I’ve bought books from Fictionwise, Books on Board, etc. but have found that Diesel has been getting most of my e-book bucks these days. I like their books bundles (up to six books selected by author, theme, etc. at a discount price), and I like their reward point system. I’m also liking the no club thing at Diesel. Thrifty (read beyond cheap) consumer that I am, it is against my religion to pay extra cash to get a good deal.

Rode Hard, Put Up Wet BOB: $4.35 ARe: $5.50
Ready or Not BOB: $2.77 ARe: $3.50
View to a Kill BOB: $2.77 ARe: $3.50
Anticipation BOB: $2.77 ARe: $3.50
Daisy Dooly Does Divorce BOB: $7.89 ARe: $9.99
It’s Been Awhile BOB: $4.04 ARe: $5.11
The Enchanted Inn BOB: $2.77 ARe: $3.50
Incognito BOB:$5.66 ARe: $7.16
Twin Temptations BOB: $4.84 ARe: $6.13
Let’s Talk About Love Baby BOB: $4.79 ARe: $6.13
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Total for 10: BOB: $42.65 ARe: $54.02
Stephanie Laurens Rogues’ Reform Bundle BOB: $14.18 ARe: FREE
____________________________________________________
Total for 11: BOB: $56.83 ARe: $54.02

I’m Steve Pendergrast, one of the founders of Fictionwise.com, and I think you’re not calculating the full benefits of the Buywise club here. You are only including the 15% discount which is applied after all other discounts or sale prices. You’re not including the other benefits.

Just to look at one of those benefits, consider the “large transaction rebate”. You get a 10% rebate on any credit or paypal transaction over $100.

In your example, you concluded that it would take 27 books at $6 a pop to break even, including one free $6 book, and that’s because buywise membership costs $30 (in round numbers).

But, you do far better than break even if you do things slightly differently.

Let’s say you purchase 15 books plus the buywise membership as your very first transaction. That will be $90 for the books and $29.95 for the Buywise membership. However, the Buywise membership starts to apply in the very same transaction you purchase the club membership. So you will save 15% on the book part of this very first transaction, a savings of $13.50. You have now paid for nearly half the buywise membership.

Since your transaction is still over $100, you now get a $10.20 rebate which is enough to buy another book with some left over. And you get a coupon good for one free book up to $10 value.

So right there, you have value of over $20, which combined with the prior $13.50 savings more than covers the cost of the buywise membership! Even if you do use your free book coupon for a $6 book instead of a $10 book, you have gotten $16.20 + $13.50 = $29.70 in value for your $29.95 Buywise club membership in this single transaction.

As you can see from this example, it only took 15 books, not 27, to recoup the buywise membership, due to the large transaction rebate which you did not consider.

And large transaction rebates are even higher for larger transactions, 15% for transactions over $200.

Note that many people start their membership by buying a few books plus maybe $50 to $100 in micropay plus the buywise membership in a single transaction, then spend the micropay over time. This way they get the large transaction rebate money on both the micropay, the books, and the buywise membership itself, then can decide on the other titles later.

It’s true that the buywise club is meant for people who are bulk purchasers. We have many members who purchase literally hundreds of books per year, and it’s a huge savings for them.

But the savings do kick in well before 27 books even for a one year membership.

Multiyear memberships are even more cost effective since they offer one free book per year of membership, and multiyear memberships are cheaper per year.

Prices are 29.95,54.95 and 124.95 respectively.

So I suppose once you are in and if you stay in, the throw you basically an extra $5 book, on top of the freebie you get for the membership, as well.