Kobo Discounts: Coupon Codes + Discussion

[Hemmi]

I think the blackfriday21 code for $5 off. I've used book discount codes on VIP membership before and they work.

[KjellM]

I used the blackfriday21 code for a book on my wishlist that normal discount codes do NOT work on !

[library addict]

I actually got an email from Kobo today about 50% off VIP membership.

VIPDEC

exp 12/17

[Byrdie]

If the blackfriday21 code has not expired and you haven't already used it, it WILL work on a VIP membership. That's how I spent mine the other day.

[icedtea]

^ Code still worked for me yesterday.

[DuskyRose]

Originally Posted by icedtea

^ Code still worked for me yesterday.

Showed as 'expired' for me today.

[davidfor]

Kobo have "Give a $75 eGift, get $20 back" up until the 20th.

I usually use these to give myself the egift card and get the bonus. And based on what they have done for the last two or three years, next week there is likely to be a similar thing but you get points instead.

[library addict]

I'm getting a give $60 get $15.


ETA: But max amount you can buy on their site is $25. I did a chat to ask if I simply need to buy several gift cards for a total of $60. They have escalated my case as they were unable to validate the offer. They have promised to honor the offer if it takes longer than the four days to solve.

[davidfor]

I should have mentioned I was on the Australian site. The amounts might differ depending on where you are. But, I have never had any issues with the values of the egift cards.

[issybird]

Given the UK deal is spend £45, get £10, the deals are all worth roughly a 20% discount. Australia’s a little better, the UK’s a little worse, the US hits it on the nose. I didn’t see a similar promo on the Canadian site, which doesn’t mean it’s not there.

The outlay’s more than I’m willing to spend in one fell swoop, but it’s an excellent deal especially if you like books from the former Agency. Not as good as the deal used to be on the Walmart cards, though.

[library addict]

The offer now reads send $25 get $6.

But I am going to wait and see if they honor the earlier offer for me.

[disconnected]

How do you even find this?

I’ve noticed lately that Kobo seems to be playing with the links/navigation.
I'm signed in and on the https://www.kobo.com home screen I see the offer to give a sixty dollar egift, get fifteen dollars back. There's a button that says send egift card but clicking it takes me to https://www.kobo.com/giftcards, where I can redeem a physical gift card in four easy steps, but not buy an egift card (or a physical one either; I think that's never been possible anyway). Clicking on the big Kobo banner on the top of the screen brings me back to the home screen, although now it shows as https://www.kobo.com/us/en

Resorting to the help function, I found an article called "Send a Kobo eGift Card" where there is a helpful link -- kobo.com/egiftcards, which sends me to a screen that says "Sorry, but this page isn’t available. To see the great Kobo offerings that are available to you, please go to: store.kobobooks.com", but actually sends me back to https://www.kobo.com (I do seem to remember being on store.kobobooks.com when buying ereaders but now the link to browse the ereaders is https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders).

I’ve bought lots of egift cards before and I don’t remember having trouble finding them, although I have run into the twenty-five dollar limit.

Wait a minute. Searching for “egift” on the home screen (either version) brings zero results, but searching on the https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders screen sends me to https://www.kobo.com/us/en/p/giftcards, which does actually offer to sell me an egift card. It has the same sixty dollar banner offer as on the home page and its button sends me where I can buy an egift card……. up to 25.00. I tried putting in 60.00 but got an error message saying the amount must be less than 25.00 (by which they mean no more than 25.00 because it didn’t give me an error message when I put in 25.00).

It may be that the links are some sort of cache problem (I don’t understand that sort of thing all that well, but I did try two browsers) but the twenty-five dollar limit surely has to be just Kobo being Kobo?

As a final check I just went back to https://www.kobo.com. I’m still signed in and now there’s a large blank white area where the offer used to be. Clicking on it still brings me to the redemption page. Trying https://www.kobo.com/us/en now gives me the offer banner but for buy 25.00 get 6.00. Link is still to redemption only screen, but https://www.kobo.com/us/en/p/giftcards does get me back to the buy screen. Which has the banner for the 60/15 deal, but links to the same customize screen, where I can still only enter up to 25.00.

I did carry through with the 25.00 purchase this time, which was actually 9.76 because they first used up my current balance. I’ve never understood why they do that. I would think they’d rather get the whole amount. I’ve redeemed it but I’m not counting on getting the 6.00.

[library addict]

The $25 limit is a US thing. For several years Kobo didn't even sell electronic gift cards on their website for the US as there was a big crackdown/additional rules put in place back in 2013-ish. It's only in the last couple of months they have begun to sell e-gift cards on their website again.

They had a deal over Black Friday weekend if you bought a $25 gift card you got extra points (3000 IIRC). But when you clicked on the offer it took you right to the buy gift card page. Hopefully they will get things straightened out and the correct links working.

Kobo gotta Kobo.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by library addict

Kobo gotta Kobo.

Whew. Well, I finally managed to buy a $25 gc; we’ll see if I get the promotional credit.

In fact, I already had just over $25 credit in my account already, so it cost me absolutely nothing and with luck I’ve been able to churn my account for $6. Not my problem. See above.

Just as an FYI: mrrebates.com still offers 3% back on Kobo purchases. Not a dealbreaker either way, obviously, but it’s something.

[KjellM]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Kobo have "Give a $75 eGift, get $20 back" up until the 20th.

I usually use these to give myself the egift card and get the bonus. And based on what they have done for the last two or three years, next week there is likely to be a similar thing but you get points instead.

Same offer is available in Canada. This is better than getting points ! The usual points offer is 5000 points for purchasing a $60 gc. $20 is more flexible than points (can't use points on all books), and, in Canada at least, $20 is equivalent to 8800 points (for most books).