None of the three major textbook publishers — Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Thomson — would discuss why overseas prices are so much lower than domestic ones, referring all questions to Allen Adler, the lawyer for the American Association of Publishers.
"This is a season when textbook publishers get kicked around a lot, and they're feeling vulnerable," Mr. Adler said. "The practice of selling U.S. products abroad at prices keyed to the local market is longstanding. It's not unusual, it doesn't violate public policy and it's certainly not illegal. But publishers are still coming to terms with the dramatic change in the law."
Mr. Adler contends that foreign textbook prices are pegged to the per capita income and economic conditions of the destination countries — and that foreign sales are a boon to America's standing in the world, to foreign students seeking an American-quality education, and even to American consumers, since each extra copy sold overseas, even at a low price, helps to spread the high costs of putting out a new textbook.
As more and more customers turn to reimporting books, it is an open question how long the overseas price differentials will last.
"We buy from the U.K., France, Israel and the Far East," said Bob Crabb of the University of Minnesota Bookstores. "As long as the publishers are offering books at less than half the price that's available here, we'll take advantage of it. It's great for students. For publishers, the marginal costs of printing a few extra books and selling them overseas are very, very low. But I would guess that shortly, the sales here will begin eating into their U.S. sales in a serious way.