Ah, yes. Ebsco’s Net Title fee, now increased from $12.00 to $15.00 (because the publisher discounts that vendors/agents receive is ever-diminishing). For years I have been asking that this Net Title fee be clearly identified / broken
out on Ebsco invoices, and I knew that I couldn't be the only customer who wants and has requested this information be included on Ebsco’s invoices. Please take the time to read though my experience with Ebsco on this, below, and then please make your voices
known as I invite you to do in the final paragraph.
In 2010 this came up again big-time, as the invoice renewal amount we received from Ebsco for several major, expensive e-product subscriptions did not match the renewal price quotes I had received directly from the publisher. When I
found out that the difference in the prices reflected on these invoices was Ebsco's Net Title fee, that was the catalyst for me to send a reasoned request in writing to Ebsco. Based on this example, I requested that Ebsco include the publisher's quoted renewal
price as well as make the Ebsco Net Title fee clearly identifiable / broken out on invoices, adding that I had been asking for years that this information be included on our invoices. My main rationale was stated this way using the situation described above
as my “live example”:
I will go on record to say that we would like to be able to see the price as quoted by the publisher (as does the publisher), plus any additional amount added on by Ebsco and coded appropriately on the invoice.
Although the $amount Ebsco is adding on for each of these e-products is low ($12), it still blurs the actual $amt quoted by the publisher. And what if the per-product add-on $amounts were far higher and Ebsco didn't break them out and explain the difference
in the publisher's actual quoted price and Ebsco's pricing? That would reflect badly on Ebsco, and the publisher could object, too, as it would appear they were telling their customer (the library) one thing and Ebsco another -- or it could appear that
Ebsco is trying to obfuscate, to their own advantage, what the publisher's quoted price actually had been to their customer.
Perhaps this is something Ebsco can consider as a data improvement and thereby a customer service (and a publisher service) improvement in the future? Surely systems (and the resulting output; in this case invoices) can accommodate multiple pieces of data
that better reflect the actual Publisher List Price, Publisher Quote Price to Customer, Ebsco Price Adjustment/Reason (in this case the Net Title Fee), and Actual Charged Amount? Perhaps you could forward this request to the appropriate individuals as food
for thought for the future?
Much back-and-forth discussion ensued by phone between Ebsco's Account Services Manager at that time and myself. Then, on 7/2/10, Ebsco's Account Services Manager told me that Ebsco had, after all, figured out a way to make the changes
necessary to break out the Net Title fee information and make it available on invoices beginning with our August 2010 renewal invoices. I was told to watch for Ebsco's ‘official announcement’ about this, which would give the magic date on which this enhancement
to Ebsco invoices would be effective. I gathered this 'official announcement' would be sent out not only to me, but to all Ebsco Information Services customers. As you can imagine, I was avidly watching for this ‘official announcement’. However, I never
saw an announcement of any kind, nor did I receive a call or email from Ebsco’s Account Services Manager saying they could NOT make this change to their invoices after all.
Therefore, on 1/31/11, I contacted Ebsco’s Account Services Manager again and asked what had happened to Ebsco’s ‘official announcement’ and this valuable change that Ebsco had decided COULD be done to make the Net Title fee clearly
broken out and identified on all invoices? The response from the Account Services Manager was this: That she and her boss “… had been working with the Birmingham office to have the Net Title charges be clearly identified / broken out on invoices; however,
at this time they are unable to make this change a reality. As I have said before, you had an excellent idea, and I am really sorry that Ebsco was not able to incorporate / break out the Net Title charge information on invoices. This is because Birmingham
found that at this time the demand was much higher to improve the Net Title Report, and they are working on this. At least this will be a start. Once again I am sorry that I did not get back to you sooner with an update.“
Here it is, 2015, four years later, and the Net Title Fee still is not clearly identified / broken out on Ebsco invoices. I encourage all customers who want the Net Title Fee to be included on Ebsco invoices to make that request in
writing (i.e., email) to at least your Ebsco Account Customer Service Rep (cc’d to your regional Account Services Manager), but also to the current overall head of Ebsco Customer Services at ‘Birmingham Central’. Then Ebsco might realize how many customers
are concerned about this situation and WANT the Net Title Fee clearly identified / broken out and included on their invoices. There is power in numbers of customers requesting an improvement to services.
-- Gaele
----------------------
E. Gaele Gillespie
Serials Librarian
Acquisitions & RS Dept.
University of Kansas Libraries
Watson Library
1425 Jayhawk Blvd Rm 210 S
Lawrence, KS 66045-7544
Ph: 785-864-3051
Fax: 785-864-3855 (to my attention)
Email: ggillespie@ku.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG] On Behalf Of tonkery@MINDSPRING.COM
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2015 10:07 AM
To: SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG
Subject: [SERIALST] Agent charging $3 Extra Charge
Subscription agents have for many years charged a fee to cover the cost of processing publisher orders where there is no discount to the agent. I started this trend when I was running Faxon many years ago and other agents followed.
The original extra charge was $5 per title but over the years it has increased to $15.
When I was running Readmore, another subscription agent, we took the additional step and placed a star on each line item that carried an extra fee.
Full disclosure is important.
When you consider that nearly 40% of the publishers do not supply a discount it seems to me that this fee is appropriate. Having said that it is important that this information be communicated to your clients. The amount of the Non
discount fee should be fully disclosed prior to the subscription year. The agent should include the charge with the annual invoice. There should never be a time when a library receives the extra charge after the original invoice was charged. If you are receiving
an extra charged after your renewal invoice then I would contact my agent and ask for a credit. If for some reason the agent's programming was not in place prior to invoicing the library, then I say your problem not the libraries.
############################
To unsubscribe from the SERIALST list:
write to:
mailto:SERIALST-SIGNOFF-REQUEST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG
or click the following link:
http://listserv.nasig.org/scripts/wa-NASIG.exe?SUBED1=SERIALST&A=1
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
From: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG] On Behalf Of Diane Westerfield
Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2015 10:20 AM
To: SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG
Subject: [SERIALST] $3 increase on many EBSCO subscriptions?
Anybody else see a $3 increase on many EBSCO subscriptions for 2016? (EBSCO as a subscription agent). Did I miss an announcement there?
Thanks,
Diane Westerfield, Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian
Tutt Library, Colorado College
diane.westerfield@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6661
(719) 389-6082 (fax)