Kobo Discounts: Coupon Codes + Discussion

[JoHunt]

Is there a secret to generating new codes? I've set up new email accounts and new Kobo accounts but no codes are ever sent

[murg]

Originally Posted by joehunt

Is there a secret to generating new codes? I've set up new email accounts and new Kobo accounts but no codes are ever sent

I'm not getting codes either...

[sufue]

Originally Posted by murg

Interesting. I just looked at my coupons. The FRIEND and FRNDM/FRNDN coupons worked. None of the FRND (with the fifth character not being M or N) have worked.

Also, the FRIEND/FRNDM/FRNDM codes were issued sequentially, while the latest batches of FRND codes are in a random order.

Makes you wonder if Kobo wasn't expecting the response they got. They ran out of the expected coupon sequences, so had to cobble up something quickly and got it half right (they are issuing the coupons, but aren't recognising them).

I had a similar thought - about Kobo running out of codes, but I thought maybe they sent out ones intended for the later time period(s), or maybe the ones intended for the bouncebacks (not that I've seen any bouncebacks...)

FWIW my one remaining "FRIEND" code, which didn't work last night, still doesn't work this morning. However my two "FRND" codes test as good...

[murg]

Originally Posted by murg

I'm not getting codes either...

I'm starting to think that there is a set of criteria where a referring email address will not work anymore to generate codes.

[murg]

Originally Posted by sufue

FWIW my one remaining "FRIEND" code, which didn't work last night, still doesn't work this morning. However my two "FRND" codes test as good...

FRIEND is so last week...

FRND is where the groovy kids are now...

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by bgalbrecht

For those of you who are authors, when I use a coupon here, how does that affect the author's royalties? Does it matter whether the book is self-published vs. a publishing house?

It depends on the promotion. I can't speak to the traditional published books. I don't know if those are sponsored by the publishers at all or if Kobo takes the hit. For self-published, the coupons that come from Trivia: Authors get their full commissions. I believe the "sponsorship" for that actually comes from the books/publishers in the trivia.

For some of the "from this list only" type of promo, that often comes from the author. But the author agrees to the promo ahead of time so you're really okay either way. It's a joint effort with Kobo and believe me, I'm thrilled they offer such a program because they wouldn't have to include indie authors at all.

For the "we missed you" type coupons, that is a Kobo sponsored effort so far as I know.

These things are also fluid and the rules can change (they have changed while I have been watching) but that is approximately where they stand today. for asking!

EDITED to add: As far as I know the 90 percent friend thing going on right now is completely Kobo sponsored and is likely a move to generate awareness and new customers. They are supposedly announcing two new readers in the next month-ish so perhaps they will get some new subscribers and be able to let those new subscribers know about the new devices?

[zelda.owns.link]

The FRND codes work on accounts that already used FRIEND codes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JoHunt]

Originally Posted by murg

I'm starting to think that there is a set of criteria where a referring email address will not work anymore to generate codes.

But even a brand spanking new referring email address will not generate any codes.

[murg]

Originally Posted by joehunt

But even a brand spanking new referring email address will not generate any codes.

I generated codes tonight out of a Kobo account that hadn't generated any codes before.

[Kim W]

Could someone PM me a FRND code? One of the books I bought on my buying spree has a technical problem so I was credited $0.60 on one of my burner Kobo accounts. I don't know how I will ever use it without a code and I already used FRIEND codes on that account.

EDIT: Never mind. I contacted Kobo to ask for a replacement coupon and they put the whole $5.99 in my account instead. This would be pretty great to use a bunch of 90% coupons on but there just aren't any more books I want!

[Susan A]

Is there a way to generate FRND codes at this point? All of the accounts and referrals I made, I only have 2

[tempest@de]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

Does Portugal have Gift Cards? How about sending a gift card to your NZ account?

Just curious, are you on the new checkout or the old checkout?

Portugal does not have gift cards, in the past I logged to my account, changed the country to new Zealand, chose the amount off the gift card, proceed to checkout and in the checkout page I changed the country again to the country where I would be buying books, first it was India and recently the US, this way my gift card would be in the currency of the store where I bought, but this time I couldn’t even get to gift card page.

It was always with the new checkout.

I just tried again to refer a friend using the VPN and this time it worked, both with mozzila and chrome, now I'll have to look for what to buy, and if they keep changing the date of expiracy I'm sure I'll find several books to buy

[sufue]

Originally Posted by tempest@de

Portugal does not have gift cards, in the past I logged to my account, changed the country to new Zealand, chose the amount off the gift card, proceed to checkout and in the checkout page I changed the country again to the country where I would be buying books, first it was India and recently the US, this way my gift card would be in the currency of the store where I bought, but this time I couldn’t even get to gift card page.

It was always with the new checkout.

I just tried again to refer a friend using the VPN and this time it worked, both with mozzila and chrome, now I'll have to look for what to buy, and if they keep changing the date of expiracy I'm sure I'll find several books to buy

I just bought a gift card for NZ yesterday, from the US, but as Lynx-lynx mentions in this post, I had to VPN to Australia (my VPN doesn't have a NZ server, so couldn't just "go" there) to get access to the "buy a gift card" page...I wasn't able to access it from the US.

[Susan A]

Can I use paypal with the multitab method?

[Lynx-lynx]

Definitely!