Touch I love the Touch, not sure about Kobo..

[touring]

I really like my new Touch (although suffering the same problems as others like slow performance, and the need for double touches).

What I am not happy about is:

1. I have unsubscribed from Kobo's almost daily email spam THREE times and it still continues to come! I even mark it as spam in gmail now, but so far it doesn't go into the spam folder

I wanted a life with my Touch, not a lifetime relationship with Kobo Marketing!

2. I have purchased a book from Kobobooks which I understand is a Canadian company, but was charged GST. It didn't say whether it was Oz or Canadian GST, but for the life of me I don't understand why I should pay it. If I shop in China or elsewhere I don't pay local taxes. Does anyone have an explanation?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by touring

2. I have purchased a book from Kobobooks which I understand is a Canadian company, but was charged GST. It didn't say whether it was Oz or Canadian GST, but for the life of me I don't understand why I should pay it. If I shop in China or elsewhere I don't pay local taxes. Does anyone have an explanation?

Assuming it was Australian GST it would be because the point of sale for digital books is considered to be your computer/device, not where the store you bought it from is based, unlike with physical goods or at least that's my understanding.

[touring]

Thanks for that AnemicOak, it sounds a logical explanation.

After searching our Taxation Office website I can't find any reference at all to ebooks, but this article seems to imply that physical books are exempt:
http://www.computerworld.com.au/arti..._books_report/

[JD Gumby]

eBooks get categorized, in most jurisdictions, under computer software for sales tax purposes, hence the tax in regions that don't tax physical books.

[The Terminator]

Are you talking about slow page turns or just slow while looking for books in your Library/Shortlist? The more books you have on the Main memory of the Kobo the slower it is to navigate your Library. But if you put your books onto a Mirco SD card it should speed up.

[murg]

Originally Posted by touring

2. I have purchased a book from Kobobooks which I understand is a Canadian company, but was charged GST. It didn't say whether it was Oz or Canadian GST, but for the life of me I don't understand why I should pay it. If I shop in China or elsewhere I don't pay local taxes. Does anyone have an explanation?

Yup, you got slugged with the GST.

The Kobo book store recognises that your profile is from Australia, and charges in AUD and the GST.

However, since the price of the books are nice even numbers (12.99), it may be that they are 'eating' the GST.

There is currently a Kobo registered in Austalia to collect GST, registered from 1 Jan 2011, with an ABN of 18 613 082 912. This company appears to be a non-Australian based company.

[murg]

Originally Posted by touring

Thanks for that AnemicOak, it sounds a logical explanation.

After searching our Taxation Office website I can't find any reference at all to ebooks, but this article seems to imply that physical books are exempt:
http://www.computerworld.com.au/arti..._books_report/

Physical books are not exempt from GST.

The article is yet another attempt by the Australian publishing industry to continue to overcharge for books in Australia.

For example, most US $7.99 paperbacks in the US are over AUD $20 here, if they are the same book and published by an Australian or British publisher (or even just the Australian branch of the publisher). And the USD and AUD are about even in value.

[touring]

Thanks for the quick responses

@JD Gumby I don't think I have ever been charged GST when buying software online
@The Terminator My page turns are usually pretty quick. But if they don't turn, I sometimes need to press a couple of times. But yes, the slowness is mainly in the library. Maybe I should invest in an SD card.
@murg Yeah I wondered if Kobo "eats" the GST. I find it hard to believe that a Canadian based company would remit GST money to Australia lol

[cghipp]

Originally Posted by touring

1. I have unsubscribed from Kobo's almost daily email spam THREE times and it still continues to come! I even mark it as spam in gmail now, but so far it doesn't go into the spam folder

You shouldn't have to do this (because Kobo's email marketing program should have fixed it for you already), but you can create an email rule that will automatically move those emails to your SPAM folder, or delete them - whichever you prefer. Sorry if I'm being a master of the obvious here!

[murg]

Originally Posted by touring

@murg Yeah I wondered if Kobo "eats" the GST. I find it hard to believe that a Canadian based company would remit GST money to Australia lol

Then again, their AUD price may be more than 10% higher than their USD/CAD prices, in which case they're not eating it...

I'll have to check this out.

[voom]

@The Terminator My page turns are usually pretty quick. But if they don't turn, I sometimes need to press a couple of times. But yes, the slowness is mainly in the library. Maybe I should invest in an SD card.

I had that issue at first but after downgrading to 1.9.14 manually and upgrading to the newest fw. OTA again, is was gone... This is just what kind of happened to me by chance, some more straightforward kind of reset / refresh of the firmware might help as well...

[FJames]

I'm in Canada, in a province where HST applies to local purchases (the single Harmonized Sales Tax incorporating GST), but when I buy a book from Kobo I get charged HST and GST. I can't figure that one out, but the total tax is the same percentage as if I bought a paper book locally. It seems as if they are splitting the price into two components which get taxed in different jurisdictions.

[kiwipippa]

I'm in New Zealand. GST here is 15%. I have never been charged it when I shop at kobobooks.com so I'm not sure why they are charging Aussies. Weird...

[frankieGom]

I do not know how it gets presented in other countries, but when I buy at kobobooks.com from France, before check out I get asked to check the location I'm buying from so tax can be adjusted accordingly.

I know that there has been a move in the EU to enforce tax collection on sales from outside of the EU, so this is not overly surprising. I have also read that some of the states of America are now moving too to collect taxes on out of state sales, the rationale being that the previous tax exemption regime was more an oversight than anything... (I have not verified if that was confirmed, so it might just be hearsay).

François

[m_bisson]

Originally Posted by FJames

I'm in Canada, in a province where HST applies to local purchases (the single Harmonized Sales Tax incorporating GST), but when I buy a book from Kobo I get charged HST and GST. I can't figure that one out, but the total tax is the same percentage as if I bought a paper book locally. It seems as if they are splitting the price into two components which get taxed in different jurisdictions.

I get charged 5% on textbooks instead of 13% like the HST is supposed to be.