Kobo store no longer working in Eastern Europe

Rhooo · 05-08-2021, 08:31 AM

I'm posting this in the hopes that other people who live outside Western Europe / North America have run into this problem as well. I'm in Romania, Eastern Europe and as of right now, I can no longer buy anything on the Kobo e-book store.

The store used to work without a problem on my end. Just a few weeks ago I was able to add several dozen books to my wishlist and successfully pre-ordered "When Sorrows Come" (the 15th book in the October Daye series). Now? Every single book gives me the following error, where the 'add to cart/add to wishlist' buttons should be:

Unavailable in Romania

This item can't be purchased in Romania. See Other Editions

Clicking on 'see other editions' does nothing.

I've randomly clicked on over a hundred books in the store, in the last few hours, exact same result. What's interesting is that the books in my wishlist apparently can be bought, if I click on 'add to cart' within the wishlist itself (if I go to the book's store page, I get the 'unavailable' message). So I'm stuck with the only purchasable books in the whole damn store being the ones I'd already added to my wishlist before this shitshow.

I asked other European friends to check if they can buy books from the Kobo store and a friend from Poland confirmed that they're getting the same kind of 'unavailable' message on every single book as well. I then tested with a proxy -- the books show up as available for purchase with a proxy set to the US, UK, Germany and the Netherlands. The 'unavailable' error comes back with a Czech Republic proxy.

Support has been rather hopeless so far. Just "clear your browser cookies" (already done, problem persists), "try incognito mode" (already done, problem persists), "try a different browser" (already done, problem persists), etc. In the end, the only thing I got was a promise that the issue would be escalated higher, no explanation as to what on earth is happening.

The kicker? I bought a brand-new Kobo Clara HD just last month and was excited to start getting books for it, when I had a bit more money available. Now I'm just crushed and angry at the very real possibility that Kobo might've kicked Eastern Europe (and who knows how many other non-Western countries) to the curb.

Sirtel · 05-10-2021, 02:05 PM

Hmm I don't see this problem in Estonia. Perhaps it's a glitch of some sort?

Hemmi · 05-10-2021, 06:43 PM

Change your address to another country.

05-08-2021, 08:31 AM	#1
Rhooo Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2015 Device: Kobo Clara HD	Kobo store no longer working in Eastern Europe I'm posting this in the hopes that other people who live outside Western Europe / North America have run into this problem as well. I'm in Romania, Eastern Europe and as of right now, I can no longer buy anything on the Kobo e-book store. The store used to work without a problem on my end. Just a few weeks ago I was able to add several dozen books to my wishlist and successfully pre-ordered "When Sorrows Come" (the 15th book in the October Daye series). Now? Every single book gives me the following error, where the 'add to cart/add to wishlist' buttons should be: Unavailable in Romania This item can't be purchased in Romania. See Other Editions Clicking on 'see other editions' does nothing. I've randomly clicked on over a hundred books in the store, in the last few hours, exact same result. What's interesting is that the books in my wishlist apparently can be bought, if I click on 'add to cart' within the wishlist itself (if I go to the book's store page, I get the 'unavailable' message). So I'm stuck with the only purchasable books in the whole damn store being the ones I'd already added to my wishlist before this shitshow. I asked other European friends to check if they can buy books from the Kobo store and a friend from Poland confirmed that they're getting the same kind of 'unavailable' message on every single book as well. I then tested with a proxy -- the books show up as available for purchase with a proxy set to the US, UK, Germany and the Netherlands. The 'unavailable' error comes back with a Czech Republic proxy. Support has been rather hopeless so far. Just "clear your browser cookies" (already done, problem persists), "try incognito mode" (already done, problem persists), "try a different browser" (already done, problem persists), etc. In the end, the only thing I got was a promise that the issue would be escalated higher, no explanation as to what on earth is happening. The kicker? I bought a brand-new Kobo Clara HD just last month and was excited to start getting books for it, when I had a bit more money available. Now I'm just crushed and angry at the very real possibility that Kobo might've kicked Eastern Europe (and who knows how many other non-Western countries) to the curb.

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05-10-2021, 02:05 PM	#2
Sirtel Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,091 Karma: 237627567 Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Estonia Device: Kobo Sage & Libra 2	Hmm I don't see this problem in Estonia. Perhaps it's a glitch of some sort?

05-10-2021, 06:43 PM	#3
Hemmi Grand Sorcerer Posts: 10,353 Karma: 15987608 Join Date: Apr 2015 Device: Sonys, Nooks, Kobo Libra, Forma, Mini, Paperwhite	Change your address to another country.

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