Sainsbury's ebook store bites the dust

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

I think they do put in plenty of thought and consideration. Not to the extent of ensuring that the new store sells the sort of book you like to buy - which would be pretty hard - but there are legal issues such as data protection. If you look at the way Sainsbury's worded things:



I think you can see that you can opt out if you want to, and if you opt in there are Ts&Cs specific to Kobo.

Stores have simply closed down in the past without transferring customers and books elsewhere haven't they? What happened then?

I haven't received anything from Sainsbury's, not even to tell me they are closing. I do have an account with them but that's obviously not enough of a reason to contact me.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I haven't received anything from Sainsbury's, not even to tell me they are closing. I do have an account with them but that's obviously not enough of a reason to contact me.

Is the email address on your account valid? Have you checked your spam filters to see whether their emails have been caught by that? You should have had three separate emails from them by now.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Is the email address on your account valid? Have you checked your spam filters to see whether their emails have been caught by that? You should have had three separate emails from them by now.

Yes my email is valid, I use it everyday, and yes i've checked Spam, not there. And i've chased them twice. I get the standard response, we are still sending out emails and you should hear by the 11th November. That email turns up without any issues.

It's more the principal now than anything.

[Josieb1]

I've just logged into Sainsbury's Entertainment. (After selecting ebooks). My account exists under the correct email address.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

So there's actually a single point of failure in the whole ecosystem - Adobe. What happens if [...] their servers are turned off?

Adobe did turn off some DRM servers. You have something like a six month windows to migrate your DRMed PDFs, or you lost access.

[Little.Egret]

I too was ex-Fictionwise. and ex-Nook and I have just transferred from Sainsbury's Entertainment to Kobo. All of three books.

Can anyone give me a run down on Kobo as a UK ebook vendor ?

I checked various recent purchases and Kindle was cheaper on every one and some were not available.

Of course I got many of these /because/ Amazon was discounting them.

I see (Tor) At the Sign of Triumph by David Weber at £10.44 at Amazon & Google, £10.99 at Apple, £13.91 at Kobo.

Is this representative?

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

I too was ex-Fictionwise. and ex-Nook and I have just transferred from Sainsbury's Entertainment to Kobo. All of three books.

Can anyone give me a run down on Kobo as a UK ebook vendor ?

I checked various recent purchases and Kindle was cheaper on every one and some were not available.

Of course I got many of these /because/ Amazon was discounting them.

I see (Tor) At the Sign of Triumph by David Weber at £10.44 at Amazon & Google, £10.99 at Apple, £13.91 at Kobo.

Is this representative?

(Waves from across the river in Hampton)

It used to be representative, but it is pretty uncommon nowadays. They all track each other's prices fairly closely IME.

However, Kobo also have a price matching guarantee. If you buy from Kobo, find it elsewhere for less, Kobo will give you credit for the difference +10%. This way they're effectively always cheaper.

The price matching guarantee link is at the bottom of the (very long, so keep scrolling) home page.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

(Waves from across the river in Hampton)

It used to be representative, but it is pretty uncommon nowadays. They all track each other's prices fairly closely IME.

However, Kobo also have a price matching guarantee. If you buy from Kobo, find it elsewhere for less, Kobo will give you credit for the difference +10%. This way they're effectively always cheaper.

The price matching guarantee link is at the bottom of the (very long, so keep scrolling) home page.

Thanks

https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/p/pricematch-about

Rakuten Kobo Inc. will issue a credit to your Kobo account in an amount equal to the difference in cost between the competitor’s advertised price and your Kobo purchase price (excluding taxes), plus 10% of the competitor’s price.

2.The advertised product must be identical to the purchased product (same ISBN for eBooks, or same volume and issue for digital magazines);
==

Hmm.

Anyone tried ?

Kindle against ePub would be a different ISBN and VAT on the difference ignored


£10.44 at Amazon & Google so £8.70 + 20% VAT
£13.91 at Kobo so £11.59 +VAT
so £3.47 more

store credit £2.89 + £0.87 = £3.76

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

I checked various recent purchases and Kindle was cheaper on every one and some were not available.

As well as price matching, Kobo issue discount codes. Not all books can be discounted, as some publishers forbid discounting. See this thread, first post for current codes, end of thread for latest news/gossip.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Anyone tried ?

Kindle against ePub would be a different ISBN and VAT on the difference ignored


£10.44 at Amazon & Google so £8.70 + 20% VAT
£13.91 at Kobo so £11.59 +VAT
so £3.47 more

store credit £2.89 + £0.87 = £3.76

As long as it is clearly the same edition of the book, they will also price match against the Kindle version. Many of my price matches have been against the Kindle version, and Kobo has never rejected my refund claims.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

As well as price matching, Kobo issue discount codes. Not all books can be discounted, as some publishers forbid discounting. See this thread, first post for current codes, end of thread for latest news/gossip.

Thanks.

I have only recently realised that Tor and Baen allow discounting.

So with the aid of discount codes

1 At the Sign of Triumph
By: David Weber In Library £3.48
PAYMENT METHOD:
Grand Total: £3.48
Receipt Number: ------------
Billed To:


SUBTOTAL £12.17
PROMO CODE £8.69
STORE CREDIT £3.48


GRAND TOTAL
£3.48
==

[theaccountant]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

I've just logged into Sainsbury's Entertainment. (After selecting ebooks). My account exists under the correct email address.

This is the reply I got from Sainsbury Entertainment

Thanks for your reply and apologies for the confusion.

After searching your account I can see you have not actually purchased any eBooks from us and had none transferred over from Nook.

Given the transfer is only for eBooks purchased from us, I suspect you will not be receiving any transfer email. We will however be sending the 3rd and final transfer emails on Monday/Tuesday so keep an eye out for it possibly coming.

I appreciate you taking the time to get in touch.

Kind regards,

Anthony
Sainsbury's Entertainment Team

Alas I'm not impressed.

[theaccountant]

From Techcruch

Kobo says that existing customers who have purchased e-books from Sainsbury’s will be able to transfer these books to a Kobo library to continue reading and owning them. Those who were already customers will get notified by Sainsbury’s by October 25 with a unique code and instructions of what to do to continue accessing their existing libraries. Sainsbury’s will be completely discontinuing its service on December 1.

“We look forward to welcoming Sainsbury’s customers to read with Kobo. They will be able to cherish the books they currently have for years to come as well as add new ones with personalised recommendations and expert selections to suit each and every booklover,” said Michael Tamblyn, President and Chief Executive Officer, Rakuten Kobo, in a statement.

So clearly i dont exist as a client

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by theaccountant

This is the reply I got from Sainsbury Entertainment


Alas I'm not impressed.

Are they mistaken that you don't have anything to transfer?

[theaccountant]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

Are they mistaken that you don't have anything to transfer?

No i dont have anything to transfer but i am still a client.