Amazon charged with meddling with Hachette sales : Report

Hachette has accused Amazon of delaying shipments “for reasons of their own”, using the Internet retailer delaying the shipment of certain books by a few weeks. The books span the gamut from new to old, and encompass a number of different authors.

In an argument to CNN Money and The New York Times, the publisher stated that readers have been sending them “legitimate questions about why many of our books are at present marked sold-out with relatively long estimated shipping times on the Amazon website.” Hachette added that lots of their books can easily be bought in shops and online, so there should be no reason for delays.

However, a lot of Hachette’s books aren’t shipping immediately, so Amazon clients are told that their books will ship in “2-4 weeks.” James Patterson’s Alex Cross, Run takes so long as five weeks to ship, while Colbert’s America Again: Re-becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t could take 3 weeks. It also doesn’t matter what age or new the books are.

Hachette said that Amazon is keeping low stock of their books “for reasons of their own.”

It’s not clear what specifically has caused Amazon to get this done, although the Times notes that the site frequently finds methods for getting back at publishers in exchange for deeper discounts or longer time to pay for bills.

Amazon, the biggest bookseller in the country, hasn’t responded to Hachette’s comments.