E-Book Pricing Alerts

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by JD, Apr 4, 2017.

  1. Indysolo

    Indysolo Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Mar 19, 2001
    Location:
    Sunny California
  2. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2004
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    Yeah, I meant Debt of Honor, sorry I got my "of Honor" titles mixed up.
     
    Avro Arrow likes this.
  3. 2of1million

    2of1million Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2002
    Location:
    Canada
    Well looks like Kobo isn’t putting this months books on sale at all if they haven’t done so by now. I did buy Agents of Influence and The Unsettling Stars at least. But no sale books.
     
  4. Elwro

    Elwro Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2020
    Location:
    Krakow, Poland
    I keep getting emails from Simon and Schuster about 'amazing Star Trek deals'. These are indeed amazing deals... when in my mailbox. When I click the Amazon.com link I'm directed to the .co.uk website (I'm from Poland) which features no such deals. Could anyone confirm that this is how S&S deals are supposed to work? (I.e., that they are available to US customers only?)
     
  5. David Mack

    David Mack Writer Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jan 25, 2003
    Location:
    New York, NY
    The monthly eBook sales are for U.S. readers only.
     
  6. TheAlmanac

    TheAlmanac Writer Captain

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2007
    Location:
    Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
    Has anyone tried contacting Kobo about this? It seems like a simple oversight, since the previous monthly sales have consistently shown up there.
     
  7. Elwro

    Elwro Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Jun 14, 2020
    Location:
    Krakow, Poland
    Thank you for the information!

    (I'm reading 'Desperate Hours' at the moment and thoroughly enjoying it. Thank you for writing it! :-))
     
  8. Avro Arrow

    Avro Arrow Vice Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2003
    Location:
    Canada
    I actually did, at the beginning of the week, but I couldn't find an email address and had to use the chat feature, so I don't really know how much the first-level customer service people can actually do about it.

    They asked me to send them the titles, which they apparently checked, and the markdowns were pending and would be available "soon", they just didn't know the exact date it would happen. Again, I don't really have any way to verify if this was actually true, or if this is something they just say to placate the customer. I didn't originally post anything about it, because I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up if it ended up not being true.

    The next day, they reverted the site to their usual layout, and reinstated their daily ebook deal, so I figured it was just a matter of time now, but so far, nothing.

    I was originally going to try following up with them next week if nothing had changed, but maybe if other customers wanted to contact them about it too, it might help to show that the demand is there? I did mention to them that Amazon already has the sale prices up, but at the time, they had suspended price matching due to the pandemic.
     
    TheAlmanac likes this.
  9. 2of1million

    2of1million Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2002
    Location:
    Canada
    I see they're on sale at amazon canada but not kobo. Definitely an error on their part.
     
  10. TheAlmanac

    TheAlmanac Writer Captain

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2007
    Location:
    Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
    I just tried the same thing and got a completely different answer--my chat-feature contact said they "can't do a price match on this" and that the discount was only available in the US, even when I pointed out Amazon Canada has the titles marked down. This person didn't even try to claim any price reductions were pending.
     
    Avro Arrow likes this.
  11. 2of1million

    2of1million Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2002
    Location:
    Canada
    Well just threaten to buy them on Amazon instead and maybe they change their mind! And show them this link too. https://www.simonandschuster.com/c/ebookpromoJune2020
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2020
  12. TheAlmanac

    TheAlmanac Writer Captain

    Joined:
    Sep 11, 2007
    Location:
    Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
    I started with the link, which lists all the titles but actually hurts one's argument--every promo specifically includes a disclaimer at the top saying it's only available in the United States (despite our knowing the contrary), so Random Kobo Employee who's never encountered this before thinks of the answer as right there.

    I ended with asking who I could contact to say I knew a number of people who'd be buying these on Amazon Canada instead, and I was invited to use a different feedback button on Kobo's homepage...which wasn't on said page when I went to check.
     
  13. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Premium Member

    Joined:
    Jan 30, 2001
    Location:
    America, Fuck Yeah!!!
    Do they have some kind of price match guarantee with their own products? If you bought them within a certain amount of time? Might not want to take a bath on "The Last Best Hope" and "Dead Endless"?
     
  14. 2of1million

    2of1million Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2002
    Location:
    Canada
    These are DRM free, right? So it wouldn't matter if I bought on amazon. I can just download and convert?
     
  15. Avro Arrow

    Avro Arrow Vice Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2003
    Location:
    Canada
    That's what I was afraid of... :sigh:

    Of course not! :brickwall:

    By "with their own products", do you mean they will give you a refund if their own price drops after you purchased? No, I don't think so, at least I've never seen anything about that. Their "price match guarantee" only refers to competitors products. It was suspended due to the pandemic, but I can't find that message anymore, so I guess it's available again? Unfortunately, I don't think it will work here, because it says the products have to have the same ISBN, and the ePUB versions and the Kindle versions appear to have different ISBNs? So it would have to be price matched against another Canadian store that sells ePUBs, and I'm not sure there is any such beast?

    And even it it *did* work with Amazon, you have to purchase from Kobo first, and they only give you store credit for the "refund", so you'd still be paying the full amount on your credit card. And since you have to purchase first, if they disallow the match, you're stuck with full price, and without any store credit either. And if they do allow the match, they won't "refund" the difference in the taxes, either.

    If it gets near the end of the month, and Kobo still hasn't got their act together, I'll just buy them from Amazon. I don't have a Kindle, but I could still read them on the Kindle PC app. It's annoying not to be able to use my Kobo eInk reader, though. But I'm only buying these *because* they are on sale, so if Kobo won't mark them down, I'm not buying from them.
     
  16. VDCNI

    VDCNI Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    May 26, 2009
    Location:
    London UK
    They are available in the UK as well though they haven't always been the same as the US deals. They were this month though, I got the Picard novel for 99p.
     
    Elwro likes this.
  17. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2004
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    Do they have a Kindle reading app for Kobo? They have one for Google, which I use all the time.
     
  18. Avro Arrow

    Avro Arrow Vice Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2003
    Location:
    Canada
    My apologies, I'm not sure I understand your question? As far as I know, they have Kindle reading apps for PC (which I have), Mac, iOS and Android. I can't install apps on my Kobo eInk reader.
     
  19. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2004
    Location:
    Arizona, USA
    Oh, I didn't realize it was just an e-ink reader, I thought it was a full on tablet.
     
  20. Smiley

    Smiley Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 8, 2005
    Location:
    Boston, MA
    There is some fandom overlap between Star Trek and Foundation, so I'll mention that the original Foundation novel's ebook is now back down to $2.99 on Amazon.
     
    RTOlson likes this.