Kobo Discounts: Coupon Codes + Discussion

[treadlightly]

I am patiently waiting for a high-percentage code. Only 50% off or more would make the book cheaper than Amazon. I am not willing to attempt the hassle of price-matching.

[Amaryllis]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Because the price is set by the author or publisher, even for the duration of the promo. I participate in a number of the promos and I set not only the price for the promo, but agree to the various discounts, which come from my part of the sale. (Sometimes the discount is 10 percent, sometimes it's 30, etc).

Many of the promos are "author" or "publisher" supported. This is part of the reason you see the same books--the publisher has to select which books go in which promos. Then Kobo sets up the lists and makes sure the coupons work with those books.

These promos are still popular. My books are obviously not in all of them, but when they are in one of the promos, they generally sell quite well. First is series sell better than other books so you will very often see the same books submitted because as authors we find that the first in the series sells more books.

THere are various rules to the promos. Sometimes Kobo only wants recently released books (within the last year). Sometimes they want higher priced books that are HIGHLY discounted (50 percent or more). Sometimes they do 99 cent sales.

It's a very complex part of the business, but Kobo can only discount books WITH THE AGREEMENT of the author or publisher. They are not allowed to offer discounts on any old book--the publishers do not allow them to do that. They can offer a range of coupons depending upon the country, publisher rules, geo-restrictions and so on, but as many coupons were used where they were not supposed to work and so on, they have tightened the coupon use and restrictions.

In all honesty, I think Kobo would love to be able to offer more discounts, but there's limitations to how fast and often they can code for them--and account for the coupons being used where they shouldn't work and where georestriction rules fail and so on.

I've never "traveled" with Kobo, or used coupons I shouldn't or where I shouldn't - but there are definitely books that I have purchased in the past that I would never have bought without the coupons.
And I'll take your word for what you are saying about publishers setting the price, because you would certainly know better than I. But I truly have a hard time believing that publishers are setting the prices significantly higher for Kobo than for amazon and other ebook retailers, or for the physical book itself. In the last month, I have purchased two books from Kobo. Both books were priced at 16.99 on Kobo. On amazon, the ebook version was priced at 9.99. An online bookstore I buy from frequently had the physical paper book priced at 8.49. I have a hard time believing that Kobo has nothing to do with the price of those books and that their price is almost double amazon's purely because of the publisher (or author). Because I was able to use the amazon version to price match, the books came down a price I would pay - but even at that, I would have been better off buying the physical book, as it would have been cheaper. Had I not wanted these books on my ereader for traveling purposes, I actually would have bought the physical book instead. I don't expect to get all my ebooks for .99 - authors etc. have to make a living. I can even understand the ebook and the physical book being priced the same. But I cannot understand Kobo pricing an ebook at almost double another ebook retailer and double the price of the physical book. With prices like that, why would I keep buying from Kobo?

[Lynx-lynx]

It always seemed to me that Kobo charged higher prices for a great bulk of their ebooks expressly because they gave away discount codes through their monthly Contest and other promos.

Kobo no longer has monthly Contests, and only seems to have specific list promos (which are useless for my tastes). Instead Kobo has introduced price matching and the points system.

Price matching has no interest for me because it means I've spent more money than I could have in the first place, and means that the money refunded is sitting in a Kobo account and not my pocket. Neither does the points system interest me.

So, for me, Kobo has lost a bulk of my purchases because Amazon is cheaper and my library has the paper or ebook copy of a bulk of my next in series reads.

[Fbone]

Kobo continues to send me 90% off codes that are invalid.

Removing the book during checkout doesn't really remove the book.

[Lynx-lynx]

Originally Posted by Fbone

Kobo continues to send me 90% off codes that are invalid.

Removing the book during checkout doesn't really remove the book.

fbone what does that mean .....

After I've tested a code then I either go back a screen or close the payment screen, but I don't have any problems re-testing a code on another book. If the code you're being sent by Kobo is invalid it's because it's been used before and they haven't 'refreshed' it to be used again.

[ferrywoman]

I don't know if it's the same case with Fbone, but for the past couple of weeks, removing a book from my cart at checkout gives me this error: "Oops! We couldn’t add this item to your cart." Go figure.

[Fbone]

Yes, the book still is in your cart when you go back to the homepage. I need to open cart and remove again.

[Lynx-lynx]

Oh okay, I never use the cart, I use the "Buy Now" method.

[Susan A]

Interesting -- the $5 credit to accounts that expired April 18. I purchased a book that cost $2.99. The balance of that transaction is still in my account.

[Lynx-lynx]

None of the accounts started under that $5 promo worked for my relatives or friends. They're still waiting on the $5 to appear against their account, and none of them are going to use their account to buy a book until/unless the $5 appears!

[ferrywoman]

I think Susan A was referring to the mysterious $5 credit that appeared in some (probably dormant) accounts a few weeks back. There was an e-mail sent for that to the lucky ones.

[Lynx-lynx]

Yeah, I think that might be it. I also got one of those.

[ferrywoman]

Oh, I thought you were talking about the $5 sign-up promo. My bad.

But it's really irresponsible of Kobo to habitually send out non-working, "already used" coupon codes (is it so hard for their system to verify these codes?) and e-mails about store credits apparently added to but missing in accounts. Such in bad form. There are so many problems, I get confused which ones are being talked about.

[Lynx-lynx]

Oh but I mentioned both (imagine head smack!!)

I've been as confusing as Kobo!

[Lynx-lynx]

Kobo US is having a '1 day only sale' with prices starting at $1.99. (Sending from phone so can't check it out and no links )