Touch Best way to get Kobo touch in Australia?

[maxlawman]

I'm in Queensland - ordered a Touch last night, and received a shipping confirmation (but with no tracking number) this afternoon.

[Rowski]

First post on MobileRead, but a lurker on this thread and the "Volcanoes" thread.

After all these posts, I still haven't the foggiest idea on the best way to get a KoboTouch in Australia. I'm glad most people here have had recent success ordering from Borders.com, but I'm now extremely wary of ordering through that website with all the talk of it folding within days. No mention at all of it going under on the website itself, though - I don't know what to think.

Special thanks to portablejim for maintaining the table of orders/deliveries, very helpful in estimating delivery times.
(assuming Borders.com doesn't just evaporate soon)

Anyone have any success ordering from Chapters Indigo? One person mentioned they wouldn't deliver to Australia, but they also said the same thing about Borders in the same post, and that has since been proven wrong.

Borders Australia is still pretending the Kobo Touch doesn't exist and the wildly overpriced Wifi version is completely "out of stock". I will be shocked if the Touch appears there for less than $200 anytime soon. Do they think we can't see the rest of the internet? Do they not want our money?

What do I do? I want to buy two of them! I'm trying to spend about $300 AUD here and have to jump through hoops with crappy websites and US mailing address rubbish! Throw me a freakin' bone here... Or in the words of Phillip J. Fry, "Shut up and take my money!"

*Sigh* Rant over... I'll get one eventually, I guess

[molman]

@Rowski

I'm one of those people who just ordered two from Borders.com with success, but admittedly this was prior to Borders liquidation being confirmed.

As I see it your options are;

1. Order from Borders.com (some people seem to be mentioning issues, or alluding that it won't now work, but all you can do is try). Worst case if something happens and you don't get the goods most CC companies can do a reverse charge. Perhaps talk to you CC provider first if your unsure.

2. Try and order from Indigo/Chapters. They were shipping to AU before, but unsure now. Again all you can do is try, or email/contact them first if you like. From memory it was a little more $ from them.

3. Look for other avenues like eBay etc.. though I haven't seen them show up there yet.

4. Wait for AU release (whenever that may be?). You could try contacting Kobo to find out what is going on?

5. Buy a Kindle or something else..

[Asawi]

Originally Posted by molman

@Rowski


3. Look for other avenues like eBay etc.. though I haven't seen them show up there yet.

There is at least one seller who sells them for $160 with $40 international shipping. Not too bad. More than from Borders, but probably about the same or less than from one of the mailforwarders.

[Ozman]

You can get the Kobo wifi from ebay for about USD$90-95 + $17 for 1st class U.S.P.S. shipping.

For those who are not interested in a Kobo touch.

[danskmacabre]

FWIW, I looked into ordering a KT from the UK.
I partially went through the procedure on the borders site, but backed out as I remembered the pending Liquidation.

I then checked out buying it from the Canadian chapters site, but it didn't work.
I rang them and they said they don't accept foreign credit cards.

Thereafter I asked a friend in the USA to buy one direct from Borders (he went into the store and bought it) for me and send it over via post.
I have it now and it was delivered within 5 working days.

I have since noticed on the UK ebay site you can buy it and it's not too expensive.

If it were me now, I'd go down the ebay route (check the seller ratings first of course).
I wouldn't trust an online transaction with Borders now.

[Nakaleen]

Looking at www.kobobooks.com under where to buy, there is a company called www.frys.com that also sells them. Looking at there website they say they ship internationally

International Shipping Methods
We quickly ship international orders just about anywhere in the world for very reasonable rates. Frys.com ships product internationally 48-72 hours plus additional time for local customs clearance. Shipments weighing more than 70 lbs. will ship as freight and not express. The service commitment is usually 3-4 business days longer than express. Unfortunately, we cannot ship international orders via U.S. Mail. Delivery time depends on product availability and shipping address. Orders shipped to an address different from the billing address will be delayed for verification (usually one extra day).

Has anyone tried them? (searched this thread any others in Kobo readers here but find no mention of them)

[TedJ]

Looks like Frys don't currently have any stock... pre-order only.

[TBBle]

Originally Posted by TBBle

I saw this thread but was a little worried, but I ordered a black Kobo Touch from Borders.com on Friday evening (AEST) and got an email from them on Saturday afternoon (Friday evening their time, I guess?) saying it was on its way.

Mine arrived today. Sure enough, from Frankfurt. So I make it 20 calendar days, or 15 work days. (The above-referenced Friday was 1st July)

If I had to make a guess, DHL takes all their standard mail stuff destined for Australia from the US to Frankfurt on their own network (presumably that's a route that has spare capacity) and then dumps it into the postal system from there. Maybe Germany has particularly cheap international postage?

[HarleyB]

Mine arrived today too!
I ordered on July 5th (in the evening AUS time) and received my shipped email dated July 5th on the afternoon of July 6th here. That is only 17 days or 13 work days.
I really feel for those poor people who had to wait almost 4 weeks.

[TBBle]

Maybe they get batched together and processed weekly at some point in the process?

[HarleyB]

Originally Posted by TBBle

Maybe they get batched together and processed weekly at some point in the process?

Either that or they ran out of stock and had a little break for almost 2 weeks.

If you look at portablejim's table there was a flurry of arrivals in the week from the 29th June to the 6th July and then nothing until the 18th. Since the 18th they have been arriving daily again.

[Nakaleen]

Seems Swindon Books also sells them but a bit more pricey ($1,390hk or $164au) can't find any info about shipping to Australia yet.

[Ornor]

This is my first message, having just joined. I read this string with great interest because I ordered a Kobo Touch from Borders.com, was told it was on its way on 11 July and then was concerned because the address showed only AU rather than Australia. When I queried this I simply got stock standard responses on the time it takes to come, but DHL here in Melbourne told me that AU is their code for Australia, so I'm hoping it does indeed arrive safely.

It is my first e-reader, as well as my first attempt to order something from the US, so I'm really pleased to have found this forum.

I see from another that some people are having problems uploading from Calibre, where I have been storing some books getting ready for the arrival of my Kobo. Can anyone advise if it is better simply to download books from the Mobile Read site onto the computer and then drag them into the Kobo?

Thanks for any advice you can give to a "new chum".

[Techbar]

Originally Posted by Ornor

.....was concerned because the address showed only AU rather than Australia. When I queried this I simply got stock standard responses on the time it takes to come, but DHL here in Melbourne told me that AU is their code for Australia, so I'm hoping it does indeed arrive safely.

I got the same thing on my order (NZ instead of New Zealand on the website) but the address label on the packet had it in full so there's no need to worry!