Aura HD Ouch! Kobo ebook prices!

[paola]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Hi Paola, you don"t happen to know the discount situation in Italy do you, and also the book prices?

That same book costs a whopping €20,12 in Italy - amazon.it does not have the ebook version available, but the hardback version is sold at €17.24.

Logging into my mum's account from the UK I can see the BOGO offer. Valid promo codes won in the UK contest do not seem to work on the Italian site.

[BrodieKobo]

@ Jaden & Doublesuffle - Thanks for the feedback RE: the German market. I'll do some digging and see what we can do to better support the German market.

[BrodieKobo]

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

OK, the thread seems to have been split into two now. Shouldn't the posts about coupons and promos (which I also would like access to, from Australia) really be in their own thread?

In the meantime: Brodie, have you had any thoughts about the issue of prices, and the examples I gave?

@ MacEachaidh,

Absolutely. Without getting into the particulars (and disclosing too much about price strategy ) what I can say is this is a great thread, I really appreciate raising your concerns, and the issue on price gap will not be overlooked. At the end of the day, we strive to be as competitive as possible on all fronts and price certainly applies in that category.

There's a few short term things we can do which I'll get addressed (mainly how we can allow participation in contests beyond current countries).

Note: I'll likely drop off the thread now given it's pretty clear where the concerns sit, feel free to start a new one with any other webstore feedback or PM me for anything in particular. I'll do my best to help out.

Thanks and appreciate the conversation!

Brodie

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by murg

Nope. The coupons and promos are related to the price discussion, as those activities affect the price of the books, which are generally over-priced to being with.

Sure, "price" ... let's lump everything together under sweeping generic terms. Kepubs and PDFs -- they're all just books, right?

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by BrodieKobo

@ MacEachaidh,

Absolutely. Without getting into the particulars (and disclosing too much about price strategy ) what I can say is this is a great thread, I really appreciate raising your concerns, and the issue on price gap will not be overlooked. At the end of the day, we strive to be as competitive as possible on all fronts and price certainly applies in that category.

OK ... glad you appreciate the topic being raised, but I was hoping we might get some understanding of what goes on to put the (often eyebrow-raising) price discrepancies in context. I was really hoping for a good reason to throw my business in Kobo's direction rather than to you-know-who.

As I said, I'm not all that fussed about the promos personally, since they seem to be mostly on selected titles Kobo is trying to promote. I've yet to see them on any books I'm likely to buy myself, so I really don't think they're much of an answer to the issue of price generally.

I understand your backing away Brodie, since there's probably very little you can actually say and you suddenly got hit from several unexpected angles at once. Thanks for even replying in the first place.

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by BrodieKobo

@ Jaden & Doublesuffle - Thanks for the feedback RE: the German market. I'll do some digging and see what we can do to better support the German market.

Cool, thanks.

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

Sure, "price" ... let's lump everything together under sweeping generic terms. Kepubs and PDFs -- they're all just books, right?

Originally Posted by MacEachaidh

I understand your backing away Brodie, since there's probably very little you can actually say and you suddenly got hit from several unexpected angles at once. Thanks for even replying in the first place.

Sorry for posting so brashly in your thread. Won't happen again.

[MacEachaidh]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

Sorry for posting so brashly in your thread. Won't happen again.

Oh good, make it personal. Always a useful response.

It's not "my thread". It's a thread that was opened on one issue, and got diverted into something else. I wanted a response from Brodie, nothing unreasonable about that, on the data he'd asked me for; if our roles were reversed, you'd do the same, so let's calm down a bit, eh?

[samhy]

Originally Posted by BrodieKobo

@ Jaden & Doublesuffle - Thanks for the feedback RE: the German market. I'll do some digging and see what we can do to better support the German market.

Thank you for that (European market, not only the German one ).

[tea2]

Example from Canada

Thomas Piketty's Capital

Amazon.ca. Kindle ed. 11.22
Kobo cdn site. 35.49

Good thing I have an iPad mini with a kindle app since the kindle 2 is now a bit clunky. There was no way in heck I was buying that book from Kobo, though I too prefer to read on my glo.

[ppowell002]

I know I am jumping in late but wanted to add my two cents.
I occasionally check Amazon and other sites to compare to kobo when I am buying a book. My experience is that Amazon is often a dollar or so more than Kobo or about the same. IBooks' prices are terrible. Perhaps it depends on type of book. I read mostly literary fiction and do take advantage of coupons whenever possible.
Having said that, I do notice prices on new releases at Kobo are steadily climbing. When I got my first ereader, in late 2010 I think, many new releases were $9.99, but now they all seem to be about $14.99.

[Lynx-lynx]

I think we should keep this thread going for as long as it takes, because it's not until we find the pricing examples that we can add them. I'm sure the Brodie will continue to pop into the thread even if she doesn't respond.

(I know that I've found quite a few examples of largish price discrepancies before, but didn't keep a record of them)

[Marbles]

Here are some more examples
Richard Castle Books
Raging Heat - Kobo 19.97 Kindle 12.58
Wild Storm - Kobo 22.09 Kindle 12.69
Deadly Heat - Kobo 25.49 Kindle 2.39
Storm Front - Kobo 17.75 Kindle 7.30

Quite a difference if you ask me.
We are sure getting the shaft on ebooks.

[jiminrussell]

Originally Posted by Marbles

Here are some more examples
Richard Castle Books
Raging Heat - Kobo 19.97 Kindle 12.58
Wild Storm - Kobo 22.09 Kindle 12.69
Deadly Heat - Kobo 25.49 Kindle 2.39
Storm Front - Kobo 17.75 Kindle 7.30

Quite a difference if you ask me.
We are sure getting the shaft on ebooks.

I only checked the first one on your list but for me Raging Heat is cheaper at Kobo. I had to use the perkopolis coupon though to make it cheaper.
Raging Heat - Kobo 19.97 - 7.99 (40% off perkopolis coupon) = 11.98
Raging Heat - Kindle 14.57 (Amazon.ca kindle price)

Deadly Heat has way too large a price difference for perkopolis to make up on the price so that one I would buy from Amazon. Some of the prices at Kobo are simply outrageous, I won't pay $25 for any eBook.

[JSWolf]

I've been noticing that Google Play eBooks (which are ePub) are priced to match Amazon. So if you can buy from Google Play, do so as you'll get an ePub instead of KF8 and in the worst case, Mobi.

[tigerinexile]

Buy elsewhere, load the books onto the Kobo using Calibre.

Google Play books can be managed with ADE easily enough...