held firm it would have been a win for the consumer. Apple decided to take a swipe at one of its competitors which in the end hurt consumers by allowing for ebooks to be priced artificially.
eBook prices were artificial to begin with. Amazon was known to take a loss when necessary to set the price ceiling at $9.99, which (as you can imagine) would hurt competitors who couldn't absorb losses like that.