I wanted to hop on here and share some important news for those of you publishing through KDP, especially if you’re selling in the UK or Europe.
Amazon has quietly rolled out a significant change that could impact your book pricing and royalties—and surprisingly, not many people seem to be talking about it!
I couldn’t quite understand this because if you make sales in the UK – this change could impact you even more than the whole royalty decrease last year, (that is, if you don’t make some changes!).
So, What’s the Change?
Amazon has started adding VAT (Value Added Tax) to the listing prices of books in the UK and other European marketplaces.
If you’re primarily focused on the US market, you may not have noticed, but this change is definitely something to be aware of, especially for publishers of low-content books like journals, planners, and coloring books.
Please be aware that not ALL medium/low content books seem to be impacted… But the precise rules regarding which will and won’t be impacted, doesn’t seem to exist.
For example; I’ve had books in an identical niche, with an identical target audience and one has had the VAT added and one hasn’t.
I first noticed this change in September sometime, when my book prices jumped overnight.
However, this change wasn’t broadcasted clearly—there was just a small message on the KDP dashboard, dated September 12th, 2024. There was also an email, although many publishers have claimed never to have received it.
Many of us missed this announcement entirely, myself included!
Take Note: If you are based in the USA, you may not even SEE this change at all – unless you’ve changed your location to the UK when you’re viewing the UK platform.
What Does This Mean for Your Prices?
As an example…..
Previously, if you had a book listed for £6.99, it will now be showing as £8.39 to your UK buyers.
Unfortunately, the added tax doesn’t translate to extra income for you as a seller. Instead, it means the customer will see a higher price while your royalty remains the same—or worse, decreases if you adjust prices to maintain a more appealing list price.
If you don’t like how that price looks to customers, you need to lower your base price.
However, doing so will impact your royalties. For instance, reducing your price to £5.42 might bring it back to £6.99 after VAT, but your royalty will be minimal.
Confusion Around Which Books Are Affected
Amazon has been vague about which types of books this applies to.
They’ve mentioned journals and planners, but there’s no clear guideline for other types of books. I’ve even heard that children’s books are supposed to be exempt from this VAT adjustment, but that hasn’t been my experience—some of my children’s books have seen price increases too.
To add to the confusion, not all of my books have been affected by this change yet.
It seems like the updates are rolling out gradually, and it’s unclear if or when all books will see VAT added.
There might even be some errors in the system, with books being taxed that shouldn’t be, and vice versa.
Lack of Clear Information
When I reached out to Amazon support for clarification, I wasn’t surprised to find they didn’t have many answers.
The representative told me that local governments had recently changed VAT rules for low content books and other publications, but they couldn’t specify which countries were affected beyond the UK and Europe.
Amazon did send out an email on September 11th with the subject line, “New List Experience for KDP.” Unfortunately, this email wasn’t very clear and likely led to many people overlooking it.
It certainly didn’t scream, “We’re going to increase your book prices by 20%!” which is why so many of us missed this crucial information.
What You Can Do Now
If you haven’t checked your UK or European listings recently, I recommend doing so.
Head over to your KDP dashboard and see how your prices are displaying in these regions. You’ll be able to see the estimated VAT added to your books in the pricing section of your account.
For now, you have a few options:
- Adjust Your Prices: Lower your base price to keep your final listing price more attractive, but understand that this will reduce your royalty.
- Leave Prices as They Are: You can also leave your prices as they are and accept that the added VAT will make your books more expensive for customers in the UK and Europe and could lead to less sales and even negative reviews, if customers feel your book is not value for money. Personally I would opt to slightly changing your listing price, but aim to keep the royalty loss at a minimum.
Unfortunately, if you rely heavily on Amazon for your income, these kinds of changes are part of the challenge.
Amazon’s communication on issues like this can be unclear, and their customer support doesn’t always have the necessary information to assist.
Final Thoughts
If you’re just finding out about this VAT adjustment, don’t worry—you’re not alone. Many of us missed the initial announcement and are still figuring out the full impact.
As always, I recommend keeping a close eye on your listings and staying informed about any other changes that might come down the pipeline.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve experienced these price jumps, and how you’re handling them!
Leave a Reply