Probably not true for all books but worth checking

I’ve never seen this happen in the past but I’ve never checked either. Maybe it happens quite often. I found out by accident.

I had downloaded a sample copy of a book and noticed that it was listed at $4.99 on the app. See the screenshot below.

Screenshot by the author

I almost always download a sample first and then buy from the app if I like the book. I’ve never had a reason to go to the website to double-check the price.

On this occasion I wanted to read the reviews, so headed over to the website. I found the book and noticed that the price was only $3.99.

I checked the app again just to make sure I hadn’t made a mistake. I hadn’t. The app was showing a price of $4.99. The website was showing a price of $3.99. See the screenshot below.

Screenshot by the author

The website mentioned that this was a special offer and that the price would revert to $4.99 in 1 day.

This makes it seem like the app was showing the original price but the website was showing the discounted price. Does this mean that the app never shows these special offers? What if the author had set the price to be $0 for a few days? Would that have been shown on the app or not?

Maybe we’re missing out on discounts if we always buy directly from the app.

I’ll double-check the next few books I buy to see if this is a regular occurrence or not.

I know $1 isn’t a lot of money, but why pay extra if we don’t need to.

If you’ve experienced anything similar, let me know in the comments section.