Template:PublicationFields:Price

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  • Price - The original cover price of this publication. Enter a single price, e.g. for books published in both the USA and Canada, only the USA price should be entered in this field. Instead, additional prices can (and usually should) be entered in the Notes field. This is done because the value in this field is used to differentiate between print editions, search the ISFDB data or construct statistics on book pricing, which would be difficult to do if multiple prices were present in the same field.
The numeric price value should be preceded with a currency symbol (like "$", "€" or "£") or an alphabetical abbreviation of the currency (like DM, Lit or Ft). See below for a list of commonly used currency symbols and alphabetical abbreviations. The only time a currency symbol is not used is when entering older (pre-decimalisation) British prices which are discussed below.
Prices under a dollar (or other currency unit) are entered as a decimal, e.g. $0.25, for 25¢. Odd pricing formats can be ignored -- for example, occasionally a price of 20¢ will be printed as 20c; this should be entered as $0.20. Note that a few currencies like the Bahraini dinars use three digits after the decimal separator.
Period (".") should be used as the decimal separator and comma (",") as the thousands separator, regardless of currency or native number format, e.g. €7.80 or Lit 1,000.
Do not enter a space when the currency is represented by a symbol (e.g. $, £, €, ¥, ℳ, F). When using an alphabetical (non-symbolic) form or abbreviation of the currency (e.g. DM, Lit, Ft), enter a space between it and the numeric amount. The currency's "Yes"/"No" value in the "Abbrev." column of the Help:List of currency symbols table determines whether it's a symbol or an abbreviation.
Special note on British currency:
  • British currency should be indicated by a UK pound sign, "£". For example, "£2.50" means two pounds fifty pence. If you can't enter "£" on your keyboard, you can use an uppercase "L" instead. As long as the "L" is followed for a digit, it will be automatically converted to "£" when the submission is created. Note that for Windows machines, the "Character Map" system accessory can be used to generate the pound sign as well as other characters. Alternatively, Windows users can hold down one of the ALT keys, enter 0163 (i.e. zero followed by 163) on the numeric keypad, then release the ALT key. Mac users can type OPTION-3.
  • In the 1970s, many British books cost less than a pound and so would be priced in pence alone, e.g. 25p. These should be regularized like dollars and cents, e.g. 25p should be entered as £0.25 and 95p as £0.95.
  • Older British books were priced in shillings, or shillings and pence, where 20 shillings equals one pound and 12 old pence equals one shilling. Shillings were indicated with a variety of suffixes, e.g. 3s, 3', 3", 3/ all mean 3 shillings. Any number after that is additional pence, usually 6 (half a shilling) but sometimes 3 or 9 (a quarter of a shilling or three-quarters of a shilling). A "-" indicates zero pence, for example 5/-. The older the book, the more likely the pence prices are to reflect quarter shilling ranges than half-shillings. We always record the pence in ISFDB even if 0 (indicated by "-"), and use the "/" separator, e.g. 3/6 is used to mean three shillings and sixpence even if the book says 3s6 or 3'6; a price of three shillings exactly would be 3/- even if indicated on the book as 3s, 3" or 3' or even plain "Three shillings".
  • Even older British paperback books, and magazines, may have been priced in pennies alone, indicated by a "d" suffix. E.g. 6d is six old pence, or half a shilling, 9d is nine old pence or three-quarters of a shilling. These are entered the same way as other pre-decimal prices but using the '-' for zero shillings, e.g. -/6 and -/9 in these examples.
  • Note that between about 1968 and 1971, British books were usually printed with both pre-decimal and decimal prices. In these cases enter only the pre-decimal price, as the decimal price was not the currency used at the time of printing, but was printed in case the book remained for sale after the date of decimalization. The official date of conversion to decimal currency was Feb. 15, 1971. For a couple of years afterward, the pre-decimal price might be shown in brackets after the decimal price for people still not used to decimal currency: these can be ignored or left in notes.
  • British books are often priced for several other commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Malta, Gibraltar, South Africa, East Africa, Trinidad (W.I.), and countries with a significant English-speaking population such as Spain and the Republic of Ireland. These additional prices are usefully entered in notes. Some of these countries also have pre-decimal formats based on the British pound and post-decimal formats similar to Dollar prices, and some have changed yet again to € (Euro) prices. If in doubt, enter these in notes exactly as stated.
See Help:List of currency symbols for information about other supported currencies. If the currency that you are trying to enter is not listed, use the most commonly used symbol or abbreviation.
If you believe that the currency is uncommon enough that most ISFDB users will not recognize it, add an explanatory note. For example, if you enter ₹2,000 in the price field, add a note that the price was stated in Indian rupees.
Overprinted prices should use the visible price. However, if the price change is via a stickered label, the price change should be ignored. For example, copies of the British distribution of some American magazines were stickered with a British price. These are not British reprint editions of those magazines, but simply imported copies of the American edition, so a separate publication record with a separate price value should not be created for them.
If there is any ambiguity about the price, add an explanation in the Notes field.