Certain books disappearing from the Kobo store

Joques · 04-20-2014, 06:38 AM

I'm dismayed to see that books are disappearing from the Kobo store; lately Andrzej Sapkowski and John le Carré have gone without a trace, while their books still live on in the Kindle store.

Is this a trend, that Amazon are acquiring exclusivity by some means? If so, that is extremely worrying. Or are these isolated cases? Anybody else noticing this?

paola · 04-20-2014, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joques

I'm dismayed to see that books are disappearing from the Kobo store; lately Andrzej Sapkowski and John le Carré have gone without a trace, while their books still live on in the Kindle store.

Is this a trend, that Amazon are acquiring exclusivity by some means? If so, that is extremely worrying. Or are these isolated cases? Anybody else noticing this?

I see zillions of both Andrzej Sapkowski and Le Carre' and books on the UK site: where are you based?

Joques · 04-20-2014, 07:39 AM

Really? I am in Norway. I've always assumed we get the same selection as the UK - and those books _were_ available a little while ago. I'll check with Kobo support if this has something to do with digital rights.

paola · 04-20-2014, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joques

Really? I am in Norway. I've always assumed we get the same selection as the UK - and those books _were_ available a little while ago. I'll check with Kobo support if this has something to do with digital rights.

maybe you can try to change your address to a UK one temporarily to see if this changes the selection you can see. I am viewing the new Kobo site. If I log into the Italian site (I have a separate account for when I am over there), again I can see books by both authors (priced in euros, of course).

Lynx-lynx · 04-21-2014, 10:39 PM

Interestingly Kobo has removed Donna Leon's latest Brunetti book from the Aus site.

It was released early in April on the date advised by Kobo and then perhaps less than 1 week later it disappeared from the Aus site. Although it still sits happily, lol, on the India site.

It's too expensive for me to buy anyway at the moment, but it's one of those Kobo curiosities that it's disappeared from the Aus site.

Joques · 05-19-2014, 01:45 AM

Quick update. I did query Kobo, and of only course got a form letter about some books being restricted by region, nothing specific. But I'm having a hard time believing this, since the books are available (and now, purchased) by me, in my region, on the Kindle store. I do think Kobo is in some way confused about licensing and leaving money on the table. Too bad.

RZetlin · 05-19-2014, 06:31 AM

I ran a search and I am still getting books by Andrzej Sapkowski and John le Carré on the Canadian site.

DNSB · 05-19-2014, 02:23 PM

Playing with Tor and changing my country in the browser, I got a rather odd mix of results searching for various authors. It's quite possible that there may be region specific limitations so the results you see would depend on where the Kobo store thinks you are connecting from.

Regards,
David

Joques · 05-19-2014, 03:17 PM

But Amazon also knows where I'm from, and they will happily sell me the same books.

GeoffR · 05-19-2014, 04:07 PM

It's really best to contact the publisher about this rather than (or as well as) Kobo, the publisher will know if the books should be available in your region or not, and if there is a problem it is probably faster for them to sort it out with Kobo.

I bought John le Carré's Penguin books at Kobo with a promo code for about half the Amazon price.

DNSB · 05-19-2014, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joques

But Amazon also knows where I'm from, and they will happily sell me the same books.

I haven't ordered many ebooks from Amazon but with other merchandise, Amazon has let me continue to the point where checkout is calculating shipping before informing me that they can not/will not ship that item to Canada.

Regards,
David

AnemicOak · 05-20-2014, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffR

It's really best to contact the publisher about this rather than (or as well as) Kobo, the publisher will know if the books should be available in your region or not, and if there is a problem it is probably faster for them to sort it out with Kobo.

Agreed. It's the publisher who tells the stores where they can sell a given addition of a book. Not that contacting them usually does much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DNSB

I haven't ordered many ebooks from Amazon but with other merchandise, Amazon has let me continue to the point where checkout is calculating shipping before informing me that they can not/will not ship that item to Canada.

Kindle books that aren't available in a given country are either not shown to you at all or are shown without a buy button, but a message that they aren't available in your area.

04-20-2014, 06:38 AM	#1
Joques Addict Posts: 294 Karma: 107414 Join Date: May 2013 Device: Kobo Glo	Certain books disappearing from the Kobo store I'm dismayed to see that books are disappearing from the Kobo store; lately Andrzej Sapkowski and John le Carré have gone without a trace, while their books still live on in the Kindle store. Is this a trend, that Amazon are acquiring exclusivity by some means? If so, that is extremely worrying. Or are these isolated cases? Anybody else noticing this?

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04-20-2014, 07:39 AM	#3
Joques Addict Posts: 294 Karma: 107414 Join Date: May 2013 Device: Kobo Glo	Really? I am in Norway. I've always assumed we get the same selection as the UK - and those books _were_ available a little while ago. I'll check with Kobo support if this has something to do with digital rights.

04-21-2014, 10:39 PM	#5
Lynx-lynx Treachery of images ... Posts: 4,122 Karma: 93720365 Join Date: May 2012 Location: Australia Device: Sony 650, Kobo Glo, H2O, Aura One, Forma, Libra 2, Libra Colour	Interestingly Kobo has removed Donna Leon's latest Brunetti book from the Aus site. It was released early in April on the date advised by Kobo and then perhaps less than 1 week later it disappeared from the Aus site. Although it still sits happily, lol, on the India site. It's too expensive for me to buy anyway at the moment, but it's one of those Kobo curiosities that it's disappeared from the Aus site.

05-19-2014, 01:45 AM	#6
Joques Addict Posts: 294 Karma: 107414 Join Date: May 2013 Device: Kobo Glo	Quick update. I did query Kobo, and of only course got a form letter about some books being restricted by region, nothing specific. But I'm having a hard time believing this, since the books are available (and now, purchased) by me, in my region, on the Kindle store. I do think Kobo is in some way confused about licensing and leaving money on the table. Too bad.

05-19-2014, 06:31 AM	#7
RZetlin Addict Posts: 383 Karma: 3461302 Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Aura One, Kobo Glo, Kobo Aura HD (RIP)	I ran a search and I am still getting books by Andrzej Sapkowski and John le Carré on the Canadian site.

05-19-2014, 02:23 PM	#8
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 46,220 Karma: 168983734 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	Playing with Tor and changing my country in the browser, I got a rather odd mix of results searching for various authors. It's quite possible that there may be region specific limitations so the results you see would depend on where the Kobo store thinks you are connecting from. Regards, David

05-19-2014, 03:17 PM	#9
Joques Addict Posts: 294 Karma: 107414 Join Date: May 2013 Device: Kobo Glo	But Amazon also knows where I'm from, and they will happily sell me the same books.

05-19-2014, 04:07 PM	#10
GeoffR Wizard Posts: 3,821 Karma: 19162882 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Te Riu-a-Māui Device: Kobo Glo	It's really best to contact the publisher about this rather than (or as well as) Kobo, the publisher will know if the books should be available in your region or not, and if there is a problem it is probably faster for them to sort it out with Kobo. I bought John le Carré's Penguin books at Kobo with a promo code for about half the Amazon price.