Overstock.com, which launched a campaign for several weeks in July and early this month to undersell Amazon by 10% on the 360,000 book titles it carries, will match Amazon's prices on books permanently, the Wall Street Journal reported.
A firm hired by Overstock will check Amazon book prices daily. Overstock also will give 15% rebates (good for future purchases) on book purchases to members of its loyalty club.
In an ominous note, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne told the paper: "We think with the rise in sales volume, we can extract better pricing from publishers [at wholesale]. Publishers do want to see more competition for Amazon."
Byrne added that the earlier anti-Amazon promotion cost Overstock $11,000 in daily revenue from books. That promotion led to discounts at both companies of as much as 60% on many current, bestselling titles.