Kobo Discounts: Coupon Codes + Discussion

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Credit (or blame) where's it's due. That was my edit.

I thought that the rare event of a multiple use 50% off code was worth highlighting.

You might also want to edit the whole agency spiel since it now appears that most, if not all, ebooks are couponable on Kobo US.

[wawasteele]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I've just found that Tor titles are couponable in the UK kobo store at last. I'd been holding off on buying Redshirts by John Scalzi, but now I have it - for £2.49!

This is frustrating. I have been wanting some more Scalzi. But in the USA, on the new Kobo site, when you check the button to show only coupon acceptable books, Reshirts is eliminated.

Not sure why I did this, but I went ahead and clicked on the book itself. When I go to buy it, it slows up as accepting a coupon. I guess we can't believe the button?

[Crusader]

Originally Posted by hwlester

We can all send you our bills that we can't pay due to ebook binge buying if that will make you feel any better.

Those might work well as decoration for my wall of evil!

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by wawasteele

This is frustrating. I have been wanting some more Scalzi. But in the USA, on the new Kobo site, when you check the button to show only coupon acceptable books, Reshirts is eliminated.

Not sure why I did this, but I went ahead and clicked on the book itself. When I go to buy it, it slows up as accepting a coupon. I guess we can't believe the button?

I noticed a couple of months ago that the check box to show couponable books apparently pulls from a different database field than the code that decides whether to display the coupon code box on the checkout screen. Very odd.

Originally Posted by Crusader

Those might work well as decoration for my wall of evil!

Wall of evil... I like that!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by hwlester

I noticed a couple of months ago that the check box to show couponable books apparently pulls from a different database field than the code that decides whether to display the coupon code box on the checkout screen. Very odd.

Wow. Making the check box worse than useless in one step.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I've just found that Tor titles are couponable in the UK kobo store at last.

Thanks, I see the UK Hachette titles I checked are now too. I wonder if this will spread to other countries? (Hachette are still not discountable in New Zealand as I post this).

[witchkitten]

Originally Posted by dandelioncottage

This tip normally works great on my Mac, but I've come across a few books that don't have a Save Preview button.

Does anyone know how to determine the format of a book like this?

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebo...to-the-brontes

Thanks!

You can tell whether or not a book is available in Adobe DRM format by checking to see if Blackberry is supported under the Available Devices. If it is then most likely it's available as an epub. If not, then most likely it is only available as a kepub. I've checked this method against the saving previews method and sure enough the ones that support Blackberry show an Adobe DRM as a download option for the preview while those that don't support Blackberry also don't show an Adobe DRM download option for the preview.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by witchkitten

You can tell whether or not a book is available in Adobe DRM format by checking to see if Blackberry is supported under the Available Devices. If it is then most likely it's available as an epub. If not, then most likely it is only available as a kepub. I've checked this method against the method saving previews and sure enough the ones that support Blackberry show an Adobe DRM link for the preview while those that don't support Blackberry also don't have an Adobe DRM preview link.

Edit: Sorry wrong info! The new NZ site does show a blackberry for some books.

From what I can see the blackerry is shown for Adobe DRM epubs, but not for DRM-free epubs. So the absence of a blackberry doesn't mean you won't get an epub.

For example this book does not have a blackberry on the NZ site, but I have bought it and it is a DRM-free epub: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebo...of-the-new-sun

[witchkitten]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

This doesn't work in all countries. The New Zealand site doesn't show the Blackberry symbol for any books, probably because blackberries are just another type of fruit here.

Good to know. So far it's worked in the U.S. I think it's silly that we have to find these roundabout ways of determining the file format. It should just be listed on the book page before purchasing.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by library addict

I used my Master Card debit card more than once yesterday. I get both the old site and new site on my PC depending on which browser I use.

Which browser is bringing up the old site?

[MarciaCat]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I just did a quick search, finding most of the 13 SCE omnibi, and it really is a frustrating hunt. A straight series search often mixes solo novellas in with omnibi, and I even saw one omnibus listed twice...with different prices! (Just in case you're still hunting, this link should be useful.)


Those prices really are insane, though. It seems that later volumes never made it to MMPB, but I think the latest of those dates from at least five years ago. (EDIT: Nope, the last one was 2010...so only three years ago - and I don't see it on Kobo's list!) Time for a markdown!

I saw those two same title/different prices earlier so I googled the isbns and it turns out the cheaper one is just the single original ebook (SCE #29 Aftermath) shown with the omnibus cover instead of the original; Amazon show the correct cover. I just can't get over how they've doubled the prices on the individual ebooks since their release date; it's not like printing prices etc going up on paper books.

Thanks for the Memory Alpha link, I forgot about checking there, I was using a Wikipedia link to figure out which ones I needed. I already had the individual SCE books from #50 on, purchased from 12/07 forward when I got my first reader (Sony 505) as a Christmas gift. I just need to get books 7-9 (those are the ones I'm hoping to get 60% or higher coupons for ) then I'll start splitting them open in calibre and adding the original individual covers and titling 'em all starting with SCE & book number so they all organize nicely by title.

Did you happen to see where one of the SCE books titles misspells 'Corps' as 'Core'? http://http://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/books/Star-Trek-Core-Engineers-Breakdowns/5uM5R-5Gok2sHSh5bgyMUg It apparently came from Simon & Schuster that way; it's the same at Sony and Amazon. Another sign of S&S's less than stellar editing, sigh.

[sqdancer]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Which browser is bringing up the old site?

For me, IE8 brings up the old site. I get the new site with up-to-date Firefox.

[library addict]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Which browser is bringing up the old site?

IE 9 has the old, Firefox the new.

[FizzyWater]

Thanks! I mostly use Firefox, and I'm on version 22. I checked my Internet Explorer, and it's up to 10 (which shows the new site). But I found instructions online - if you hit F12 in IE, it allows you to choose to view a website (for testing purposes) in earlier versions. IE10 compatibility mode shows the old site, as do IE9 and IE8 in the test mode!

[hwlester]

Originally Posted by FizzyWater

Thanks! I mostly use Firefox, and I'm on version 22. I checked my Internet Explorer, and it's up to 10 (which shows the new site). But I found instructions online - if you hit F12 in IE, it allows you to choose to view a website (for testing purposes) in earlier versions. IE10 compatibility mode shows the old site, as do IE9 and IE8 in the test mode!

I'm not sure it's so much the browser version as cookies and such. Since the browsers don't share cookies, it sees them as unique clients. I saw something similar with Chrome in incognito mode when they were rolling it out in the US: logged into my account using Chrome, I had the new site, but launching an incognito tab in the same browser, I got the old site. I'm now seeing the new site everywhere, but it varied from machine to machine and among browsers on those machines.