Where to Buy a Cheap Kobo eReader

The eReader revolution is well underway, and with price being the main barrier to most people being able to obtain one, I thought it would be a good idea to write about where you can buy a cheap Kobo eReader to kick off your own e-reading adventures. Launched in 2010, the Kobo is a Borders Bookstore brainchild, and was created to be a competitor to Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook eReaders. The Kobo is an eReader that boasts a 6-inch E Ink screen—and for those who don’t know what E Ink is, it’s basically a type of magnetic pigment that many eReaders use to display letters and images on the screen—and it also has built-in Wi-Fi capability. The Kobo is versatile in that it can display not only the books that are available in the Borders e-book store, but also PDF files as well. As far as selections to choose from, Kobo has tons, with over 2 million titles available for the e-reading enthusiast. There are a ton of advantages to having an eReader, and most publishing industry experts are in agreement that not only is the eReader revolutionizing the way that content is published and distributed, but many feel that the eReader “movement” (for lack of a better word) is going to eventually replace the print book industry entirely. I can see the merit in their argument, but honestly, I don’t think that printed books will go away as a whole; maybe certain segments of printed books will, but I have a hard time believing that the children’s book industry for example will go all-digital. I really can’t imagine how a child reading a book on a Kobo or Kindle will have an even somewhat similar experience to a child reading a physical pop-up book with vibrant colors and other eye-catching features.

But before I go way off on a tangent, let’s get back to the subject at hand: Where, oh where, can you find a cheap Kobo? The going retail price directly from Borders itself is $139 (as of this writing), which in the eReader marketplace is a fairly competitive price indeed, but I’m never one for paying retail. I’ll be honest with you—after I did a quick search on Google to see who may be offering a cheap Kobo eReader, and actually came back more discouraged than encouraged as to being able to find one for cheap. There simply weren’t a whole lot of websites that were offering the Kobo for any kind of significant discount. But of course, as almost always, eBay saved the day. I keep telling people—even those who think I’m just blowing smoke—that eBay is the ultimate place to find just about anything for less than what you would pay for it elsewhere. I don’t know what it is about eBay, but I’m telling you, it’s relatively easy to find deals on items to the tune of 20% and more off retail, even if the items are brand spanking new. Now in all fairness, I saw more Kobo accessories (such as carrying cases and eBooks) than I did actual Kobo eReaders for sale when I looked, but the ones that were up for sale were getting fierce bids, and were still coming up for under 100 bucks. Not bad at all. In all honesty, eBay is about the only place I could find that was legitimately offering cheap Kobo eReaders for sale…I wish I had more sites to give you, but it was simply a case of “slim pickins”. If anyone out there has any suggestions for sites, please leave us a comment below.