The association of New Zealand booksellers strongly backs the European and International Booksellers Federation (EIBF) as they join the battle against online retailer Amazon.
Booksellers NZ is a member of the EIBF, which yesterday announced support for the German Publishers and Booksellers Federation, which has filed an official complaint against Amazon with the German Federal Antitrust Authority.
“While booksellers’ and publishers’ battle with Amazon has been long standing, the latest cause for concern is the actions taken by Amazon to deny full access to its services to international publisher Hachette,” said Lincoln Gould, CEO of Booksellers NZ.
“We agree with the EIBF that, while there are different laws in different member states regarding competition, we support the position that consumers must have wide access to a rich and varied network of retailers,” said Gould.
“However, Amazon’s business model has the effect of limiting this wide range of options for consumers.
“They sell books at a loss in order to attract customers to their other services, and they are apparently trying to deny consumers full access to the output of at least one major publisher, Hachette,” said Gould.
In their statement the EIBF said:
“Consumers are the ultimate losers when single companies abuse a dominant market position to impose unfair business conditions on providers. Conversely, consumers and societies benefit when retailers are operating on a level playing field and there is healthy competition among them. “
The French Government also announced yesterday that they are taking action to support local booksellers in their fight against Amazon. In the United States, the American Booksellers Association has led the way to get many states to pass legislation forcing Amazon to collect sales tax.
In New Zealand the biggest complaint booksellers have against Amazon is that they do not pay taxes on their sales into New Zealand, particularly GST.
“New Zealand booksellers don’t mind competition but when they face unfair competition, it is galling, especially when it something our own government could fix.”
“We have beefed about the Government’s failure to collect GST from Amazon and other online retailers for some time. Now it is clear that the Amazon business model is of international concern affecting the local commercial fabric and culture of countries around the world.”