04-17-2012, 01:37 PM | #1 |
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Geographical Restrictions Question
I'm a bit confused about geographical restrictions. I understand some books can only be purchased in one country or another. What I don't understand is why a book can be purchased from one vendor but not from a second vendor.
Specific example: The Malady in Maderia by Ann Bridge I can purchase this ebook from Amazon but not from Kobo. I thought I finally found some books I wanted to buy from Kobo that were not agency books but then learned: "Sorry, but due to publisher restrictions this book is not available in your location". Is this because Kobo is based in Canada? If so, is there any way for those in the US to purchase? This is the first time I've been affected by geographical restrictions and I would like to have a clearer understanding of the subject. |
04-17-2012, 01:41 PM | #2 |
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Maybe the person at publisher who uploaded the book(s) screwed up the restrictions at one site or another? I know that's happened before.
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04-17-2012, 09:33 PM | #3 |
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You should not be able to buy it from any vendor. Like AnemicOak said, there have been times that people have checked the wrong box for distribution. 1984 (sorry Harry) is the most prominent example of this.
I would buy it and save it to your computer before someone corrects the mistake. It is pretty easy to get around geographic restrictions. There are entire topics on the subject. Check in the Kobo forums. If you don't see a topic then post the question. |
04-17-2012, 09:52 PM | #4 | |
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Quote:
In what country, if any, are they legal to sell? And, by the way, how do you know this? How does one figure this out? Thanks for the reply and help. |
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04-17-2012, 09:59 PM | #5 |
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A little more checking shows that this book is available to US customers from Sony, B&N and Books On Board as well as from Amazon.
Also if you look at the publish date on Kobo it says August 2017 while other places say the ebook came out in 2011 so I wonder if that 2017 date typo is somehow screwing things up on Kobo. You can try contacting Kobo CS if you must purchase from Kobo (as opposed to another seller) and see if they can straighten it out, but don't hold your breath in my experience they have the worst CS of any retailer. Other books published by "Bloomsbury Reader" can be purchased by US readers from Kobo, but they all have dates that aren't years in the future. Last edited by AnemicOak; 04-17-2012 at 10:03 PM. |
04-17-2012, 10:01 PM | #6 |
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04-17-2012, 11:15 PM | #7 |
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Some vendors don't sell it outside a select number of countries. For example, B&N only sells to US and Canada, iTunes to some 20+ countries (my country isn't one of them).
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04-17-2012, 11:21 PM | #8 |
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The main reason I wanted to buy from Kobo is I have some good Kobo coupon codes and that's one of the few authors I'm interested in who isn't agency and has books at Kobo. It's curious to me why I can buy some of her books but not others.
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04-18-2012, 02:42 AM | #9 |
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Only because he said it wasn't available from Kobo due to, what sounded like, geographic restrictions. If a book is geographically restricted with one store it is normally restricted at all stores.
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04-18-2012, 02:46 AM | #10 |
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Often just publisher incompetence.
For all they whine about Amazon they are rubbish at availability elsewhere. |
04-18-2012, 08:55 AM | #11 |
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Based on everyone's responses, it seems to me that this is an error, probably due to the incorrect publication date (thanks for pointing that out AnemicOak).
I have emailed Kobo customer service and received confirmation that they received it so now I'll wait to see if they actually respond and maybe correct the problem. |
04-18-2012, 11:30 PM | #12 |
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I haven't heard anything from Kobo but when I checked their catalog again, the four books which had a 2017 publication date are no longer listed. Maybe someone actually read my email about the issue. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the books will reappear with a correct date and that I can actually purchase them.
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10-04-2012, 02:27 AM | #13 |
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I was disappointed in when both of 2 different series of books I've been reading suddenly has the geographic restrictions (GR) tagged on the final and conclusion of these series. I've been waiting for them for so long and when they finally came out I couldn't even purchase it! I've searched all available e-book stores websites because sometimes if I'm lucky a book that has GR tagged from one bookstore, BOB for eg. is available in all countries in another e-book store.
But that is not the case this time so I tried the gift card route. I created a new account on one of the e-books store and with my old account I bought a gift card and sent it to my new account. And surprise, surprise it worked. I was able to purchase both books. Now this is where my guilty conscience kicks in, when I created the new account I hid my IP address and fill in an hotel address based in US. But I was surprised that I could sign in to the new account and purchased the books with the gift cards without an anonymous IP. Am I doing the right thing here? I'll try to replace the address and fill in with a virtual US address instead. Anyone knows where I could get one without paying an exorbitant fee? On a side note I'm so happy I could finally purchase those books. Last edited by sydneycat1999; 10-04-2012 at 02:28 AM. Reason: spelling mistakes |
10-04-2012, 02:46 AM | #14 |
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Personally, I have no issue to what you are doing. Geo restrictions are without doubt the most ridiculous aspect of how the BPH's conduct their antiquated business practices. This impost is certainly one of the big barriers that encourage casual piracy amongst ebook readers.
You have purchased the ebooks, the author gets paid, the publisher gets their substantive cut and you did not have to resort to less savoury means to get the end books for a series you have been reading. Enjoy your purchased ebooks! |
10-04-2012, 02:51 AM | #15 |
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I can't say for certain but I think the vendors have the gift card route partly so it is possible to circumvent geo-restrictions. They are interested in selling eBooks, they don't care where in the world you are. A German publisher will have the distribution rights for the printed translation so sending an English version of the pBook isn't really any violation of their distribution rights.
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