Books on Board one day sale
August 25th, 2007 | 
Author: 
I received an email late last night from Books on Board. In addition to announcing that Mobipocket was back in operation, they are offering 22% off Publishers List Minimum for ONE DAY with Promo Code MOBUP (all caps). this sale ends tonight at 11:59 PM Central Daylight Time. This discount is good for all ebook formats and audiobooks. I have never bought anything from this reseller, but I will give it a try at such a good discount. In fact I have noticed that a lot of their offerings are cheaper than most other sites. Their selection of books also seems more than adequate. I don’t understand the term Publishers List Minimum, but I will find out. So now the vendors are attempting to do damage control in the wake of Mobipocket’s long “down for Maintenance” absence. I think that sales may help to keep customers, but I am not buying any e-books in Mobi format. I think that Mobipocket owes us an explanation. So far we haven’t got one, and I seriously doubt that we will. For that matter, I doubt if the e-book vendors have gotten an explanation or how about this: an apology. I hope that places like Books on Board are successful in keeping their customers and with their discounts, maybe they will attract more customers. Without places to buy e-books at a reasonable price, the less attractive e-book devices become.
edit: I added three books to my cart and then the promo code, but it didn’t make a difference in the price. I tried to find info on the term Publishers List Minimum, but I couldn’t. So I went to Fictionwise to see if I was saving any money. Granted, I belong to Fictionwise’s Buywise club, so your experience may be different. Books on Board endedn up being slighter cheaper at $18.91 compared to Fictionwise at $$19.52. But because of my micro rebates, Fictionwise is cheaper since I will save an additional $1.27, so my final price is $18.25. So I will pass on Books on Board and use my Fictionwise gift certificated my daughter gave me for my birthday. Oh, in case you’re interested the books I chose are:
- Into the Storm – By Suzanne Brockmann $5.94
- The Face – By Dean Koontz $6.79
- The 13th Apostle – By Richard Heller $6.79
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I am also disappointed. I had been thinking about getting another E-reader since Mobi books are so widely available and some of the upcoming devices are reported to support that format. This incident is a huge deterrent. I’ll stick with non-DRM and formats that I know can convert if I really need to.
I tried out the discount code, but the books I was interested in already had BoB’s 22% discount and the code didn’t offer any extra savings. So much for my shopping spree! BoB is a pretty good source of .lit books for me, in terms of selection and price.
Mikou,
I too was disappointed when I got to BoB. Seems like there is always a catch. A thread on Mobileread points to Mobipockets Support Forum. I can’t quote it exactly, but you may want to go to the Mobi support site and see if there are any explanations. At this point as far as I am concerned, it’s too little to late. I have found myself moving away from DRM as much as possible.
Ellen