B&N Reader Nook not available internationally, options?

[Care]

Originally Posted by latinojim

Please, if anyone out there has a NOOK or NOOKcolor in Puerto Rico, I could really use your help. I got a NOOKcolor for the holidays with a bunch of accesories and a $50 egift card. I can't use the gift card or purchase books because I get an error that states I can not purchase ebooks because my billing address is outside the US. This is totally insane, my wife purchased all that with a credit card that has a Puerto Rico billing address! At no point was she even warned that people in Puerto Rico would have a problem purchasing ebooks. I called customer support a few days ago. The person at customer support told me that they are aware of the problem and are working on a fix. People in Puerto Rico should be able to buy ebooks. He told me to call back within a few days.

Called customer support again today. They say that there should be no problem with a Puerto Rico billing address. The rep had me try and change my billing address several times but each time the state field in the address kept disappearing on their end. I try to keep the country as United States since we are technically part of the US, but when I try that it says I have to change the country to Puerto Rico. I think this is where the problem lies. They either have to let people with Puerto Rico address choose United States as the country or add Puerto Rico as an authorized country to purchase books. I read on facebook that people from Canada are having similar problems. I was told that someone would contact me within 48 hours. I'll post again if I hear anything.

What if you just use a US address for your shipping and billing addresses? That is what most of us do.

[latinojim]

I could do that but:

1) I don't physically live in the 50 states, and in this age of identity theft, I don't trust anyone enough to change my credit card address to somewhere in the US.

2) According to B&N's site, people in the 50 states, it's territories and Canada should be able to buy books. I have it reported that people in Canada are having the same problem.

3) B&N should be bending over backwards for their customers. Especially ones who want to pay for their products. I can go to any number of internet sites and download the books I want some other way. I would prefer to use the B&N site.

4) They are aware that they have a problem. They just don't have a quick fix, or don't fully understand the extent of the problem.

5) Oh, and by the way, I have a $50 dollar gift card I can't use! They have my money and they won't allow me to use it.

They really need to get their act together. Follow through on what they say and fix this situation. They are alienating customers by doing this.

[Care]

I understand. You don't need to actually change you credit card address to a US address, just check the box at B&N that says 'same as shipping' and use a US shipping address. Your actual credit card can still be your real address.

If you could do this until B&N gets everything sorted out, you can at least use your gift card. Or I guess you will have to wait until they get their act together.

[skydive]

Use a USA address, thats what I am doing. Your credit card address remains the same.

Originally Posted by latinojim

I could do that but:

1) I don't physically live in the 50 states, and in this age of identity theft, I don't trust anyone enough to change my credit card address to somewhere in the US.

2) According to B&N's site, people in the 50 states, it's territories and Canada should be able to buy books. I have it reported that people in Canada are having the same problem.

3) B&N should be bending over backwards for their customers. Especially ones who want to pay for their products. I can go to any number of internet sites and download the books I want some other way. I would prefer to use the B&N site.

4) They are aware that they have a problem. They just don't have a quick fix, or don't fully understand the extent of the problem.

5) Oh, and by the way, I have a $50 dollar gift card I can't use! They have my money and they won't allow me to use it.

They really need to get their act together. Follow through on what they say and fix this situation. They are alienating customers by doing this.

[nooclear]

latinojim, please read the entire thread. The control at ordering ebooks is based on your computers IP number. Is it an US IP than the order goes through and you can download the book. The gift card storage does not need US IP just buying ebooks with a price greater than 0.01 USD. Free ebookd can be downloaded in any case.
Tip: let a friend in the US do the ordering for you or install a VP tunel which gives you an american IP number temporarily.

[latinojim]

I don't think that is the case. I can not download free books either. Plus, I've tried using Anonymous proxies and still have the same problem. In any case this is something B&N have to clearly fix. Their own terms of service states that e content can be purchased by people in the US, it's territories and Canada.

Originally Posted by nooclear

latinojim, please read the entire thread. The control at ordering ebooks is based on your computers IP number. Is it an US IP than the order goes through and you can download the book. The gift card storage does not need US IP just buying ebooks with a price greater than 0.01 USD. Free ebookd can be downloaded in any case.
Tip: let a friend in the US do the ordering for you or install a VP tunel which gives you an american IP number temporarily.

[Care]

Do you have money on your credit card or all of the info correct? Two of us here had the same problems (even with the free books) because of credit card problems or typos.

[WML]

Hello everybody! I live in Sweden and was not allowed to buy a Nook directly either. Fortunately I have friends in Florida who bought it for me and they just got the last one available in North Miami. Shipping and insuring with FedEx was more than 100 $ but it took only 3 days to have it here. I have it now in my hands with its poor 4 books. But fortunately I have some hundreds or thousands in my computer and thanks to your many postings it will be easy to change it to a nice open ebook and android machine. I am thanking Barnes and Noble but I dont need them anymore :-)

[Ankaa]

Has anybody already registered their device from outside the US? I'm aware that it says in the manual, that it IS possible to register the Nook Color from everywhere...just would love to here it first hand

Cheers!

[geertm]

Originally Posted by Ankaa

Has anybody already registered their device from outside the US? I'm aware that it says in the manual, that it IS possible to register the Nook Color from everywhere...just would love to here it first hand

Cheers!

Registered my Nook Color without a problem here in the Netherlands.

[filet222]

There are several types of proxy sites around.What you need are
"high anonimity" sites that do not identify themselves as proxy sites as some of the free sites do (they protect your identity but not your location if the website is programed to look for it as B&N is).
Netshade ($20/yr) is an option for Mac OSX10 users and it allows me to appear to be in the US or Britain and get books from B&N and video from Netflix,PBS,BBC,ITV etc. I live in Mexico.

[WML]

With
http://www.anonymous-surfing.com/
you can show up as american. They have even a 3 days trial period.
Btw, I registered mine without problems here in Sweden.
WML

[earthpigborn]

Can I ask a quick question re: international support for the nook? As of today, with all the new firmware upgrades and whatever else B&N added to the device: what are the differences between Nook wifi vs a Kindle wifi if I'm living outside the US? My mind is mostly made up to buy the kindle 3 wifi but I still think that the nook,thickness aside, is a better looking reader. Can non-US nook owners honestly tell me if it's still good enough to compete with the K3? And does B&N have any plans for a new, hopefully thinner, E-ink nook?

[Arcanite]

@earthpigborn: I'm using Nook Color outside US and frankly, I could not be more happy to it. The device is solidly built and the screen is amazingly nice and vivid; I would even say that it beats the crap out even of the Ipad screen. It is very nice to read from, also in the dark (try that with a kindle without a reading light!). It is not e-ink screen, so if you insist of having one, this is not for you.

I'd say the only real drawback vs. kindle is the battery life which is around 8 hours (where Kindle can operate as long as one month with one charge), which is of course due to the LCD screen. This has not bothered me yet at all, but it might be a problem if you travel long periods of time outside the grid.

In order to buy books from B&N store, you will need to set up a VPN to US (for instance, hotspotshield) and set your credit card address to US. Then you can just buy books through the website and then refresh the device library to download them directly to your NC.

Another slight annoyance is that only books bought from B&N store are shown in the main screen, others have to be accessed through the library-menu.

Other than these points, the device is a very nice bang for your buck. One also has to remember that in addition of it having the best display panel in the E-reader market and clearly overpowered specs for reading alone, the Nook Color is also an android tablet with a lot of future potential. Highly recommended!

[earthpigborn]

^^ No need to sell me on the NC I'd grab it in a heartbeat if I needed a tablet but I'm looking for an E-Ink device. I was just wondering if the nook classic is worth the hassle of buying from barnes and noble from outside the US.