Every few years I write a rant about how Kobo makes it needlessly difficult to buy Kobo ereaders in the US. Things will get better for a while, but time and again Kobo’s retail partnerships fall through, and would-be customers are left with few options.
Kobo’s distribution problems actually make some level of sense when you think about it. Kobo is a small company. Their business revolves around selling digital items. The only physical goods they sell are ereaders and related accessories. They aren’t Amazon. They aren’t some big retailer that sells consumer goods. All they have to ship is a few different ereader models and some covers that go with them.
You’d think Kobo’s parent company, Rakuten, could help with distribution, but they didn’t even sell Kobo’s ereaders from the Rakuten website back in the day when they sold all manner of electronic goods so why would they help now?
Where to Buy Kobo eReaders in the US
I see a lot of people online saying you can buy Kobo ereaders from various retailers in the US, but that isn’t true. Yes, there are sold on various websites like Target and Walmart, but they aren’t actually being sold by those companies and they aren’t available from any retail stores. In most cases those are being sold by a 3rd-party seller called BlueProton.
Kobo’s Website
Kobo sells their devices directly from the Kobo US website. Kobo is based in Canada, but most recent reports suggest they’re currently shipping from the US to avoid customers getting hit with tariffs. Most reports indicate it takes about a week from ordering to delivery, but Kobo isn’t great about providing shipping updates so you might not hear anything from them.
One of the positives of ordering directly from Kobo is they have a 45-day return policy. However, their terms mention a possible restocking fee that they never go into detail about. Additionally, their customer service doesn’t have a great reputation so they might be a hassle to deal with.
Amazon
Kobo recently launched a storefront on Amazon. It looked like they were going to up their distribution game instead of relying on resellers, but they only sold their devices there for a short time. Now they’re just selling covers and accessories, and the Kobo Elipsa 2E—all their other ereaders have been unavailable from Kobo US for several weeks now, despite being in stock on Kobo’s website. But maybe they’ll start selling their devices on Amazon again soon.
Other 3rd-party sellers sell Kobo ereaders on Amazon as well, but there’s been a lot of price gouging lately. Check BlueProton’s Kobo page on Amazon. They’re an official Kobo reseller. Sometimes their prices are the same as Kobo’s website, sometimes they’re higher so you have to check.
The advantage of ordering from Amazon is they have faster shipping and easy returns.
BlueProton
As noted above, Kobo lists BlueProton as an official retail partner in the US (they are now the lone partner, it would seem). You can buy Kobo ereaders directly from BlueProton’s website. They also sell on various other websites, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, and probably others. Sometimes their prices are higher than buying from Kobo directly so keep that in mind.
Kohl’s?
I’ve heard some people saying you can buy Kobo ereaders from Kohl’s now too. But the only one that currently shows up is the Kobo Libra Colour. I have a feeling it’s another BlueProton listing, but Kohl’s website doesn’t specify so who knows.
Walmart?
Kobo still shows Walmart as a retail partner on their website and recommends them as a place to buy Kobo ereaders in the US, but Walmart stopped selling Kobo ereaders some time ago now. You can still find Kobos listed on Walmart, but they’re not sold by Walmart. Most of the time they are sold by BlueProton.
Indigo?
A couple of times I ordered Kobo ereaders from Indigo, a book retailer in Canada. With the exchange rate the price actually worked out being a little cheaper even with shipping to the US, but ordering from Indigo in the US is currently not an option because of tariffs.
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