Not available in your country getting ridiculous

Tom Reynolds
Tom Reynolds Member Posts: 1,448 ✭✭✭
edited November 20 in Resources Forum

I tried to buy a Zondervan book today and it says that I can't buy it in Canada.

https://ebooks.faithlife.com/products/155135/the-man-in-the-mirror-solving-the-24-problems-men-face

Amazon Canada has no problem selling me the Kindle version for $2.99 Canadian so I guess that's what I'll have to do unless you fix this soon.

I tried some other Zondervan and Thomas Nelson titles and can't buy any of them. What gives here?

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Comments

  • Jan Krohn
    Jan Krohn Member Posts: 3,714 ✭✭✭

    Yep, no more Zondervan titles in the Netherlands as well. And I have plenty of them sitting on my wish list, waiting for sales.

    This is quite catastrophic.

    I understand very well that sometimes books have different publishers in different countries; or the same publisher for example makes up different prices for the same book in different countries.

    However, other ebook vendors manage to overcome these kind of obstacles as well - not only the big ones like Amazon.

    Therefore, @FL, please make it a priority to make more books available to us foreigners again.

    (I've heard that it's quite affordable to hire a mailbox in Delaware... would that make me a US resident...? ;-)

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning Member, MVP Posts: 11,125 ✭✭✭

    I tried some other Zondervan and Thomas Nelson titles and can't buy any of them. What gives here?

    That is frustrating.

    Therefore, @FL, please make it a priority to make more books available to us foreigners again.

    Yes please!

    Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God

  • David Ames
    David Ames Member Posts: 2,977 ✭✭✭

    (I've heard that it's quite affordable to hire a mailbox in Delaware... would that make me a US resident...? ;-)

    Maybe: if you can get a US based Bank to issue you a credit card using that as an address.  

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,202 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yes, I've been frustrated by this in Canada too. But then I tell myself it's probably for the best that I stop spending so much money on Logos books. But still... it would be nice to have the choice.

  • Lee
    Lee Member Posts: 2,714

    It's been suggested that the product page indicate "US only" so users won't waste time shopping for items that are not available.

  • Jan Krohn
    Jan Krohn Member Posts: 3,714 ✭✭✭

    Maybe: if you can get a US based Bank to issue you a credit card using that as an address.  

    I used to have a Bank of America prepaid Visa card a very long time ago. Maybe these kind of cards still exist. Or maybe they have been discontinued because of money laundering misuse.

    Anyway, it would be much easier and less immoral if FL would obtain the licenses to sell the books to us again.

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning Member, MVP Posts: 11,125 ✭✭✭

    It's been suggested that the product page indicate "US only" so users won't waste time shopping for items that are not available.

    I agree that the website should state this up front.

    Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God

  • Adam
    Adam Member Posts: 51

    Yep not allowed in Australia either as I bought this up a few days ago. I have half the volumes of That the World May Know discovery guides & went to buy them last week to no avail, along with any other Zondervan title it seems 

    Upon using logos chat I was told that requirements to get around this are a US postal address, US debit/credit card & that your ip address (where your computer location is) needs to be US also. I'm in the states at the end of the year so hopefully can buy them then if I can get my hands on a US prepaid card 

    Very frustrating as there was no warning of the publisher induced changes otherwise I would have bit the bullet & bought the remaining volumes sooner

  • scooter
    scooter Member Posts: 781

    Say a book is a pre-pub. Will the FL system tell me not to sign up for the pre-pub, as I cannot purchase the finished product in my country??

    FL, get on top of this for your customers.  Find the distributor, + get book x into FL. You know, rather than letting your captive customers flounder.

  • Reuben Helmuth
    Reuben Helmuth Member, MVP Posts: 2,485

    your ip address (where your computer location is) needs to be US also

    If this were true you could simply use a VPN, but it's definitely not the case. I'm a US citizen with a US billing address but living in Africa. I never have a problem purchasing (perhaps, unfortunately! 😉), and that's WITHOUT using a VPN.

  • Adam
    Adam Member Posts: 51

    Rueben, I'm assuming you also pay with a US debit/credit card?

    I did think of the VPN option & it sounded strange to me when I was told. Thing is, I changed my address to where I'll be staying in the US & used a VPN to test out that theory but still no good. I'm assuming it's because I was using my aussie debit card as payment. Also tried using a credit card to no avail so am assuming it's also an issue where your card is based

  • Reuben Helmuth
    Reuben Helmuth Member, MVP Posts: 2,485

    I'm assuming you also pay with a US debit/credit card?

    Yes, that's what I meant by a US billing address. My initial assumption would be that this is the only thing that really matters.

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning Member, MVP Posts: 11,125 ✭✭✭

    Upon using logos chat I was told that requirements to get around this are a US postal address, US debit/credit card & that your ip address (where your computer location is) needs to be US also. I'm in the states at the end of the year so hopefully can buy them then if I can get my hands on a US prepaid card 

    I was in the US for 6 weeks in the fall, had a US mailing address and a US ip address where I was living. The kicker for me is the US credit card. I have a US funds card but it didn't have a US billing address. When I'm in the US I can purchase anything I want it seems except for products like this.

    Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning Member, MVP Posts: 11,125 ✭✭✭

    Yes, that's what I meant by a US billing address. My initial assumption would be that this is the only thing that really matters.

    I believe you are correct.

    Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God

  • Adam
    Adam Member Posts: 51

    I'm assuming you also pay with a US debit/credit card?

    Yes, that's what I meant by a US billing address. My initial assumption would be that this is the only thing that really matters.

    Thanks for that. Over here the billing address is our actual physical address hence my question. And yes that's the thing that matters

  • Adam
    Adam Member Posts: 51

    I also wonder if there's an opportunity for Faithlife to give us a heads up in future when it comes to publisher restrictions. Surely they know in advance that publisher "ABC" is deciding to not release products outside of the US from such & such a date so it gives us advance warning & maybe we could buy up some resources.

    As we say down under "I could be barking up the wrong tree though" 

  • Paul Caneparo
    Paul Caneparo Member Posts: 2,646 ✭✭✭

    This does seem to be more of a Faithlife and Faithlife eBooks specifically issue. My second Bible software company (not A or WS) seems to be able to offer me all the restricted books. Hopefully Faithlife can accommodate their international customers and negotiate the international agreements too.

  • Dan Francis
    Dan Francis Member Posts: 5,335 ✭✭✭

    It all depends on the contracts you negotiate considering that FL has stated there is minimal profits from the ebook sector I suppose it is natural they wish to spend as little time as possible on it. But by excluding other countries they go from little to no profit for their man users outside the USA. In general FL seems to be the only Bible software company I have found who dose not make sure the international rights are in place on release of the books (that is not to imply none are just a significant minority, and in this case seemingly a large part of one of the major publishers of Christian books).

    -dan

  • Jan Krohn
    Jan Krohn Member Posts: 3,714 ✭✭✭

    It all depends on the contracts you negotiate considering that FL has stated there is minimal profits from the ebook sector I suppose it is natural they wish to spend as little time as possible on it. But by excluding other countries they go from little to no profit for their man users outside the USA. In general FL seems to be the only Bible software company I have found who dose not make sure the international rights are in place on release of the books (that is not to imply none are just a significant minority, and in this case seemingly a large part of one of the major publishers of Christian books).

    If people outside the USA need to start looking into other Bible software because FL can't supply these works but others can, then it's not only little to no profit for FL, then it starts becoming a loss for FL.

    @FL: I'd really appreciate some comment on the issue, especially whether any efforts are going into arranging new licensing contracts, so that we get access to the books again.

  • Deborah Keiser
    Deborah Keiser Member, Logos Employee Posts: 117

    For the time being, we can only sell HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP) books inside the US on Faithlife Ebooks. That includes the rights to Thomas Nelson and Zondervan titles. We are working to renegotiate international rights with HCCP and hope it will be a speedy process. However, a timeline for when international rights will be returned has not been determined.

    We know that this is a pain point for you, and our other international customers, and we sincerely appreciate your patience & understanding as we work through the contract process. I'll keep you posted with updates when they become available.

  • Rosie Perera
    Rosie Perera Member Posts: 26,202 ✭✭✭✭✭

    For the time being, we can only sell HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP) books inside the US on Faithlife Ebooks. That includes the rights to Thomas Nelson and Zondervan titles. We are working to renegotiate international rights with HCCP and hope it will be a speedy process. However, a timeline for when international rights will be returned has not been determined.

    We know that this is a pain point for you, and our other international customers, and we sincerely appreciate your patience & understanding as we work through the contract process. I'll keep you posted with updates when they become available.

    Thank you for that update, Deborah. I'm thankful for the many Thomas Nelson and Zondervan titles I've already bought over the years and look forward to being able to purchase them again from Canada.

  • Paul Caneparo
    Paul Caneparo Member Posts: 2,646 ✭✭✭

    For the time being, we can only sell HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP) books inside the US on Faithlife Ebooks. That includes the rights to Thomas Nelson and Zondervan titles. We are working to renegotiate international rights with HCCP and hope it will be a speedy process. However, a timeline for when international rights will be returned has not been determined.

    We know that this is a pain point for you, and our other international customers, and we sincerely appreciate your patience & understanding as we work through the contract process. I'll keep you posted with updates when they become available.

    Thanks Deborah. The John Stott book that we weren't able to buy was IVP I believe. Is there an issue with IVP for international customers?

  • Deborah Keiser
    Deborah Keiser Member, Logos Employee Posts: 117

    I'll check on the Stott book. Can you give me the title again? Thanks!

  • Jan Krohn
    Jan Krohn Member Posts: 3,714 ✭✭✭

    Thanks so much, Deborah. I'll keep the titles on my wishlist, and look forward to buying them in the future.

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick Member, MVP Posts: 15,838 ✭✭✭

    I'll check on the Stott book. Can you give me the title again? Thanks!

    Not Paul, but I think he referred to https://ebooks.faithlife.com/products/167186/the-radical-disciple-some-neglected-aspects-of-our-calling - this is from IVP Books.

    A weird thing is that I can't buy this book, but I could buy the eBook version of the 2013 reprint edition of Stott's https://ebooks.faithlife.com/products/147206/baptism-and-fullness-the-work-of-the-holy-spirit-today from the same publisher - I just didn't go through with it since I own the 1975 edition in Logos version.

    EDIT: the new offering by IVP books, Packer's https://ebooks.faithlife.com/products/168883/knowing-god is not available for me, either. Even though I own the paper book version (bought a used copy years ago), I would have liked to buy this one [:(]

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • Paul Caneparo
    Paul Caneparo Member Posts: 2,646 ✭✭✭

    I'll check on the Stott book. Can you give me the title again? Thanks!

    NB Mick was correct. Sadly I had to buy from elsewhere. They have a 30 day returns policy too, so if you were able to get IVP to extend to international customers I'd sooner buy from Faithlife.

    https://ebooks.faithlife.com/products/167186/the-radical-disciple-some-neglected-aspects-of-our-calling

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick Member, MVP Posts: 15,838 ✭✭✭

    For the time being, we can only sell HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP) books inside the US on Faithlife Ebooks. That includes the rights to Thomas Nelson and Zondervan titles. We are working to renegotiate international rights with HCCP and hope it will be a speedy process.

    Thanks Deborah for the information. 

    I'm glad that a library search for edition:e publisher:(nelson, zondervan, harpercollins) yields 226 hits in my library, with only 26 of those books tagged as fiction, most of the other 200 I believe highly relevant works from leading authors. Those US customers who despise the eBooks as "Amish romance only" are missing a treasure trove that often would fit much better into a student's or pastor's book budget.

    It's sad that currently those books are not available to international customers anymore. Nevertheless, I really appreciate having had that opportunity and I'm looking forward to being allowed to spend money on HCCP-published ebooks again in the future.  

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • Bruce Dunning
    Bruce Dunning Member, MVP Posts: 11,125 ✭✭✭

    We know that this is a pain point for you, and our other international customers, and we sincerely appreciate your patience & understanding as we work through the contract process. I'll keep you posted with updates when they become available.

    Thanks for the update Deborah.

    Using adventure and community to challenge young people to continually say "yes" to God

  • Tom Reynolds
    Tom Reynolds Member Posts: 1,448 ✭✭✭

    NB Mick was correct. Sadly I had to buy from elsewhere. They have a 30 day returns policy too, so if you were able to get IVP to extend to international customers I'd sooner buy from Faithlife.

    https://ebooks.faithlife.com/products/167186/the-radical-disciple-some-neglected-aspects-of-our-calling

    This one is ok for Canadians but recently there was one from "New Growth Press" that was limited to the US. https://ebooks.faithlife.com/products/137731/getting-jesus-wrong-giving-up-spiritual-vitamins-and-checklist-christianity However, I can add other New Growth Press volumes to my cart with no problem.

  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle Member, MVP Posts: 32,429 ✭✭✭

    Just to add my request for these restrictions to be removed as soon as possible.

    I was trying to add a range of books to my library - probably between $60-$80 worth - from Faithlife eBooks but none of them were available for purchase in the UK.