Kobo bookstore on Kobo Touch not showing prices (Canada)

[RobertJSawyer]

Hi. When I search the Kobo bookstore on my Kobo Touch with the 2.0 update, I see everything about a title (including a buy-this-book button) EXCEPT for the price. I used to see the price before updating to 2.0. I'm in Canada, browsing on the actual Kobo Touch, using a Wi-Fi connection. Anybody else having this problem? (If I search via the web on my PC, the prices are there.)

[RareBird]

I can confirm this and, completely off topic, but I have to say I love your work.

[Blue2u]

Originally Posted by RareBird

I can confirm this and, completely off topic, but I have to say I love your work.

There has been a lot of 'Kobo weirdness' lately. Something's telling me they're re-vamping.

And another , why can't I buy 'Flashforward' for ereader? Loved the show and would like to read the ebook as well!

[RobertJSawyer]

Thanks, RareBird and Blue2u. As for FLASHFORWARD as an ebook in Canada, I've repeatedly drawn to the attention of the US publisher, Tor, that they do, in fact, have Canadian ebook rights to this book, but they've been dilatory about fixing the problem. I'll nudge them again. I appreciate the kind words!

[dakini]

I'd also started a thread about this last week. I don't see prices even. I even bought a book and never saw the price.

[RobertJSawyer]

My (frustrating) email exchange with Kobo tech support on this issue:

No, that doesn't solve my problem AT ALL. It's clear you didn't EVEN TRY to duplicate the problem. This is a MAJOR PROBLEM, guys. As I've said, OTHERS ARE REPORTING THE SAME THING on Mobileread.com, to wit: Using a Kobo Touch in Canada DOES NOT SHOW PRICES for commercial ebooks on the Kobo storefront.

See here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=190735
And here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=190222

Since the 2.0 firmware upgrade to the Kobo Touch in Canada, the pricing information has disappeared.

It should be support policy to ACTUALLY TRY TO REPLICATE the users' problem before sending a boilerplate response. PLEASE ESCALATE THIS TO TOP-TIER TECH SUPPORT.

(For the record, yes, I tried the steps you suggested below; THEY DID NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM.)

Thank you.

ROBERT J. SAWYER, Science Fiction writer
Author of Triggers and FlashForward
http://sfwriter.com

From: Kobo Customer Care <help@kobobooks.com>
To: Robert J. Sawyer
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 10:19:18 AM
Subject: Kobo Touch not showing book prices in Canada [Incident: 120912-000542]


Recently you requested personal assistance from our on-line support center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.

If this issue is not resolved to your satisfaction, you may reopen it within the next 10 days.

Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.


Subject Kobo Touch not showing book prices in Canada

Discussion Thread
Response Via Email (Nickolah R) 09/13/2012 10:19 AM

Hi Sawyer,
Thank you for contacting Kobo Customer Care.

We paologize for any inconvenience that you may be experiencing.

However, in order to view prices for eBooks on the Kobo Store using the Kobo Touch eReader, please follow the instructions below:

1. Tap: Discover
2. Tap: Find books
3. Tap: Categories
4. Tap: Categories once again.
5. Tap: Storefront

By tapping on "Storefront" once again, you can either now browse through the following categories:

Free eBooks
Recommended for you ,
Or you can "Search" for a particular eBook and this will show the price of each eBook.

If you have anymore questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Sincerely,
The Kobo Team.
Auto-Response 09/12/2012 11:55 AM
Thank you for contacting Kobo Customer Care. Your question has been received and you can anticipate a response within 24-48 hours.
Customer By Email (Sawyer) 09/12/2012 11:55 AM
Browsing the Kobo Store on a Kobo Touch in Canada with a unit bought and registered in Canada, no prices appear for books. The "Buy this book" button DOES appear, but pricing info does not appear. Prior to the recent 2.0 firmware upgrade, prices DID appear; they have disappeared since applying this upgrade. Others on Mobileread.com have confirmed that they're having the same problem. Please fix this. Thanks!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ROBERT J. SAWYER, Science Fiction writer
Author of Triggers and FlashForward
http://sfwriter.com (http://sfwriter.com/)

Question Reference #120912-000542
Product Level 1: Kobo eReader
Product Level 2: Touch
Category Level 1: Devices
Category Level 2: Syncing Issues (Books)
Date Created: 09/12/2012 11:55 AM
Last Updated: 09/13/2012 10:19 AM

Troubleshooting

[---001:002199:62076---]

[RobertJSawyer]

(I didn't send this as part of the message above, but, also, come on, it's not polite to write "Hi Sawyer" when addressing me; it's either "Hi Robert" or "Hi Mr. Sawyer." Sheesh.)

[RobertJSawyer]

Now, this is more like it! Just received another reply from Kobo, Tier 2:

Hi Robert,

I’m so sorry to see that our Tier 1 agent failed to handle the ticket correctly and assumed that the issue was with your own device rather than the programming on all Touch eReaders.

I and a colleague of mine have just tested these pages on our own Touches and experienced the same problems. The prices are missing from Search Lists but appear on other pages such as the Category Lists. We now need to establish whether this was intentional, for whatever reason, or a design flaw, which we will soon be remedying.

I will get in contact with one of our developers to shed some light on the situation and will message you again as soon as I know anything.

Sincerely,
[Name]

================

[dakini]

Any chance you've heard anything back about this?

I had a strange situation in my continuing saga of not seeing price this afternoon ... was trying to get a book that had been posted here as a free Kobo book. Went through the steps to download it on my Kobo Touch, and it said it was 12.99. Just out of curiosity, I fired up my laptop, and checked the book. It was free on my computer. And I downloaded it there. But several of the books I did download as free on my Kobo, such as Henry James' Aspern Papers and L.Frank Baum's Road to Oz are showing up as .99 in the store.

I am utterly confused as to why I'm seeing different prices in the store on my computer and reader.

[murg]

Originally Posted by dakini

I am utterly confused as to why I'm seeing different prices in the store on my computer and reader.

Because on your computer they know you can easily buy it from someone else, but on your reader you're locked into their store?

[PeterT]

Well actually there are multiple versions of the "Aspen Papers: showing up at the KoboBooks web site (at least in Canada). These range from free to over $25 depending on the source. Of course, what is truly confusing is if you sort by price, only 18 are listed (with none being free) whereas all other sorts show 23 books!

Also, searching via the Touch show me 11, one of which has a Download button as opposed to a Purchase button.

[SameerH]

Originally Posted by RobertJSawyer

Now, this is more like it! Just received another reply from Kobo, Tier 2:

Hi Robert,

I’m so sorry to see that our Tier 1 agent failed to handle the ticket correctly and assumed that the issue was with your own device rather than the programming on all Touch eReaders.

I and a colleague of mine have just tested these pages on our own Touches and experienced the same problems. The prices are missing from Search Lists but appear on other pages such as the Category Lists. We now need to establish whether this was intentional, for whatever reason, or a design flaw, which we will soon be remedying.

I will get in contact with one of our developers to shed some light on the situation and will message you again as soon as I know anything.

Sincerely,
[Name]

================

Hi Robert,

We're working on adding pricing to the search areas on the device, should be available in an update soon.

Thanks,
Sameer.

[dakini]

Originally Posted by murg

Because on your computer they know you can easily buy it from someone else, but on your reader you're locked into their store?

When I see inconsistent results, though, i feel less likely to purchase. Because I don't know that what I'm seeing is the cheapest or the only versions available.

Originally Posted by PeterT

Well actually there are multiple versions of the "Aspen Papers: showing up at the KoboBooks web site (at least in Canada). These range from free to over $25 depending on the source. Of course, what is truly confusing is if you sort by price, only 18 are listed (with none being free) whereas all other sorts show 23 books!

Also, searching via the Touch show me 11, one of which has a Download button as opposed to a Purchase button.

Yeah, I can only find the free version on my Kobo, not through my computer. Like I said above, getting incomplete results means I have become reluctant to spend money. Especially when I know the search on my computer, which does not show the free version, is not including the cheaper versions.

[PeterT]

Funny... I can find the free version either on the http://www.kobobooks.com OR via the Kobo Desktop.

On the Desktop I searched for "Aspern Papers" with the quotes; the free version was the second one shown with a simple "Download" buttpn under it.