Anyone else having trouble with Kobo online store?

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Usually my credit card information is stored somewhere with Kobo-I know this because I don't need to enter it when I buy books on the website or from the Android app. But today when I went to the webpage I found that my credit card information was no longer stored and I needed to re-enter it again. That's a little annoying but whatever. The problem is now that it tells me it can't authorize or verify my credit card. What the hell is going on? I've been using it all along to buy books. Any one else having similar problems or at least had to re-enter their credit card information?

[issybird]

I've had the same problem for weeks now; the website won't take my cc info. Kobo has been very slow to respond and their suggestions, of the clear your cache and try a different browser variety, haven't helped. I still have an active ticket, but I'm ready to give up.

I honestly don't get it. Not only have I never had a problem like this with any other website, I've been a very good customer of Kobo's, and there's no urgency on their part to fix this.

[frddgls]

I have had trouble as well. My credit card that was on file needed to be updated with a new expiration date. The store would not accept my card. It wouldn't accept my husbands card either. Eventually I went to the Chapters/Indigo site and bought a gift certificate. I was able to make my purchases with the gift certificate, but I had to wait until the next morning for my confirmation email to arrive.

[RareBird]

Sorry not me. I bought a $0.99 book just as a test (well I was going to buy it eventually when I got my TBR pile down a bit) and it worked fine.

[Raquel]

I had the same problem with you, Canuck.
My credit card info was reset and none of my card was accepted today.
I live in Japan, too.

I tried to buy using paypal then.
But I noticed Japan was not included in the pulldown list at Country section.
I feel rejected. *sob*

By the way, I couldn't find some books by a major author and it seemed to me Harlequin, HarperCollins, Signet/Berkley and Random House books are suddenly geo-restricted at their site, according to their error message.
But Harlequin would never geo-restrict their books, right?
Any international customers have this problem?

[Mr. Dalliard]

And now Kobo is owned by Rakuten.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Originally Posted by Raquel

I had the same problem with you, Canuck.
My credit card info was reset and none of my card was accepted today.
I live in Japan, too.

I tried to buy using paypal then.
But I noticed Japan was not included in the pulldown list at Country section.
I feel rejected. *sob*

By the way, I couldn't find some books by a major author and it seemed to me Harlequin, HarperCollins, Signet/Berkley and Random House books are suddenly geo-restricted at their site, according to their error message.
But Harlequin would never geo-restrict their books, right?
Any international customers have this problem?

Hi Raquel.
I'm having this exact same problem. My Japanese credit card is not accepted, Japan is not even listed in the pulldown menu, tons of books which used to appear (even ones that I've already bought) no longer appear and I used to be able use coupons on literally every single book on the store and now the situation seems reversed and I can't find ANY books which accept coupons *SOB*
It looks like Kobo and I may be done. I will not purchase books through Rakuten.

[Cdesja5]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

Hi Raquel.
I'm having this exact same problem. My Japanese credit card is not accepted, Japan is not even listed in the pulldown menu, tons of books which used to appear (even ones that I've already bought) no longer appear and I used to be able use coupons on literally every single book on the store and now the situation seems reversed and I can't find ANY books which accept coupons *SOB*
It looks like Kobo and I may be done. I will not purchase books through Rakuten.

Have you tried using a vpn with Canadian ip address to go to Kobo's website? I do it with a US ip address on other ebook sites like Booksonboard to get around US georestrictions (plus buy with a gift card) but if your card is Canadian you would be able to order directly with your card.
** edit! Do you have a Canadian card? I didn't read correctly originally and didn't see you were using a Japanese card...you should be able to use gift certificates purchased with your Japanese card however.

[kumaryu]

When I first registered an account a Kobo website, some of the section headers and a small number of banner elements were in Spanish and all the recommendations were for Spanish publications priced in Eurps. Curious, since at present, the site only supports English, German, French and Dutch as interface languages.

It would appear that GeoIP mechanism was picking up the fact that I was connecting from a Spanish IP address and customised the content accordingly.

I bought my first book over the weekend using my UK debit card. Since then, all the recommendations and interface elements have changed into English with the prices in GBP.

As for the symptoms being reported by previous posts, its possible that Kobo is working on a mechanism for their JP launch this week (19th). According to the information released during their press conference a few weeks back, Kobo in Canada will be handling Japanese market sales.

If they intend to use the current platform and domain for this service, its likely that their GeoIP will be configured to detect connections from Japanese IP addresses in order to present the content in an "appropriate" language. Furthermore, the country of issue of any debit/credit card associated with an account will also have an effect on what is presented to the user.

No doubt there are further considerations such as market segregation to consider. Without some refinement in the way this is implemented however, it may prevent users in certain regions from purchasing books in a particular language.

For me personally, I'd like to be able to buy books offered to the Japanese market using my UK debit card while connecting from Spain.

[taming]

Kobo has to make a determination regarding what country you are in for purchasing purposes. This will be true as long as here is an issue with the books that are available in a particular country--and that is a Publisher/contract issue.

There are various workarounds, all of which seem to violate the TOS, a document which is in line with the agreements that Publishers and Kobo have. For example, it seems that if I were to use VPN showing a US address, and my address on the Kobo site were to be in the US, then using my Canadian credit card company doesn't seem to matter. Just saying, of course, as I would not actually violate the TOS and risk having my account closed.

I do think we are seeing some transitional artifacts right now as they get ready to debut the Japanese site on the 19th.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

I have a Canadian credit card but I make my money in yen so I would like to spend it in yen. I may try using a VPN and Paypal. I'm really missing out on basically having every book available for use with discount coupons before. Before this whole Japanese release nonsense started, every single book I ever tried accepted discount coupons. Now it seems very rare to find any. Kobo has definitely stopped being my first option when acquiring books off the net. Unfortunate.

[leslie_ms]

Originally Posted by Canuck_in_Japan

Before this whole Japanese release nonsense started, every single book I ever tried accepted discount coupons. Now it seems very rare to find any. Kobo has definitely stopped being my first option when acquiring books off the net. Unfortunate.

The lack of discount coupons is because the major publishers moved to the agency pricing model which prevents book sellers from discounting books. It's not Kobo's fault.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by leslie_ms

The lack of discount coupons is because the major publishers moved to the agency pricing model which prevents book sellers from discounting books. It's not Kobo's fault.

Folks from outside of the US, Canada (and the UK?) haven't been subject to Agency pricing on books from Kobo and have been able to use codes on everything, that was his point.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Folks from outside of the US, Canada (and the UK?) haven't been subject to Agency pricing on books from Kobo and have been able to use codes on everything, that was his point.

Yes this. I'm not blaming Kobo for agency pricing. I'm blaming them for making me suffer through agency pricing when I didn't have to before. Oh well, all good things come to an end! Luckily thanks to Kobo's previous generous policy for people living in Japan I have about a 2 year backlog. Hopefully that will be enough time for agency pricing and geo restrictions to die.

[kumaryu]

Originally Posted by kumaryu

If they intend to use the current platform and domain for this service, its likely that their GeoIP will be configured to detect connections from Japanese IP addresses in order to present the content in an "appropriate" language....

This link (from Rakuten, 0921 CET 19/7/2012)
http://rakuten.kobobooks.com/
takes me to what looks like an exact replica of the standard www.kobo.com presentation but with all the interface elements in Japanese.

Before logging in, all the recommendations are for Spanish publications. (I live in Spain). After logging in using my account linked to a UK debit card, the recommendations change to slightly more plausible choices (ie English titles).

Despite the displayed interface language (JP), I'm unable to locate a single book title in Japanese. Likewise, the language selector at the top of the page still only lists: English, Deutsch, Francais and Nederlands.

I did read somewhere that the launch was scheduled for 1500 JST.