Quote:
Originally Posted by ekster
My only gripe with no cart is that I wasn't able to use the 35% off for first read on more than one book. 
In general though, I don't buy ebooks in bulk, so it doesn't really bother me that much. |
I think that is entirely the point...if they had a shopping cart & continued to use coupon/discount codes it would be chaos. Some ebooks (non-agency publishers) can be discounted while many others (Agency publishers) cannot.
If my mother-in-law gets a 20% off code and she goes shopping and fills her "cart" like so.
"Greatest Book Ever" Johnny Somebody $10.99 (Agency Pricing)
"Eternal Love Story" Sue Random $7.99 (Non-Agency)
"Pavarotti's Poodle" William Furrbottom $14.99 (Agency Pricing)
"Starsigns and Spirit Guides" Mary LovesTea $9.99 (Non-Agency)
Do you want to be the one to explain to her why the discount is only valid on 2 of the 4 books and that the code is probably only good on a single title.
No neither do I.... And Kobo avoids that situation by making each title/bundle it's own purchase. The easiest solution would be for Kobo to stop issuing discount codes...but none of us want that I imagine.
As for book covers...I would have to assume that Kobo distributes eBooks in the manner in which the publisher provides them and wishes them to be distributed. Allowances must be made for the fact that there are different editions of the same title, and a U.S. edition may vary from the Canadian edition which may vary from the U.K. edition.
And finally, regarding "written" product reviews. While occasionally helpful, consumer review pages often devolve into meandering discussions, are hijacked into becoming ads for "Gold earrings!!Designer BAgs!!Ostrich Skinz BOOTS!!!", or worse just downright abusive behaviour. Those sorts of things require moderation/policing, much like these forums, and I can totally understand why Kobo would want to steer clear of the headaches.