Kobo Discounts: Coupon Codes + Discussion

[sufue]

And Kobo US has a B1G1 sale on selected books ending Jan 11, with categories of "Heart-Stopping Romance", "Thrilling Mysteries", "Page-Turning Fiction" and "Fascinating Nonfiction". Base prices aren't bad.
Link is: https://store.kobobooks.com/p/BOGOus

Also at Kobo US, a 30% off selected box sets sale with promo code BOX30, also through Jan 11. Categories are "Unputdownable Thrillers", "Sizzling Romance" and "Captivating Sci-Fi & Fantasy".
Link is: https://store.kobobooks.com/p/box30

Since I mostly read mysteries (but not thriller-style), I didn't find much in the "Box Set" sale, but did find some good authors (IMO) in the B1G1 sale. Anyway, YMMV on this one....

Added edit: And there seem to be similar sales also at Kobo Canada, if you are signed into the Canada store, with (at first glance) very similar lists.
B1G1: https://store.kobobooks.com/p/BOGOca
Box Set 30%: https://store.kobobooks.com/p/box30

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

kobo UK is advertising a 'from 99p' sale, ends 11 Jan:

Bestsellers: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/li...bsQdfQjS_xSc9g
Great read: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/li...rc-veQjS_xSxaA
New Year, new you: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/li...H8eBkgjS_xTNhw
New series: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/li...AcMR1gjS_xSLrQ
Debut: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/li...t8Q6hgjS_xTAtw

[lkmiller]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

This is how I expected it to work. tdanzie's credit was based on the price before coupon.

Me too! If Kobo had actually price matched the after coupon price in that case, tdanzie would have owed Kobo! Do they have you enter the Kobo price in the request form and not check this against what you really paid?

[lkmiller]

Here's another US sale, "From 99 cents - Grow your library for less":

https://store.kobobooks.com/p/kobo-next-for-less

[peachiekene]

I've already used this, but sometimes you can reuse them...

Kobo sent me a "we miss you" 90% coupon.

5YWQCA

Hope it works for someone else.

[ottdmk]

Interesting. We seem to have two ways of doing the price match. If your coupon reduces the price paid to below the competitor's price, Kobo bases the price match on the price before discount. If the coupon doesn't lower the final price below the competitor's, the price match is based on the price after discount.

Obviously, the first scenario is preferable, if you can manage it. The second is more sustainable from Kobo's point of view. Given that the price matching form uses your purchase receipt, I think Kobo will tighten things up and eliminate the first scenario. (Which makes sense to me. Why should they price match when the customer has already paid less then at the competition? )

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by ottdmk

Interesting. We seem to have two ways of doing the price match. If your coupon reduces the price paid to below the competitor's price, Kobo bases the price match on the price before discount. If the coupon doesn't lower the final price below the competitor's, the price match is based on the price after discount.

Obviously, the first scenario is preferable, if you can manage it. The second is more sustainable from Kobo's point of view. Given that the price matching form uses your purchase receipt, I think Kobo will tighten things up and eliminate the first scenario. (Which makes sense to me. Why should they price match when the customer has already paid less then at the competition? )

Right now it probably depends on who answers the CS call/email. It will probably change and become standardized.

[samhy]

As a surprise, there is no price match in France. Although it wouldn't be too difficult to implement since they are required by law to do so for all the books released by French publishers.
Where the price tends to differ is for foreign books... so I really hope to see that one day (but more likely it will be like the reward plan, )

[Chapter One]

Is the contest running late? I wouldn't be overly surprised if they've decided to do away with it.
I still haven't received the Kobo I won 2 months ago. Must email them again.

[Blue2u]

Originally Posted by Chapter One

Is the contest running late? I wouldn't be overly surprised if they've decided to do away with it.
I still haven't received the Kobo I won 2 months ago. Must email them again.

Until last month the contest tended towards the end of the month. Last month it was over before Christmas IIRC. I wasn't really expecting one until next week, but I guess we'll find out in the next couple of weeks if there's going to be another one.



In the meantime, have any of you seen this? Refer a friend get $10?


Showed up for me [Canada] today, you have to be logged in to see the offer and it shows up beside the 'get the daily deal' flag.

[ferrywoman]

My "Price Match" experience has been…wildly different.

Bought a series I had my eye on. One of the books was U$4.49 (VIP). Used the 90% miss-you coupon sent to me last week. Later saw the author had tweeted, just hours before, book was $0.99 on Kindle (just my luck). Checked Nook and iBooks—$1.99. Sent a Price Match request with the Amazon link.

Credited $0.45.

All told, it appears to be a reimbursement since that's what the book cost me. Chalking it up to pricing error, perhaps? I'm trying to decide if I want the headache that will surely come with questioning this.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by ferrywoman

My "Price Match" experience has been…wildly different.

Bought a series I had my eye on. One of the books was U$4.49 (VIP). Used the 90% miss-you coupon sent to me last week. Later saw the author had tweeted, just hours before, book was $0.99 on Kindle (just my luck). Checked Nook and iBooks—$1.99. Sent a Price Match request with the Amazon link.

Credited $0.45.

All told, it appears to be a reimbursement since that's what the book cost me. Chalking it up to pricing error, perhaps? I'm trying to decide if I want the headache that will surely come with questioning this.

My guess is that they won't refund more than you paid. Even Kobo doesn't want to pay you to read its books. It's a shame about the coupon, though.

If it were me, I'd chalk it up. Dealing with Kobo CS is no fun and you've got no guarantee they'll increase your credit. You have to put a value on your time.

[Rev. Bob]

I'm testing the price match with an agency book I've been wanting for a few months. Turns out there's a nice range of prices on it - Kobo at 7.99, Amazon at 7.49, and Google Play at 6.99 - so I submitted the Play price for a match. I'm curious to see if I'll get any of my sales tax back.

What really has me twitchy is when there's a huge price difference. For example, the seventh Nikki Heat book is $9.45 at Amazon and a whopping $21.59 ($19.43 after VIP) at Kobo. Neither one's a wonderful price, but getting $11.92 off to make my net price $7.51 would almost be worthwhile. That's kind of a big amount to risk, though...

Hmm. Actually, with price matching, it looks like VIP membership is more of a liability than a benefit. The non-VIP final price in that example is only $7.29. I wonder what effect a price match has on earned points?

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Hmm. Actually, with price matching, it looks like VIP membership is more of a liability than a benefit. The non-VIP final price in that example is only $7.29. I wonder what effect a price match has on earned points?

I did a price match on a book that was on publisher special at $1.99, but the Kobo NZ store was still showing the old price of $16.37 (VIP). I got a $16.02 credit about 12 hours later, and it looks like I get to keep the super points I received from the original price.

If I wasn't a VIP I would have originally paid $18.19 and received a $18.02 credit, so I would have been $0.18 better off in that way, but as a VIP I got an extra 160 super points instead, and if I put those 160 super points toward my next year's VIP membership I will save $0.40, so to my mind I come out of it a little bit ahead by being a VIP, but for others it would depend on how they value the super points.

I don't know who loses out here, Kobo or the publisher; and I don't know whose fault it was that the price wasn't updated at the Kobo NZ store, Kobo or the publisher. I do hope that whoever was at fault is the one who loses out though.

[Rev. Bob]

Thanks for the report, Geoff.

It occurs to me that if I were in charge of setting up a price match system with the known Kobo inputs and results, I'd set up the submission form to fetch a copy of the web page at the submitted URL and attach it to the report. That way, it avoids the possibility of expiring deals. Attaching a copy of the Kobo invoice (via order number) would make the agent's job dirt simple - look at the two attachments, pull out a calculator, do the math, issue the credit, notify the customer. Making an intranet page for the agent's use - plug in competitor price, check a box to verify you looked at the screenshot, and submit - would bring the task down to "half-decayed zombie" complexity.

[lkmiller]

Honestly, I'm stunned they're issuing any credit in cases were the price paid was already less than the competitor's price.