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Old 07-12-2011, 01:04 PM   #16
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Originally Posted by Lordvic View Post
looks like a discrepancy in regions. In Canadian region, we're linked to the Chapters / Indigo.ca bookstore.

I just pulled it up now, and sure enough. Price is 14.99. With the Canadian dollar being on par, if not higher than US slightly, it's cheaper for me to buy it right off kobo's / chapters.com website and sideload it than through kobo's online book store.

i'm still under the impression that 9.99 for an ebook is still overpriced.
I got it via the wifi store on my Touch this morning in Canada at $9.99. At 1pm when I check the Kobobooks.com it's $9.99 and (strangely) I can't even get it to come up in a search under all e-books on Chapters.ca It doesn't give me a price on the desktop since I own it I guess.

$9.99 works for me on the release date of a new book when my other option (that I would have done previously) would be to run out and pay $35 for the hardcover.
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Old 07-12-2011, 02:13 PM   #17
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Just to prove i'm not going insane...

taken 5 minutes ago. still 14.99
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Old 08-17-2011, 02:26 AM   #18
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Could anyone tell me what "Standard rate is?" I was going to buy my fist book on Kobo Books and it says the price is $ 10.09 until it's time to order and at the checkout an extra $2.52 "Standard rate" has been added. Is it because I'm ordering from Sweden?
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Old 08-17-2011, 02:51 AM   #19
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A Dance with Dragons is $20.69 NZD at kobobooks.com which is about $16.49 Canadian Dollars.

Seems so unfair. At Amazon.com I can buy it for $9.99 USD (for NZ customers) which is about $9.80 canadian dollars or $12 NZ dollars.

Something is not right with kobo's pricing. I haven't bought from them for ages because of the difference. I have told them - twice - but the answer wasn't really satisfactory.
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Old 08-17-2011, 04:20 AM   #20
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booksonboard.com sells A Dance with Dragons for USD 14.99 (NZD 17.3)

whitcoulls.co.nz wants NZD 30.95!
At bookdepository.co.uk it is mysteriously unavailable, likewise fishpond.co.nz

It's like the Adidas All Black shirt story in New Zealand last week. When are companies going to start making sense of the fact that their customers shop in a global market? They can't just blame it on taxation differences. The price differences are far greater than that. And you can't pull the wool over the customer's eyes any more.
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Old 08-17-2011, 11:20 AM   #21
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The pricing discrepancy is not limited to ebooks. I just bought a current book at Chapters (in Canada) which was priced at C$23.99 with a stick-on label from the publisher, and underneath showed $17.99 as the U.S. price. With the exchange rate it should be about C$17, so somebody is applying a markup of 40% on top of the suggested U.S. retail price of the book - and I recall that Borders would routinely discount that suggested retail price by 30% in the U.S.. I can't tell book publishers how to run their business, but I have to ask: Do they really think they're going to be able to keep gouging customers that way as the market converts to ebooks? Have they learned nothing from the music publishing industry?

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Old 08-17-2011, 03:09 PM   #22
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Quote:
Originally Posted by owly View Post
Could anyone tell me what "Standard rate is?" I was going to buy my fist book on Kobo Books and it says the price is $ 10.09 until it's time to order and at the checkout an extra $2.52 "Standard rate" has been added. Is it because I'm ordering from Sweden?
I asked Kobo at Twitter in March, I think, about that. The answer I got was that the law required them to add tax, even for international customers.
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Old 08-17-2011, 05:23 PM   #23
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For me, this is why I keep going back to the Kobo, even though the software is horrific. Compared to the Kindle, at least with the Kobo I have the *option* of shopping around for a better price.

What is it with media companies not understanding that "better technology" is not automatically replaceable with "price gouging?"
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Old 08-19-2011, 03:24 AM   #24
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A Dance with Dragons is $20.69 NZD at kobobooks.com which is about $16.49 Canadian Dollars.

Seems so unfair. At Amazon.com I can buy it for $9.99 USD (for NZ customers) which is about $9.80 canadian dollars or $12 NZ dollars.

Something is not right with kobo's pricing. I haven't bought from them for ages because of the difference. I have told them - twice - but the answer wasn't really satisfactory.
Interesting. You sure you were logged in to Amazon/Kindle Store when you saw that pricing? I get that price if I'm not logged in/seeing US pricing, but as soon as I log on I see $16.60 here in AU. For comparison the book is currently $15.99 in the Kobobookstore.

I find this discussion interesting, particularly some of cutterjohn42's remarks are rather curious. The simple truth is publishers can do whatever they like, and we the market can choose to purchase or not. People seem to get so wrapped up in what they feel things 'should' cost etc, with all these odd statements in which they draw these lines in the sand - I won’t pay more than 'x' for an ebook etc. It's all rather tripe.

Where I do agree that there is an ssue is the old world concept of regional pricing. In a globalised/internet connected world it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me, or many others, but for better or worse to date the companies appear set on continuing this agenda.

@TalonNYC - I agree, this was part of the reason I also got a Kobo - choice in source of ebooks.
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Old 08-19-2011, 03:58 AM   #25
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Interesting. You sure you were logged in to Amazon/Kindle Store when you saw that pricing? I get that price if I'm not logged in/seeing US pricing, but as soon as I log on I see $16.60 here in AU. For comparison the book is currently $15.99 in the Kobobookstore.
Definitely logged in and Dance with Dragons is $9.99 USD. I'm not using any weird VPN or IP address, my Amazon address is New Zealand - attached is a screen shot, see my name "deliver to Phillippa's android" on the right.

If the Australian price is $16.60 then there must be something very strange going on.

Another example, James Paterson - Now you See her: Kobo $28.69NZD, Amazon $9.99 USD

Anyway, I am buying my books through Amazon now because they are so much cheaper. I tried to tell kobo and they responded that books are agency priced but that you don't have to comparison shop because all retailers must sell at the same price - this clearly doesn't apply in New Zealand with Amazon and Kobo. Unfortunately kobo lose out because of it.
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Old 08-19-2011, 04:36 AM   #26
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Sadly, I find it extremely rare that Kobo matches or undercuts Amazon.

I tend to look at both sites for a book I might like, and then buy the cheapest, which is Amazon 90% of the time. Often the difference is 50-100%

Borders Australia gets a rare look-in for Australian-centric books.....

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Old 08-19-2011, 06:03 AM   #27
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I just compared those 2 books on Kobo and Amazon. I was signed in as an Australian for both websites.
Now you See Her is $9.99 on Amazon and $24.41 on Kobo.
Dance with Dragons is $16.60 on Amazon and $15.99 on Kobo.

I regularly find that Kobo is just as cheap as Amazon but to be fair most times when that happens I am using discount coupons (which seem to be rare these days) and because of the annoyance factor involved with striping DRM and converting to epub I only choose Amazon when I am going to save more than $1.
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Old 08-19-2011, 06:37 AM   #28
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Definitely logged in and Dance with Dragons is $9.99 USD. I'm not using any weird VPN or IP address, my Amazon address is New Zealand - attached is a screen shot, see my name "deliver to Phillippa's android" on the right.

If the Australian price is $16.60 then there must be something very strange going on.

Another example, James Paterson - Now you See her: Kobo $28.69NZD, Amazon $9.99 USD

Anyway, I am buying my books through Amazon now because they are so much cheaper. I tried to tell kobo and they responded that books are agency priced but that you don't have to comparison shop because all retailers must sell at the same price - this clearly doesn't apply in New Zealand with Amazon and Kobo. Unfortunately kobo lose out because of it.
I'd be curious to know who the publisher is listed as for you (for the GRRM: aDwD book)?

For me it is; "Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers, This price was set by the publisher". Specifically the details are;

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 2166 KB
Print Length: 1040 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0002247399
Publisher: Harper Voyager (July 12, 2011)
Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
Language: English
ASIN: B004XISI4A

I'd take a guess that yours might be listed as a different publisher/ISBN etc.. (Bantam?)?

Likewise with the James Paterson book "Now you See her" seems that Kindle have their version (publisher) from "Cornerstone Digital" whereas the Kobo version is from "Random House". At least that's how it is for me in AU. I have no idea how this works out for me in the same region, but maybe things are as nuanced as to who gets the Kindle publishing rights, verse the .epub rights?

@JBlyth: I find that Amazon tends to be cheaper on some of the current popular titles, but across their catalogue I don't find this to be the case, and Kobo has even been cheaper on many.

@HarleyB: Same for me, it has to be a couple of dollars for it to be worth if for me, or the fact that I just can't get it in .epub. One recent example is Timothy Wu's - The Master Switch which I couldn't really find anywhere but Amazon/Kindle Store that would sell to me in AU.
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Old 08-19-2011, 07:04 AM   #29
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Why are the average book so expensive in epub format? the overhead for distribution of an epub is significantly lower than actual book. there's no paper to procure. no printing needed, no shipping of heavy items, no warehousing or stocking, no store shelves to stock. its purely a matter of server space and bandwith. Yet these books are barely cheaper, and sometimes more expensive!
Not to mention loaded up with DRM which I find almost more distasteful than anything else.
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Old 08-19-2011, 07:59 AM   #30
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Yet Kobo has some really good prices that Amazon and Sony can't beat.

I've been tracking "Skippy Dies" (one of the short list picks for the Man Booker last year) for some time now. Amazon wants $13.54 for the Kindle version (and they know I'm located in Europe), Sony wants $14.99 (ok, I'm registered with Sony through a friend's US address) and Kobo is quoting me 4.99 € which translates to about $6.98. Even with the "foreign transaction fee" for the charge in euros (on my US based credit card), Kobo's price wins hands down.

There is no logic to all this agency pricing nonsense.
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