Kobo book prices in Australia vs Canada

[TongueTied]

Hi All,
First, I realise this probably isn't the best place for this topic as this is the Kobo Reader forum, not the Kobo bookstore but it has people who probably use/buy from the Kobo website. Therefore, I have posted this here. If it isn't correct or you are offended by me posting this here, I humbly beg for your forgiveness

Okay, I moved to Australia about a year ago and at the time, I noticed that prices on the Kobo site appeared higher but never confirmed it. However, recently, someone made comment in one of the threads about Kobo being reasonably priced in Canada and was surprised there was a difference. So, I thought I'd do a bit of investigation. I set up a Kobo account based in Canada and another based in Australia and then I took the first 50 books (so far) from the "Books that Blew Me Away and that I Still Think About (of all types)" list from Goodreads.com list and priced them via both accounts. I then converted the results into USD and looked at the difference between the converted prices. When I found that a book was available in 1 country but not the other, I didn't count it. I also didn't count any of the Harry Potter books since they aren't sold by Kobo anyway. This left 32 books counted. I also took the first listing of a title rather than looking for the cheapest but it did seem that in most cases, the cheapest was at the top of the list anyway. I didn't consider coupons as that is not always available on every book nor is it always available to everyone. Taxes were considered. In Canada (Ontario anyway), the GST and HST is added at checkout but in Australia, the price shown already includes GST.

What I found was that in some cases Kobo's Australian prices were less than their Canadian prices and sometime more. Based on the first 50 books (32 books counted) from the list I was looking at, if you were to buy all the books in the top 50 that were available from Kobo in both countries, you would pay a total of US$15.53 more from Canada!!! I found this surprising. The only thing I can think of is that Kobo adds the GST to the price shown in Australia but when viewed from Canada, taxes aren’t showed and only added when you pay for the book. This would leave the impression that buying from Australia was more expensive but in reality, buying from Kobo in Canada is more expensive.

The list I chose was possibly not the best choice since a number of books on the list were Classics and therefore were priced around $0.99 which meant that the difference between the prices in the 2 countries was perhaps understated if you don't read classics (many of the titles were ones that I am not really interested in reading). I might try looking at a different list and see what that results. I'd also be interested to see how the prices compare to other countries as well.

[Lynx-lynx]

Good on you for doing all that research TongueTied.

When checking out Kobo's ebook prices I compare between the 3 - Aus, Canadian and US and buy the cheapest.

I haven't done a strict survey as to which country is consistently the cheaper, but I think it's the US, then Aus, then Canada. (And bear in mind, the AUD/US exchange rate is in our favour.)

I gain the most when a title is not available in Aus, but it is in either the US or Canada.

I miss Books on Board because my account reflected Japan with them - and wow - the ebook availability was even greater. (I paid in USD).

Sony US can be a good buy as well.

My two cents ....

[Lynx-lynx]

Whilst the price of the Aura is not what your topic is about directly - indirectly it does reflect Aus price disadvantage.

I saw two (Aus) reviews that stated the price would be $220.

Way overpriced in this market!!!

As was pointed out, the Nexus 7 is cheaper for greater utility value.

[murg]

The Australian prices have the GST in them, the Canadian prices don't have the tax (I think).

In addition, you may get hit with a foreign transaction fee buying from Kobo Australia in AUD. I was about a year ago, I don't know if they are still doing it.

The cheapest place to buy Kobo books in Hong Kong.

[TongueTied]

@murg, I took account of taxes. If you didn't, it turns out the other way around but when you remove the Aus GST so that you get a pre tax comparison, Australia turned out cheaper for those titles.

@Lynx-Lynx, Since the Aura isn't yet available here, the price might be somewhat speculative, at least I hope so. However, I think the Glo was priced higher here than in Canada. I'll need to check before I can say that for sure.

Good suggestion, I'll try the US prices next. Thanks.

[GeoffR]

Some books are discountable in some countries and not in others, for someone who waits until there are discount codes available before buying any books this can make a big difference.

To give an example, Tor books are discountable in NZ but Orion books are not. Some books are available here in both Tor and Orion editions, with the Orion edition selling at $16.99 and not discountable, but the Tor edition of the same book selling at $7.99 and discountable. So when there are 30% disount codes available the Tor edition will cost $5.59, less than one third the price of the Orion edition.

[TongueTied]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Some books are discountable in some countries and not in others, for someone who waits until there are discount codes available before buying any books this can make a big difference.

To give an example, Tor books are discountable in NZ but Orion books are not. Some books are available here in both Tor and Orion editions, with the Orion edition selling at $16.99 and not discountable, but the Tor edition of the same book selling at $7.99 and discountable. So when there are 30% disount codes available the Tor edition will cost $5.59, less than one third the price of the Orion edition.

I agree but there are discount codes for both countries which I think would likely even out over many titles. In addition, it is usually, up to the buyer to enter the coupon code. Some buyers will not necessarily know that the coupons are available. In addition, the price shown on the website, without having entered a coupon code, is before any additional discount and it is going to be that price that influences many eventual purchase. Therefore, my analysis didn't consider coupon discounts.

One thing that I did to try and even out individual differences was to do a large sample. Okay, 32 books isn't a very large sample but it is a start. I'm guessing that the difference I have already identified wont change much as the sample gets larger. If I only compared a single book, I think I could come up with an example in each country which was similarly more expensive or cheaper; hence the need to do a larger sample and look at the overall difference.