SCAM ALERT – Paperbacks
UPDATED TODAY!
Createspace contacted me this morning. Apparently it is an ERROR and would take up to two days to amend. It took them two hours at most. I replied stating along the lines that they had a very large so called ERROR on their hands since I have evidence of at least 6 – 7 authors and around 12 sellers with books with same similar ERRORS. This ERROR is so large it covers the USA and UK Amazon site and one of the books FAKED is the Daily Mail Crossword Book – who wants to tell the Daily Mail…lol. I still can’t believe this is happening on Amazon under their strict rules and regulations. It makes me wonder if an employee at one of their institutions is scamming us authors. I wish we could do more
What you need to do if you find a FAKE paperback is:-
Colleted screen shots of the book and the seller page, copy and paste the ASIN number (Yeah you know the one which should be an ISBN for Paperbacks.) Then go to your legal copy and copy and paste the legal ISB number and the Kindle ASIN numbers. Email them all to createspace. I have a lovely list to send them once they get back to me.
YESTERDAY
If it isn’t one thing it is another. Life took a dip with computer issues. I hope they are finally over. Then I read this post which Ashley Uzzell posted from someone else on Facebook. Frowning I read through the post and thought…One of my books was listed similar to what this other author was says.
I have reported my findings to Createspace and will update you with what they say. Amazon is a nightmare to get hold of.
Yes we have a SCAM of FAKE Paperback books on our hands ladies and gentlemen. Yes I am furious someone is able to do this, I am furious with the sellers who sell them and are possibly behind the fakes. Here is what I found on my list.
Hidden Secrets is Book one in my Garrett series. Below is the information showing on Amazon – a different listing, no LOOK INSIDE – so you can read a percentage and the extremely high price which is nearly four times higher than what I priced it at..
FAKE INFORMATION
Hidden Secrets (Garrett Investigations) (Volume 1) by Claire Plaisted (2015-06-13) Paperback – 1843
by Claire Plaisted (Author)
Product Details
Paperback
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (1843) ??
ASIN: B01FEPYIZI
I know for a fact that they did this to another book, though i didn’t look closely and they have since taken it down. I also know this has happened to another author friend of mine, though I am not sure she is aware of it yet.
WATCH YOUR LISTINGS….WATCH FOR HUGE PRICE RISES, PUBLISHING DATE, NOT ABLE TO PREVIEW THE BOOK ETC. REPORT STRAIGHT AWAY. IT ISN’T A LEGAL COPY, GET IT TAKEN DOWN.
8 Responses
These are very common, in every case I’ve ever heard of, they’re actually book re-sellers who have NO copies in stock. They’re hoping to get an idiot who will order from them. Then they order from LSI or CS or Ingram and drop ship to the idiot.
They use ‘bots to scrape a database and put thousands upon thousands of titles into their Amazon storefront at outrageous prices.
But there are no fake books. There are no copies in their inventory. If anyone ever does order from them, you’re going to get the normal payment, because they’ll buy the book from you.
Hi Marion. In essence you are correct in what you’re saying. However all the paperback books found so far have ASIN Numbers rather than ISBN Numbers. Createspace call them ERRORS. I don’t care which they are, as long as they are removed. The main problem is..in some cases when a customer searching for your book the most expensive one turns up first…not showing the real price. This will put your customer off and lower yoru sales. Many customer graze rather than look indepth at things. Thanks for your comment….Createspace are correcting these Errors as they are told about them. 🙂
Claire I had the same problem last year with a handful of my books. There was even another Author Page where the Paperback books would lead the unsuspected reader. I was furious and although I found out what Marion has described, I thought just like you. Potential readers wouldn’t find the books I’m selling. But I contacted Amazon directly and they also solved the issue quickly. Since then I keep an eye on these ‘details’.
It was certainly an eye opener. I had one which was made to look like it was on my listing. I searched the book came up normal with my paperback price. My daughter did the same and came up with on 3 x the price and it was only when a customer click in that you can work it out…I wonder how many possible customers were put of by the higer price and didn’t look futher. 🙁 Glad you all sorted x
I hear you! 🙁
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Thank you for sharing 🙂
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