War crimes whistleblower David McBride has written a book to tell his story and help shine a light on government corruption and Amazon are playing politics and undermining the sales of the book which is likely a crime in itself.
David McBride’s paperback book was available for “pre-sale” on Amazon but as soon it started rocketing up the rankings, and there for getting more promotion, it showed up as “Temporarily out of stock” and there was no “buy button”. It was a deliberate act by Amazon to halt sales of the book and drive it down the rankings.
In a time where governments are trying more and more to control what information we can have by regulating social media the same governments are also leaning on book retailers to limit book sales that expose government corruption.
David McBride’s criminal trial, which is a stitch-up for exposing war crimes, starts on the 13th of November 2023 in the ACT Supreme Court and his book is published on the 14th of November which I am sure annoys the people trying to stitch David McBride up.
Amazon have in recent years had up to $400 million in Australian government contracts as per the below screenshot of one contract, for their Amazon Web Services business, including $million with the Department of Defence. That I think helps explain why Amazon would want to keep the Australian government happy by helping to conceal government corruption as much as possible.
(Click here to see all Amazon supply contracts with the federal government)
Amazon even has a supply contract with the “Australian Signals Directorate” which is part of the “Australian Intelligence Community” as per the below contract which is one of many contracts. So, Amazon are in tight with the Australian government who want David McBride jailed.
I also had issues with Amazon undermining my second and third political corruption books in 2020 and 2022 where they played games and Amazon are using the same routine with David McBride’s book so I know exactly what games Amazon are playing, and will play.
David McBride’s book “
David McBride’s book is titled “ will be published on the 14th of November 2023 and it is available for pre-sales on most online bookshops and you can probably order at retail bookshops.
I published the below video on Tuesday the 31st of October 2023 titled, Support war crimes whistleblower David McBride and buy his new book “The Nature of Honour”, and a few hours later I could see it was heading up the rankings on Amazon because you could “pre-order” the book.
Having a higher ranking means your book will get more exposure on Amazon especially if you can get into the top 100 for books or top 100 for specific categories like “Criminal law” etc.
(Click here to watch the above video on YouTube)
On Tuesday the 31st of October 2023, a few hours after I published the above video, I could see Amazon had changed the book from available on “Pre-order” to “out of stock” with no “buy button” so people could not order it. The book kept on going up the ranking to a high in the 200’s but started dropping because no one could buy the book and ended up with a ranking in the 12,000’s before Amazon put the “buy button” back and started selling the book again.
But the book’s Amazon listing for the paperback book still says “Temporarily out of Stock” and “Order now and we’ll deliver when available” instead of saying “Pre-order” and with a delivery date a few days after publication which other books in “Pre-order” say.
I sent the below email to Amazon Chairman Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy on Friday the 3rd of November 2023:
From: SHANE DOWLING
Sent: Friday, November 3, 2023 1:18 PM
To: pressoffice <pressoffice@amazon.com.au>; jeff@amazon.com; jbezos@amazon.com; ajassy@amazon.com; andy.jassy@amazon.com
Subject: Amazon undermining book sales of whistleblower David McBride’s new book “The Nature of Honour”
Dear Mr Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy
Can you please explain why you are saying on your Amazon Australia website that the paperback copy of whistleblower David McBride’s new book “The Nature of Honour: Son, Duty-Bound Soldier, Military Lawyer, Truth-Teller, Father” is “Temporarily out of Stock” when the publication date is 11 days away on the 14th of November? (See attached screenshots)
All other online bookshops are taking “pre-orders”.
I notice that Amazon Australia quickly put an “Out of stock” sign up on the website when the book started rapidly going up the bestseller list on Tuesday the 31st of October 2023.
Given the political nature of the book and the fact that David McBride’s prosecution as a whistleblower is very embarrassing for the government has this been done at the request of the Australian government? Has it been done to protect Amazon’s Australian government contracts which last time I checked was worth $400 million per year?
Given Amazon Australia did the same thing with my political corruption books as per an article I published in March 2022 titled “Scott Morrison gets help, to cover up his corruption and dodgy past, from Amazon and its billionaire owner Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy” can you please answer the following questions:
- What is the total dollar amount Amazon has in contracts with the Australian Federal Government?
- What impact has Amazon’s contracts with the Australian federal government impacted on Chairman Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy directing staff to undermine books sales that expose government corruption?
- Are Amazon Chairman Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy aware that they are breaking Australian law by deliberating undermining the sale of books that expose Australian government corruption?
- Do Amazon Chairman Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy interfere in the politics of other countries as well?
Please respond ASAP in case I have further questions and so I can publish.
Regards
Shane Dowling
At this point I have had no response to the above email.
What Amazon are trying to do is make sure David McBride’s book does not end up like the current number one paperback in books “
Everything about the above screenshot has a buy now feel about it where it says “#1 Best Seller in books” and “Pre-order now” and compare the above screenshot to David McBride’s book as per below which I think would be in the top 10 at least if Amazon was not undermining its sales:
If you look at David McBride’s eBook, as per the below screenshot, it says “#1 Best Seller in Criminal Law” and “Pre-order with 1-Click”:
Some people might say you can still order eBooks which is true, but they only make up about 18% of sales. Others will think Amazon actually did run “out of stock” but that’s a big lie because all other retailers are still taking “pre-order” sales.
Most bookshops selling David McBride’s book can be found on the Penguin website by clicking here so you can see for yourself that Amazon is the only store saying it is “Temporarily out of stock” for the paperback copy.
And my books were print on demand which means the book was printed when someone placed an order so it can never be “out of stock” which Amazon told customers. I published an article on the 2nd of March 2022 titled “Scott Morrison gets help, to cover up his corruption and dodgy past, from Amazon and its billionaire owner Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy” which starts off:
Scott Morrison is getting help from Amazon owner and chairman Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy to stop selling the new book “The Jerilderie Letter Part Two: Australia’s Corrupt Prime Ministers” to try and conceal Morrison’s corruption and dodgy past that the book exposes which is in breach of the law.
and I say later in the article:
When a book is making a lot of sales, and it is high in the rankings for books and various categories it gets more promotion on Amazon so sales will increase even more. All of a sudden on the Tuesday morning Amazon started showing “Out of Stock”, as per the below picture, which was a lie because it is print on demand which means the book is printed when a sale is made so it can’t be “out of stock” and at that point Amazon was only taking pre-orders for the 28th of February publication date. By stopping sales or reducing sales Amazon was making sure the book sold less and also went down the rankings and therefor received less promotion.
Amazon changed the book’s listing to say “Usually dispatched within 1 to 2 months” instead of a few days.
Why do my other two books on Amazon from the same print on demand service say, “Usually dispatched within 3 to 5 days”.
Amazon have been caught out badly lying and deceiving. If the problem was with my printer, why have Amazon jumped all over the place like they have and given they have continued to do it after I contacted Amazon owner Jeff Bezos and Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy it says they know they have permission to act like that at least in Australia. If Amazon were to do the same in the US, I’m sure they would be in a lot of trouble.
Scott Morrison and the government try and control all media including the TV stations, papers, radio and internet media such as Google and Facebook so it should be no surprise they also try and undermine the sale of books that expose their corruption.
Update – Wednesday (2/3/22) 1.03 pm: Amazon are back playing their games again because the book was going back up the rankings and it was sitting at number 14 in books and number 1 in Law. They have put the price back up and are only selling it on behalf of Amazon in the US and the buy button has gone so you have to navigate the page by hitting a couple of buttons to buy it instead of one. (Click here to see a screenshot) (Click here to see a screenshot of the rankings) (Click here to read the full article)
Amazon’s games with my books in 2020 and 2022 went on for months. Every time I promoted my books the books went up in the ranking on Amazon so they would put the prices up or say the book was out of stock etc.
My political corruption book got to number 14 in the Amazon book rankings and if it had stayed there or gone higher it could have done damage to Scott Morrison and his government who, in March 2022, were preparing for the May 2022 federal election. That is the same thing that would worry the current government who are prosecuting David McBride.
If David McBride’s book was to get a lot of promotion and be a best seller it would do damage to the federal government for prosecuting him for daring to try to set justice right.
And it’s times like this that favours are called in from Amazon and Chairman Jeff Bezos and CEO Andy Jassy are the ones who have signed off on Amazon’s conduct to undermine David McBride shining a light on government corruption. How many extra books would David McBride have sold since Tuesday if Amazon hadn’t been playing dirty games with sales?
Amazon are a foreign company interfering in Australian politics. If a Chinese or Russian company did what Amazon do, they would have been banned from Australia long ago.
David McBride is in a strong position to take the fight to Amazon because his book is published by Viking which is part of Penguin Random House Australia and it will be in bookshops. But it is a battle David McBride should not have to fight, and it shows how far the tenacles of government corruption have spread when they can undermine book sales to hide government corruption.
Update Sunday 5/11/23 10.20pm: At about 9.30pm Sunday Night 5/11/23, Amazon changed the paperback copy of the book back to “Pre-order now” with a delivery date which creates urgency with buyers instead of saying “Out of Stock” and “we’ll deliver when available” which turns buyers away. At one point Amazon just said, “Out of Stock” and stopped taking orders.
The fact Amazon have changed it back to “Pre-order now” after undermining sales since Tuesday shows it was deliberate by Amazon and confirms what I said above about Amazon’s dodgy business practices to be correct. (Click here to see a screen shot) Amazon might change it back if the back starts going back up the rankings like they did with my books.
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Categories: Australian Defence Force
Watched “The Billionaires” on SBS a few weeks back and must say that Musk, Gates and Zuckerberg were all cunning and conniving but Bezos was something else. The control these four have on the world is frightening!
Let’s hope David sells plenty of books….his case needs to be publicised…..and DROPPED!
Same goes for Richard Boyle too!
I never have and never will buy anything from Amazon.
Pre-order good on Booktopia and ebook available:
https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-nature-of-honour-david-mcbride/book/9781760897994.html
A fantastic bookseller and always prompt service.
I will buy a copy from Booktopia..
I stopped using Amazon a long time ago, due to the treatment I received from them. When they were just a US start-up in the Nineties and spread their tentacles across the world, they didn’t care about Australia, so I used either the US or UK outlet. It was then that I found out that they dictated what you can and cannot buy. When you can’t buy something, they will say “Sorry, the item can’t be shipped to your destination.” They don’t even give you a reason why that was; you have to go through pages and pages to find the answer why. The last straw was when I tried to pay for something and they rejected my credit card, and if I wanted to accept it, I needed to upload some sensitive documents, which I was not going to do.
I stopped using Amazon when they first screwed Julian Assange.
Never used that awful company since.
Watched The Drum ABC last week, cannot remember which particular night it was but they had (Via Link) Yanis Varoufakis, Former Minister of Finance of Greece on the programme. Very interesting engaging fellow.
He, spoke that capitalism is dead and the new order is a techno-feudal economy.
“Amazon’s Alexa, for example, is nothing more than a portal. Behind it, there’s a centralized totalitarian system created to satisfy its owner, Jeff Bezos. [This system] does four things at the same time: it trains us to tell it what we want. It directly sells us what we know we “want,” regardless of any real market. It makes us reproduce its capital in the cloud (that is, it’s an immense behavior modification machine), because thanks to our work — which is done without remuneration — it publishes reviews or rates products. And finally, it amasses enormous profits from the capitalists who are operating within this network… generally, 40% of the sticker price [of products]. This isn’t capitalism — welcome to technofeudalism!”
IMHO, we are totally stuffed.