So KDP Expanded distribution is something I’ve discussed before, but I have some tea to spill on it and I’m hoping that Amazon will change some of their policies soon:

3rd party resellers on Amazon are a huge reason why many side-hustlers and entrepreneurs are doing well with Amazon. People have built entire businesses on reselling items on Amazon. Amazon gets their money, the resellers get their money. And usually, the reason that the reseller makes any money is that they are offering something better to the end-user.

Maybe it is a better price, better shipping, whatever. I mentioned in my last video on Expanded Distribution that when I put my third book, Enemies of Peace, on expanded distribution I noticed that some 3rd party resellers were listing my book for over $40 when someone could buy it brand new for $9.99. The buy button on Amazon still said $9.99 even though it said right below “other options”. But, I figured, people are smart and will see the cheaper option.

Fast forward to last month when the workbook I created with David for Fiology came out. It did well on the first day so it apparently caught the attention of some 3rd party resellers. They ordered their own copies and then posted it to resell right away for a couple dollars extra. And then they bid up on our buy button. So their higher price was the main one that was listed.

So people could click through to see our original lower price, which we were promoting, and it’s a big deal when you are telling people it’s only $19.50 and they click and see it listed for $22. So, I called Amazon and they said they couldn’t do anything about it because the reseller bid on it. So, we started to see our sales drop because it was more difficult to see the actual lower price.

Seriously Amazon, you lost business because of this!

So my hope is that Amazon will have some kind of mechanism to correct for this. I know the resellers are big business for them, but so are authors.

So, I don’t have a solution but I’m hoping that if enough people make a suggestion to Amazon that this needs addressed that they will fix it.

OK, so enough tea for now… If you have had any issues or if you have a potential solution please post below with constructive feedback.