# Is there any way for writers to find out who ordered their books on Amazon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 17, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-for-writers-to-find-out-who-ordered-their-books-on-amazon/539711 "2010-05-17T02:19:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-for-writers-to-find-out-who-ordered-their-books-on-amazon/539711/1 "2010-05-17T02:19:08Z")
What the title says - okay, so let’s say there’s a book… purported to be tell-all about a company, or people in a company, related to your family, and somebody, like your dad, wants to read the book. But it would be humiliating if the author saw your last name attached to a sale. If I buy it on Amazon, is there any way it will get out? Or do I have to go through an intermediary to ensure privacy? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-for-writers-to-find-out-who-ordered-their-books-on-amazon/539711/2 "2010-05-17T02:49:11Z")
Gosh, I hope not. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-for-writers-to-find-out-who-ordered-their-books-on-amazon/539711/3 "2010-05-17T03:41:03Z")
This would become a front-page scandal if it ever happened. Since it’s never been on the front page, I have to say that it’s never happened. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-for-writers-to-find-out-who-ordered-their-books-on-amazon/539711/4 "2010-05-17T04:57:59Z")
If the book is a private printing, they may see your contact information when they ship it to you, but I doubt that any significant portion of authors listed on Amazon are personally handling order taking and shipping. I notice that all the books I can find say, “Ships from and sold by [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com).” So I presume that anything which is a private seller will be indicated as such. And even among those, most often it will be a used book store or a printing company, not the author. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-for-writers-to-find-out-who-ordered-their-books-on-amazon/539711/5 "2010-05-17T12:42:57Z")
It would sour my use of Amazon if it ever happened. I bought something recently (not on Amazon) that I would want to keep private (and it aint a sex toy:D, but an item for use “with tobacco only”). I got a phone call a week later from the company that handles credit card transactions for the seller to see if I received my item. I told the caller that I did not like his contacting me, and that I would never use the seller again, and hung up. I then emailed the seller with the same news. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-any-way-for-writers-to-find-out-who-ordered-their-books-on-amazon/539711/6 "2010-05-17T13:21:26Z")
It depends on whether you buy it _from_ Amazon or from another seller, _through_ Amazon. A case in point: In early 2010 German author Helene Hegemann published her first novel, _Axolotl Roadkill_, at a major publisher, to high critical acclaim - reviewers noted that the gritty detail was remarkable for a 17 year old author. In February it turned out that major passages were plagiarized from the book _Strobo_ by Airen (a blogger’s pseudonym), published in 2009 by the small SuKuLTuR press. First Hegemann said that the similarities were entirely coincidental. Then the publisher (SuKuLTuR) said someone from Hegemann’s family had bought _Strobo_ from them, via Amazon ([this is how SuKulTur’s seller’s listing looks like at amazon.de](http://www.amazon.de/gp/offer-listing/3941592068/) - it’s clearly distinguishable from a book sold by Amazon itself.) After that Hegemann’s stance became that she didn’t know it wasn’t the done thing.