Aura HD Ouch! Kobo ebook prices!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I've fixed the link. The correct link is...

http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/p-is-for-peril-2

Unless you are in Australia and the link is http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebo...lhone-novel-16. My bet would be that the UK get this one as well. The Kiwi's probably get both.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by darryl

Best to offer competitive prices across the board with coupons and promotions reserved for genuine bargains.

I have to disagree with this idea, if Kobo lowers the headline price then other retailers will simply price match, and Kobo's competitive advantage is lost. By using promo coupons Kobo can sustain a lower actual price without others being able to automatically price match.

The main problem is that there are some publishers who don't allow their books to be discounted, and so in my opinion Kobo need to find other discounting schemes that those publishers can accept.

One way might be not to discount the book itself but to provide a rebate or reward points, so the buyer would pay full retail price for the book but still get an effective discount. OmniLit do this with their 50% rebate scheme. For some reason it seems some publishers are willing to accept this sort of scheme when they won't accept their book being sold at a discount price, even though the customer ends up with a discount anyway.

I would also like to see a loyalty scheme from Kobo, where every book I buy from them gives me points towards a new ereader. The advantage for Kobo is that it is a discount that can't be price-matched automatically, it should be acceptable to publishers who are opposed to discounting the book price, and it gives customers with other devices an incentive to switch to Kobo (and those with Kobo devices to remain with Kobo) when they come to buy their next device. If they don't use their points to switch to a Kobo device, then it has cost Kobo nothing, and if they do switch to or remain with Kobo then it can be counted as a successful promotion.

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by Anak

These kind of 'general' discount coupons (like Perkopolis) could also be used in 'international' Kobo stores but now they seem only redeemable in just a few countries. Probably only the countries that participate in the contest: CA, USA, and UK.

During the last few weeks I got the occasional non-contest code working again in the German store.

[darryl]

@GeoffR. Unfortunately from my limited experience Kobo seems to charge higher prices and the discount coupons where they are available simply bring them down to around what its competitors are charging anyway. If it is in fact consistently cheaper to purchase from Kobo with vouchers than to purchase from Amazon or Google then this seems to have escaped many of us. Some of the examples on this thread certainly indicate otherwise.

What do others think? I would be happy for you to be correct, but the whole premise of this thread seems to be that Kobo is simply not competitive on far too many products. If only Kobo had a competitive advantage to lose!

[Lin2412]

Originally Posted by tigerinexile

Buy elsewhere, load the books onto the Kobo using Calibre.

Google Play books can be managed with ADE easily enough...

Hah! My father will thank you for this. (Technically will thank me.) Awesome. Thanks for the information. I don't use Calibre but it seems it will be fairly necessary that I do.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by darryl

@GeoffR. Unfortunately from my limited experience Kobo seems to charge higher prices and the discount coupons where they are available simply bring them down to around what its competitors are charging anyway. If it is in fact consistently cheaper to purchase from Kobo with vouchers than to purchase from Amazon or Google then this seems to have escaped many of us. Some of the examples on this thread certainly indicate otherwise.

What do others think? I would be happy for you to be correct, but the whole premise of this thread seems to be that Kobo is simply not competitive on far too many products. If only Kobo had a competitive advantage to lose!

That is not my experience in NZ, I find Kobo is typically within 10% of Amazon's or Google's price, so even a 20% coupon makes Kobo cheaper, and a 30% or 35% coupon makes Kobo much cheaper.

Amazon have some big discounts on certain books so you can always find some examples where they are cheaper by a long way, but it is Amazon who chooses which books to dicsount, whereas with Kobo's promo codes I choose (except for two publishers who don't allow discounts.) I'd rather have a 20% discount on a book I want to read than an 80% discount on one I don't.

[darryl]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

That is not my experience in NZ, I find Kobo is typically within 10% of Amazon's or Google's price, so even a 20% coupon makes Kobo cheaper, and a 30% or 35% coupon makes Kobo much cheaper.

Amazon have some big discounts on certain books so you can always find some examples where they are cheaper by a long way, but it is Amazon who chooses which books to dicsount, whereas with Kobo's promo codes I choose (except for two publishers who don't allow discounts.) I'd rather have a 20% discount on a book I want to read than an 80% discount on one I don't.

I looked at a sample of ebooks I was proposing to buy when I first came across the discount coupons thread some time ago. At that time I was quite shocked by the difference in prices. So your experience has not been my experience so far, but I have certainly not made a detailed study of the matter or looked at it again recently. Based on your comments I will have a closer look in the future. Thanks. In the meantime, does anyone else care to comment?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

I have to disagree with this idea, if Kobo lowers the headline price then other retailers will simply price match, and Kobo's competitive advantage is lost. By using promo coupons Kobo can sustain a lower actual price without others being able to automatically price match.

I realize that a lot of folks have come to terms with the coupon method of price competition at Kobo, but -- personally -- I just don't like it. I pretty much have the attitude ... "if that's the price they're asking, I'll go elsewhere." This is probably one of my biggest problems with dealing with Kobo and it's why I buy so little from them. I don't like to dicker over prices. I compare, but I compare the advertised prices ... not the price I might be able to get it for if I can find a coupon code that will work. I guess I just wish the process was more straightforward.

[samhy]

Originally Posted by Anak

In general, Kobo should pay more attention to international customers and countries: countries of which the official language is not English.
Not just by adding new countries to participate in a (monthly) contest - if permitted under local regulations and laws - but offer (attractive) discounts on book titles in their native language as most customers prefer to read in their native language.
For example: I have not yet seen or found any discount coupon code or special offer that was issued for an 'important' or 'national day' in let's say France, Germany, Spain or The Netherlands. Like Canada day for Canada, or the 4th of July for the USA.[/LIST]

That's because it's against the law in many European countries. So the publisher is the one setting the price. The publisher -and only the publisher- is free to change a book price (a one-day deal, for instance), then all the book sellers will apply this new price.
That's why the books that are eligible to a discount are the ones published outside the country. I was able to get a discount on an ebook written in French because it was published by a Canadian company.

Edit: bold part for emphasis

[Anak]

@samhy. The Wikipedia page is about FBA for printed books not ebooks.
In The Netherlands there is no fixed price agreement for ebooks as there is for printed books.
I decided to look it up. There are no fixed ebook prices in Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, and Portugal but these countries do have a FPA on printed books.
Countries not mentioned in the report do not have a FPA for print and ebooks. I.e.: Belgium.

Source: Global Fixed Book Price Report


In the The Netherlands there is a de facto fixed book price for ebooks as all booksellers list their book titles at the MSRP. The main reasons are

1. lack of competition among (online) booksellers. Why? See b)
2. by habit, as there is a fixed book price scheme in place for print; and silently apply this scheme to ebooks is good for the bottom line.
3. maybe there is some pressure from publishers or agreement with publishers not to compete openly on price.

Note: c) that's why discount coupons are convenient. To offer silent discounts.

[filmo]

Maybe Amazon is large enough to get price deals from publishers or sell at lower prices until some of the competition is eliminated. This seemed to work in USA.

[Lynx-lynx]

A further example of inexplicable price difference between Kobo Aus and Amazon Aus:

Author: Kerry Greenwood
Phyrne Fisher mysteries series

Kobo
Cocaine Blues (bk 1)
$15.49
In fact whole series seems $15.49

Amazon:
Cocaine Blues: $10.92
In fact whole series mainly between $10 and $11 with exception of a couple between $11 and $12.

[Lynx-lynx]

Another example: Peter Corris' Cliff Hardy PI series

Kobo
whole series seems to be $13.19, with the exception of No 3 & no 4 both $1.99 (Amazon $1.89 for both).

Amazon
Bulk of the series between $8 and $9, and some between $10 and $12.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I realize that a lot of folks have come to terms with the coupon method of price competition at Kobo, but -- personally -- I just don't like it. I pretty much have the attitude ... "if that's the price they're asking, I'll go elsewhere." This is probably one of my biggest problems with dealing with Kobo and it's why I buy so little from them. I don't like to dicker over prices. I compare, but I compare the advertised prices ... not the price I might be able to get it for if I can find a coupon code that will work. I guess I just wish the process was more straightforward.

In New Zealand Kobo prices are in the local currency, while most other retailers including Amazon charge in foreign currency, so if I buy from amazon I have to calculate how much I am going to get charged using a currency converter, plus how much extra I will be charged in foreign currency transaction fees by my bank. Kobo promo codes are simple by comparison.

[Lynx-lynx]

I'm not overly keen on the idea of buying a Kobo book (or series) that is priced dearer than Amazon on the basis that I'll have a code to bring the price down.

Not all that many ebooks in Aus are discountable , so codes don't work anyway.

Also, Aus is officially excluded from entering the Contest, and although the Contest codes worked on Aus discountable ebooks, Kobo stopped that maybe 4 months ago now.

Also a code is single use, that is for use on one book only, so it means waiting around until you've got a code before you can buy a discountable book.

Further, it's useless when Kobo emails codes to be used with a particular list because the book/s you want to buy won't be on the list.

In the two examples of Kobo/Amazon pricing differene I gave above a number of those books are discountable (but from memory not all of the Miss Fisher series) so it would take a good code to bring the price into comparison with Amazon and where do I get that code from?