Quote:
Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx
Thinking through this idea of Kobo's of having a fixed link of books on which the codes apply, because of the limited number of books it takes away the incentive to continue to play if one can't find a book they're interested in.
Maybe Kobo doesn't really want people to play the Contests in the first place.
Think about it, if a person enters one account in the Contest and then they win 10 different prize codes and have to choose from a very limited supply of books and none of the books interest them then what's the point of the Contest.
I think Kobo is shooting itself in the foot with such a restrictive list of choices.
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I think it's exactly opposite. To change metaphors, it's the contestants who killed the goose that laid the golden egg.
Let me be clear; I'm not pointing the finger at anyone, because I happily and greedily sought and used the high codes myself. But the contests became grossly abused, with people generating hundreds of codes to the point where anything under 65% was largely disdained. So the distribution of discounts went kerflooey compared to the tables and it didn't even work as a marketing tool, as fake emails were the agent.
The contests as they were had become a losing strategy for Kobo. I think all they can do now, and what they're trying to do here, is rein in people's expectations to a much more reasonable level regarding how often they can expect discounts and how good those discounts will be. But it'll be a rough adjustment on both parts; Kobo's sales will undoubtedly be down in the immediate term and customers will feel cheated when they're expected to pay close to list for a book.
The good times had to end. It wasn't sustainable. It hasn't happened yet, but I expect one day they'll start enforcing geographic restrictions and verifying IP locations and credit card addresses. In the end, I'll miss the ability to buy books not sold in the USA more than I'll miss the discounts.