Kobo Discounts: Coupon Codes + Discussion

[ownedbycats]

Yes. Send it to your own email.

[witchkitten]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

I assume the offer everyone is talking about is the one shown here (in the US):

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/p/giftcards

It's advertised as allowing you to send $60 to another person and get $10 for yourself, but is everyone here just using their own account for both the $60 and the $10 credit?

I’ve taken advantage of this deal twice (once over the Christmas holidays when it was $50 and just a few days ago) and both times I sent the gift card to the same email as my kobo account and still received the $10 promo. I did this after someone else on here said that’s what they did and it worked. Others send it to another email address not linked to their Kobo account and then redeem it under their Kobo account but that step appears unnecessary based on my experience.

[Hemmi]

Last time I needed to renew my VIP, I did the gift card promo and used the free $10 to purchase VIP. Otherwise, any Kobo coupon code works on VIP membership.

[Aleron Ives]

How useful is the VIP membership? I almost never buy books at full price, so it doesn't seem like I'd earn enough points to spend them on anything, especially if the points can expire. The 10% off perk doesn't sound like it applies to every book, either.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

How useful is the VIP membership? I almost never buy books at full price, so it doesn't seem like I'd earn enough points to spend them on anything, especially if the points can expire. The 10% off perk doesn't sound like it applies to every book, either.

I think if you keep membership active and buy every so often they don't expire. There's also sales that you can get bonus points. And if book goes on sale, the points need to redeem go down.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

How useful is the VIP membership? I almost never buy books at full price, so it doesn't seem like I'd earn enough points to spend them on anything, especially if the points can expire. The 10% off perk doesn't sound like it applies to every book, either.

I ignore the points when evaluating VIP membership; for me the calculus is if I'd spend enough on non-price fixed books in the course of the year for the 10% discount to offset the price of membership. At full price for VIP membership, spending $100 on non-Big Five books over the course of the year would pay for it. When membership is on sale for $5, it would take $50.

If you buy mostly Big Five, it's going to be much harder to hit the threshold. That said, so long as you maintain a VIP membership, the points don't expire and you get a year with a lapsed membership before they disappear although they can only be used with an active membership.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by issybird

I ignore the points when evaluating VIP membership; for me the calculus is if I'd spend enough on non-price fixed books in the course of the year for the 10% discount to offset the price of membership.

I'm afraid you're talking a bit over my head... are you saying that you only get the 10% discount when you buy indie titles? Is there a way to see how many points you'd get for a specific book before you buy it? By the same token, can you see which books are eligible for the 10% discount when you don't have a VIP membership?

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

I'm afraid you're talking a bit over my head... are you saying that you only get the 10% discount when you buy indie titles? Is there a way to see how many points you'd get for a specific book before you buy it? By the same token, can you see which books are eligible for the 10% discount when you don't have a VIP membership?

The only item I've noticed is at the bottom of the Buy this ebook box, you will see a Get it for xxxx points by becoming a Kobo VIP member.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by DNSB

The only item I've noticed is at the bottom of the Buy this ebook box, you will see a Get it for xxxx points by becoming a Kobo VIP member.

Oddly, points varies a lot even when books are same price. I can't figure it out.

I would love that the points are displayed on wishlist. Alas no.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

I'm afraid you're talking a bit over my head... are you saying that you only get the 10% discount when you buy indie titles? Is there a way to see how many points you'd get for a specific book before you buy it? By the same token, can you see which books are eligible for the 10% discount when you don't have a VIP membership?

The 10% applies to any book not published by the Big Five, not just indie titles. You can tell it will apply if the price on the book is shown as a discount off list. Or, if you're doing a search, you can filter for coupon applicable. If a coupon can be applied, the 10% discount can be also.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

It looks like I might be buying from Kobo in the future. With my buying volume, I suspect that VIP membership is worth it. Are there any current discount codes for membership?

Well, I tried to buy the £60/£70 gift card, and got a mysterious error. So I contacted Customer Service, and they couldn't solve it, even when I switched from Paypal to a direct card transaction, so they escalated it.

And then I got an email from CS with a 90% coupon. So I used that to buy VIP membership for £0.60. And then I tried buying the gift card again, and this time I got a text on my mobile from the bank, saying they'd refused three transactions from Kobo, and were they me? So I said they were, tried to buy it again, and this time it worked.

Why there was a problem with Paypal is a mystery.

But now I have my £60 giftcard applied, and I'm just waiting for the £10 gift to turn up. It looks like my next purchases will be from Kobo. I shall have fun getting price matches, it seems....

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

How useful is the VIP membership? I almost never buy books at full price, so it doesn't seem like I'd earn enough points to spend them on anything, especially if the points can expire. The 10% off perk doesn't sound like it applies to every book, either.

In my experience, it applies to almost every book I've purchased - be it literary or horror.

It's been well worth it for me.

[Hemmi]

I always use PayPal to pay on Kobo. Never had an issue. My credit card doesn't like the repeated small transactions, they flag them as potential fraud.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by issybird

If a coupon can be applied, the 10% discount can be also.

Thank you for the clarification. Checking the coupon box seems to eliminate 95% of the results for any search I do, so I don't think I'd get to apply the discount very often. I'll stick to waiting for regular sales.

[pdurrant]

Just got an email with a 40% discount for VIP members: FEBVIP40

This seems to be multi-use, but may only apply to books on the list at this link:
https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/p/februar...campaign=00003