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The non-governmental Identity Theft Resource Center identified a 240% increase last year in scams pretending to represent PCH. In 2015, the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency awarded Publishers and its landlord, The We’Re Group, millions of dollars in tax breaks to keep the company’s headquarters and its more than 400 jobs in the county as part of a $37 million redevelopment project. The actual math of bookselling is complicated since royalty rates vary by format, price points can fluctuate, and big publishers have different distribution deals from small ones. That said, I’ll do a bit of simplistic napkin math to explain. For comparison’s sake, there were 825 million movie tickets sold in the U.S. and Canada in 2023. So, more books are purchased than movie tickets, two comparable entertainment options in terms of price.
Government regulation and legal actions
On June 27, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced an enforcement action against Publishers Clearing House (PCH) in connection with the company’s long-running sweepstakes promotions. Be aware that PCH and other legitimate sweepstakes/lotteries don’t charge players to claim their prize or ask for money up front. PCH notes on its site that it would never contact winners of its major prizes in advance; its Prize Patrol only shows up “live and in person” to surprise them. It did so using what the FTC calls “dark patterns,” referring to “manipulative phrasing and website design,” to manipulate people into spending money. The complaint asserts that these manipulations included presenting a big button with the words “Win it!
Publishers Clearing House Class Actions Claim Subscribers Didn’t Know Personal Information Sold to Advertisers
Most new books in bookstores are selling, at a minimum, hundreds of copies and most of the time thousands. The popular ones are selling tens of thousands, and the breakout hits are selling hundreds of thousands or even millions. And within any of those numbers, the statistics vary wildly by type of book. When people talk about movie revenue, they’re probably restricting themselves to feature films released in theaters or movies streaming on big platforms like Netflix.
most expensive products the wealthiest people …
The IDA did not address whether it would be clawing back any tax breaks. The We’Re Group received a 20-year deal on property taxes, in addition to a sales tax exemption of up to $1.4 million for construction materials and equipment to upgrade 300 Jericho Quadrangle. Publishers also received a sales tax exemption of up to $1.6 million on its purchases of equipment for the site. Publishers said the layoffs will not impact its sweepstakes, which have given out $593 million in prizes over the years. Do you believe that Publishers Clearing House has sold your personal information to other companies? In the summer of 2020 Marie Osmond became a spokesperson for Publishers Clearing House with television and online advertisements as well as direct-to-home mailings.In January 2021, Steve Harvey made his debut in television commercials as a spokesperson for PCH.
News
In the PCH case, the FTC claimed the company used "manipulative phrasing and website design" to convince consumers they needed to buy a product of some kind to enter the company's sweepstakes or increase their odds of winning. Still, I’ll be conservative and assume that 85 percent is the correct figure. This means that close to 900 million print books are sold to customers each year. Add in e-books and the quickly growing audiobook market, and the total number of new books sold is over 1 billion. And it does not include used book sales or library purchases.
If you believe you are eligible for a refund with PHC, there is nothing you need to do, and FTC will post updates as well as inform consumers directly that they are eligible for a refund. “Any prize that requires you to pay first to receive your prize is a scam,” MCSO posted on Facebook. Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday.
Publishers Clearing House Settles ‘Dark Patterns’ Suit for $18.5 Million - The New York Times
Publishers Clearing House Settles ‘Dark Patterns’ Suit for $18.5 Million.
Posted: Mon, 26 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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I told them they would have to pay the shipping and they said keep it. We don't edit comments to remove objectionable content, so please ensure that your comment contains none of the above. The comments posted on this blog become part of the public domain. To protect your privacy and the privacy of other people, please do not include personal information. Opinions in comments that appear in this blog belong to the individuals who expressed them.
On top of paying $18.5 million, which the F.T.C. said it would use to refund customers, the company agreed to adjust its interface to prevent more confusion. Scams using the Publishers Clearing House name have gained significant attention from government entities. Postal Service have both published alerts informing consumers about signs of scams using Publishers Clearing House’s name.
My point is that “average book sales” tell you almost nothing about, say, how well the average novel published by a big press, and widely available in bookstores, sells. (To be fair, this also means that the billion-plus number above includes lots of things we wouldn’t normally think of as books.) I went into greater depth about book stats here. According to the FTC, the company has agreed to settle the charges it violated and turn over $18.5 million to the FTC to be used to refund consumers as well as make changes to its operations. When users click on the link to “complete” the final step, they are sent through pages and pages of dark patterns and deceptive sales pitches. According to FTC, the deception begins at the company’s homepage, where customers complete an “Official Entry Form” with a large button with phrasing like “WIN IT!
Or that doing so would improve their chances of winning a prize. In addition to the $18.5 million being refunded to customers, Publishers Clearing House will also have to display clear disclosures on its website that inform customers their purchases are not needed to win or increase their chances of winning a sweepstakes. The FTC alleged Publishers Clearing House tricked customers into making purchases by using “dark patterns”—design practices that manipulate consumers into making potentially harmful or uninformed decisions. As a result of a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, Publishers Clearing House (PCH) has agreed to a proposed court order will require it to pay $18.5 million to consumers who spent money and wasted their time, and make substantial changes to how it conducts business online. The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and protect and educate consumers. The FTC will never demand money, make threats, tell you to transfer money, or promise you a prize.
Its pretty OBVIOUSLY a scam to sell product, but a local guy did win here about 10 yrs ago. We are SO GULLABLE nowadays we BELIEVE ANYTHING without Vetting 1st. NOBODY bothers to check things out even with all the internet at our fingertips. I have been ordering from publisher clearing house since around 1989. I finally stopped dealing with them all together.They are SCAMMERS. Remember, the FTC never asks you to pay or share personal information to receive a refund.
He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post. "The integrity of our sweepstakes prizes and awards was never questioned. We worked hard to address any issues the FTC raised," Publishers Clearing House said. Christina Ianzito is the travel and books editor for aarp.org and AARP The Magazine, and also edits and writes health, entertainment and other stories for aarp.org. She received a 2020 Lowell Thomas Award for travel writing. Report sweepstakes and other scams to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. When can we expect to see a refund of our money we spent over the years??
So, some small-press editors might be happy with 1,000 sales. You might think that only 50 percent of books making money for the publisher is a bad thing, but most comparable industries operate this way. In entertainment, a few big winners have always funded the rest. Publishers Clearing House is facing a class action lawsuit related to its sale of names, addresses and purchasing information along with demographic information such as age of those on its mailing list. Further, plaintiffs argue the practice of selling or renting the mailing lists is not only unlawful but also puts the exposed customers’ at risk of identity fraud or of being targeted in some way. As part of the settlement, PCH will pay $18.5 million to compensate affected customers, though the FTC has not announced how the money will be disbursed and at the time of publication had not responded to requests for comment on this point.
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