Editing Textbook (section)

===International market pricing===

Similar to the issue of reimportation of [[pharmaceuticals]] into the U.S. market, the GAO report<ref name=GAO/> also highlights a similar phenomenon in textbook distribution. Retailers and publishers have expressed concern about the re-importation of lower-priced textbooks from international locations. Specifically, they cited the ability students have to purchase books from online distribution channels outside the United States at lower prices, which may result in a loss of sales for U.S. retailers. Additionally, the availability of lower-priced textbooks through these channels has heightened distrust and frustration among students regarding textbook prices, and college stores find it difficult to explain why their textbook prices are higher, according to the National Association of College Stores. Retailers and publishers have also been concerned that some U.S. retailers may have engaged in reimportation on a large scale by ordering textbooks for entire courses at lower prices from international distribution channels.  While the 1998 [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] decision [[Quality King v. L'anza]] protects the reimportation of copyrighted materials under the [[first-sale doctrine]], textbook publishers have still attempted to prevent the U.S. sale of international editions by enforcing contracts which forbid foreign wholesalers from selling to American distributors.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Lewin |first=Tamar |date=21 October 2003 |title=Students Find $100 Textbooks Cost $50, Purchased Overseas |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/21/us/students-find-100-textbooks-cost-50-purchased-overseas.html |url-status=live |access-date=24 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090916004116/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/21/us/students-find-100-textbooks-cost-50-purchased-overseas.html |archive-date=16 September 2009}}</ref> Concerned about the effects of differential pricing on college stores, the National Association of College Stores has called on publishers to stop the practice of selling textbooks at lower prices outside the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 July 2004 |title=Testimony of Marc L. Fleischaker, Counsel, National Association of College Stores |url=http://republicans.edlabor.house.gov/archive/hearings/108th/21st/textbooks072004/fleischaker.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806091310/http://republicans.edlabor.house.gov/archive/hearings/108th/21st/textbooks072004/fleischaker.htm |archive-date=6 August 2009 |access-date=24 September 2009 |website=Hearing on "Are College Textbooks Priced Fairly?" |publisher=U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Education and the Workforce, Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness}}</ref> For example, some U.S. booksellers arrange for drop-shipments in foreign countries which are then re-shipped to America where the books can be sold online at used prices (for a "new" unopened book). The authors often getting half-royalties instead of full-royalties, minus the charges for returned books from bookstores.