A couple weeks ago I posted about how the Kindle Colorsoft’s sales numbers had hit a new low since its release, but things have really changed since Amazon put the Colorsoft on sale last week.
When I posted the article the sales number that Amazon displayed at the top of the page was at 5k+, but then less than a week later the number dropped to 4K+ units sold during the past month. I was waiting to see if the number would drop to 3K, but then Amazon put the Kindle Colorsoft on sale at its lowest price yet, and the numbers started going back up again.
One week later and the Kindle Colorsoft now sits at 8k+ units sold over the past month. It’s crazy how the sales number doubled in just one week. They sold roughly 4k+ units in one week while the Colorsoft was on sale; before then they sold the same number of units in 4 weeks when it wasn’t on sale.
At this point I think it’s pretty clear that customers think Amazon is overcharging for the Colorsoft at its regular price of $279, and I think Amazon probably overestimated the popularity of color E Ink to think people would be willing to pay that much.
Other companies don’t charge as much for their color ereaders. The Kobo Clara Colour is only $20 more expensive than the black and white model. Onyx’s Boox Go Color 7 is $30 more than the equivalent BW model. And yet Amazon is charging $80 more for the Colorsoft than the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition.
The reviews for the Colorsoft at Amazon are still abysmal by Kindle standards, so that doesn’t help matters either. The Kindle Colorsoft currently has a 3.3-star rating at Amazon, which is by far the lowest rating a Kindle has ever had. The Kindle Paperwhite, the Paperwhite SE, and the regular Kindle all have 4.6-star ratings so there’s a massive difference. The latest Kindle Scribe comes in a 4.2-stars so that’s a pretty big difference too.
But a lot more people are buying the Colorsoft while it’s on sale. The price is only $5 lower than the regular price of the Kobo Libra Colour. It makes you wonder how many more units Amazon would sell per month if the regular price was $225 instead of $279.
I bought my Colorsoft at launch with a 20% trade in. Without it, I would have waited for a sale. The trade in made the price a lot easier to handle. I don’t blame others for doing the same. I hope the newer units don’t have the yellow band issue.
I just purchased one. I have all sorts of tablets, including a small iPad (I’m android, so not fond of the iPad), but I’m never ever without my kindle. I purchased the color in order to have some art books on the go. They won’t entirely replace hard copy art books, but will be much easier to take on location.
I love my Colorsoft, but it is definitely overpriced. If not for the trade-in program, there’s no way I would have pre-ordered the thing. Trading in an old broken Kindle knocked the price to just under $220, which I felt was about right for the device. I also had a special offer to get 10% back on my card, which was another nice bonus. If my only option had been to pay full price, though? I’d have waited until last week to order one, too!