Kobo credit card charges are international

murg · 10-19-2012, 11:11 PM

In winding up my little escapade with the secret implementation of Quick Buy, I checked my credit card account.

It turns out that my purchases from Kobo.com are considered international credit card charges.

I'm in Australia, and have an Australian address on my account. The book I accidentally purchased was purchased through the Collins Booksellers website, which automatically forwarded me to the Kobo site to complete the purchase.

I was charged the Australian GST for the transaction.

At no time was I informed that the credit card charging was being sourced out of Australia. The charge itself was done in Australian dollars, so at least I'm not also having to pay an FX conversion fee.

This is just a head-up that purchasing a book from Kobo outside of Canada may lead to additional costs that should be factored in to the purchase decision. It is possible that they may charge in other countries locally, I wouldn't be surprised if Europe and the US were charged locally.

vice-versa · 10-20-2012, 02:00 AM

In France too : I purchased books last year with my credit card (a 0,99€ book) and was charged by my bank 1,30€ to have bought something out of the european zone (and as each book is a transaction since there is no shopping cart, each books was charged). I don't have a "kobo account" but was connected via my FNAC account (a french store that was the unique retailer of the Touch at that time in France). When I bought my Touch the saleswoman explained me that buy an ebook from FNAC or KOBO was the same as they shared their catalogs (and I was looking for english books). When I complained to FNAC customers care (as I was to do) they asked me a copy of my bank statement to refund. As I didn't wanted to let them nose around my bank account, I had to ask my banker to give me a specific statement for those transactions (and the banker said : the one's for free, the nexts will be charged). So far, if I am to buy books from kobo, I pay with paypal and have no more undue charges.

shanghaichica · 10-20-2012, 03:03 AM

I've paid with my credit card in the past and had these charges so now I'm going to be paying through Paypal.

murg · 10-20-2012, 03:56 AM

I'm starting to wonder what the justification is for Kobo to charge us the country taxes.

I'm buying books from an Canadian website, being charged from Canada, and being downloaded from Canada.

The only connection to Australia is where my Kobo account's address is and the GeoRegion that the books are for sale in. There really isn't much of an Australian connection in the purchase.

The fact that the books are being delivered in Australia is meaningless, as the GST isn't charged on imports until you reach the $1000 level.

In fact, the two books I've bought from Kobo using my Australian account are not Australian-specific editions, one is an international edition, the other is a US edition.

Quexos · 10-20-2012, 04:30 AM

This is something I will have to pay attention to if I ever decided to purchase from the Kobo store.

HarleyB · 10-20-2012, 05:11 AM

murg I agree that if you are being charged an international fee on your credit card then having to pay GST seems quite odd.

In any case you should investigate the 28 Degrees Mastercard which is brilliant as it doesn't charge any fees (as long as you pay it off each month) - so no account keeping fee, no international fee, no foreign currency conversion fee and the conversion rate is excellent!
I have had one for the past 5 years that I use exclusively for internet transactions and overseas travel. I have put through about $40,000 over that time (a couple of big OS trips) and haven't paid a cent in fees.
You apply online - the only drawback is that they now have their customer service call centre based somewhere in India which can be quite a treat at times. However that should be a piece of cake for someone experienced in dealing with Kobo Customer Care!!

10-19-2012, 11:11 PM	#1
murg No Comment Posts: 3,240 Karma: 23878043 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Australia Device: Kobo: Not just an eReader, it's an adventure!	Kobo credit card charges are international In winding up my little escapade with the secret implementation of Quick Buy, I checked my credit card account. It turns out that my purchases from Kobo.com are considered international credit card charges. I'm in Australia, and have an Australian address on my account. The book I accidentally purchased was purchased through the Collins Booksellers website, which automatically forwarded me to the Kobo site to complete the purchase. I was charged the Australian GST for the transaction. At no time was I informed that the credit card charging was being sourced out of Australia. The charge itself was done in Australian dollars, so at least I'm not also having to pay an FX conversion fee. This is just a head-up that purchasing a book from Kobo outside of Canada may lead to additional costs that should be factored in to the purchase decision. It is possible that they may charge in other countries locally, I wouldn't be surprised if Europe and the US were charged locally.

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10-20-2012, 02:00 AM	#2
vice-versa whippet addict Posts: 391 Karma: 689884 Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: France, Normandy, Gisors Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Libra Colour	In France too : I purchased books last year with my credit card (a 0,99€ book) and was charged by my bank 1,30€ to have bought something out of the european zone (and as each book is a transaction since there is no shopping cart, each books was charged). I don't have a "kobo account" but was connected via my FNAC account (a french store that was the unique retailer of the Touch at that time in France). When I bought my Touch the saleswoman explained me that buy an ebook from FNAC or KOBO was the same as they shared their catalogs (and I was looking for english books). When I complained to FNAC customers care (as I was to do) they asked me a copy of my bank statement to refund. As I didn't wanted to let them nose around my bank account, I had to ask my banker to give me a specific statement for those transactions (and the banker said : the one's for free, the nexts will be charged). So far, if I am to buy books from kobo, I pay with paypal and have no more undue charges.

10-20-2012, 03:03 AM	#3
shanghaichica Guru Posts: 989 Karma: 5782970 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Scribe,Kindle Oasis 3, iPad Pro 11, iPhone 13 Pro Max,iPad mini 6, PW5	I've paid with my credit card in the past and had these charges so now I'm going to be paying through Paypal.

10-20-2012, 03:56 AM	#4
murg No Comment Posts: 3,240 Karma: 23878043 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Australia Device: Kobo: Not just an eReader, it's an adventure!	I'm starting to wonder what the justification is for Kobo to charge us the country taxes. I'm buying books from an Canadian website, being charged from Canada, and being downloaded from Canada. The only connection to Australia is where my Kobo account's address is and the GeoRegion that the books are for sale in. There really isn't much of an Australian connection in the purchase. The fact that the books are being delivered in Australia is meaningless, as the GST isn't charged on imports until you reach the $1000 level. In fact, the two books I've bought from Kobo using my Australian account are not Australian-specific editions, one is an international edition, the other is a US edition.

10-20-2012, 04:30 AM	#5
Quexos Member Retired Posts: 1,999 Karma: 11348924 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Limbo Device: none	This is something I will have to pay attention to if I ever decided to purchase from the Kobo store.

10-20-2012, 05:11 AM	#6
HarleyB Fanatic Posts: 565 Karma: 1113286 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sunshine Coast Australia Device: Kobo (RIP), iPad, iPhone 4, Kobo Touch x2, Kobo Glo	murg I agree that if you are being charged an international fee on your credit card then having to pay GST seems quite odd. In any case you should investigate the 28 Degrees Mastercard which is brilliant as it doesn't charge any fees (as long as you pay it off each month) - so no account keeping fee, no international fee, no foreign currency conversion fee and the conversion rate is excellent! I have had one for the past 5 years that I use exclusively for internet transactions and overseas travel. I have put through about $40,000 over that time (a couple of big OS trips) and haven't paid a cent in fees. You apply online - the only drawback is that they now have their customer service call centre based somewhere in India which can be quite a treat at times. However that should be a piece of cake for someone experienced in dealing with Kobo Customer Care!!

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