Aura HD Is Kobo filtering non NA IPs?

[potatohead]

Originally Posted by kukafei

It seems to be deliberate, according to the reply I got from Customer Service:

Response Via Email (Keith O) 06/28/2013 11:31 AM
Hello Carey

Thank you for Contacting Kobo Tier 2 Direct Orders.

I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing an issue when attempting to make a purchase of the Kobo Glo.

As you are in China trying to make a purchase to the U.S.A the ordering system is rejecting it.

The only solution I can think of is that a friend or family member places an order for you and they the post it on to you once received.

Hope this helps your situation.

I am now closing this ticket if by chance you have any further queries or concerns, please reply back to this email and it will reopen the ticket.

Sincerely,

The Kobo Team

This is however not all to the issue, US folks ordering from US are also getting card authorization errors, regretfully.

[kukafei]

Originally Posted by potatohead

This is however not all to the issue, US folks ordering from US are also getting card authorization errors, regretfully.

I was referring to the original issue of the thread- is Kobo filtering non-NA IPs?

The answer is yes, which then led to someone else's question of whether or not it's deliberate, and that's what I was responding to- based on that Customer Service reply, blocking people outside of NA from buying ereaders seems to be deliberate.

The problem with credit cards authorizations, while a serious problem, is a separate issue. People outside of the US can't even get to a place where they can enter a credit card number, unless they use the FF workaround to make it seem that they are in NA.

[BeeTee-Ess]

Originally Posted by kukafei

I was referring to the original issue of the thread- is Kobo filtering non-NA IPs?

The answer is yes, which then led to someone else's question of whether or not it's deliberate, and that's what I was responding to- based on that Customer Service reply, blocking people outside of NA from buying ereaders seems to be deliberate.

The problem with credit cards authorizations, while a serious problem, is a separate issue. People outside of the US can't even get to a place where they can enter a credit card number, unless they use the FF workaround to make it seem that they are in NA.

Yes kukafei. Two different issues.

As to why Kobo should want to lock out non NA purchasers, it's a mystery, though there seems to be little doubt it is intentional. That reply from Kobo CS was pretty unambiguous. And then in the same breath, they suggest you can get around it if you have a friend or relative in NA!

[potatohead]

Originally Posted by kukafei

I was referring to the original issue of the thread- is Kobo filtering non-NA IPs?

The answer is yes, which then led to someone else's question of whether or not it's deliberate, and that's what I was responding to- based on that Customer Service reply, blocking people outside of NA from buying ereaders seems to be deliberate.

The problem with credit cards authorizations, while a serious problem, is a separate issue. People outside of the US can't even get to a place where they can enter a credit card number, unless they use the FF workaround to make it seem that they are in NA.

I understand they are separate issues, I have also gotten the exact same reply from Kobo support a while back which I posted in full earlier in this thread. My mind just fast forwarded and went straight to the part of actually buying it, having read that you succeeded in accessing the buy page from China via the FF workaround and was excited by the ability to use your code my bad

From the responses so far in this forum, looks like not all NA folks can't buy from Kobo.com, and there is no pattern to it, this is just so puzzling.

[ottdmk]

As for non-NA sales, export laws get much more convoluted and restrictive once you move away from the NA free trade zone. It may be more trouble to Kobo then it's worth. Keep in mind their preferred method of international expansion has been to work with various partners.

[moffattm]

Originally Posted by ottdmk

As for non-NA sales, export laws get much more convoluted and restrictive once you move away from the NA free trade zone. It may be more trouble to Kobo then it's worth. Keep in mind their preferred method of international expansion has been to work with various partners.

Indeed. Kobo may well have agreements with their partners in various countries that they won't sell directly to people from those countries, instead they'll direct people to the partners so they can pick up the local sales.