Where can I find ebook stores that let you download in Australia

[kerrys]

I am having a lot of trouble finding ebook sites that let me download. They all keep telling me this title is unavailable in your country. Driving me nuts. Any help would be great.

[mattsholtz]

You could buy a US Amazon gift card code from here http://instantgiftcards.net which gives you the gift cards claim code right away, and then go to the US Amazon site and buy whatever eBooks you want. Amazon does not ask for your address when using gift cards so you can shop on the US store with no problems.

[Hatgirl]

Originally Posted by kerrys

I am having a lot of trouble finding ebook sites that let me download. They all keep telling me this title is unavailable in your country. Driving me nuts. Any help would be great.

Ah yes, georestrictions

Here are a few of the stores that sell ebooks that are not georestricted, are sold in multiple formats and are DRM-free: Webscriptions, Fictionwise (their Multiformat ebooks), Wizard's Tower Books and Samhain Publishing. And of course there are lots of free, nicely formatted Public Domain texts here on the MobileRead site.

Apart from that: it depends on your ereader. Is it a Sony, a Kindle, or something else?

[jbcohen]

I believe, and forum members please correct me if I am wrong, that the issue here is one of franchise vs a centralized business. Franchises are stores such as Amazon and Borders, these have branches of their company in different countries and as such will require that you deal with the branch in your approrpiate country. Some branches of franchises are better stocked than other branches are as Kerrys has seen. On the other hand the centralized business are companies such as ebooks that does not have different branches in different countries and instead you buy from the same company no matter where you are and as such the catalog does not differ if you are in the US or the land down under. I believe that ebooks could care less where you are for sales purposes.

[Hatgirl]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I believe, and forum members please correct me if I am wrong, that the issue here is one of franchise vs a centralized business. Franchises are stores such as Amazon and Borders, these have branches of their company in different countries and as such will require that you deal with the branch in your approrpiate country. Some branches of franchises are better stocked than other branches are as Kerrys has seen. On the other hand the centralized business are companies such as ebooks that does not have different branches in different countries and instead you buy from the same company no matter where you are and as such the catalog does not differ if you are in the US or the land down under. I believe that ebooks could care less where you are for sales purposes.

Actually, the main reason publishers and ebook store owners give for georestrictions is that it's a legacy of the way the rights to publish a paper book would be sold piecemeal, e.g. the Harry Potter books are published by Bloomsbury Publishing in the UK and Arthur A. Levine Books in the US.

[abookreader]

As hatgirl said - the problem isn't the retailers. Every eBook retailer with an online portal, from Amazon on down to the tiny and unheard of would almost certainly rather not mess with geographic restrictions. They'd pretty much prefer to sell to anybody with a viable means to get money to them. However the Publishers require them to make a decent effort to honor the Geographic Restrictions.

The problem is geographic restrictions in regards to the eBook contracts. In eBooks, the Point of Sale is considered not the store but the residence of the buyer.

Publisher A might hold eBook rights in Australia but has never bothered to actually put out an eBook. Meanwhile Publisher B holds eBook rights in the US, and is selling away. And Amazon is put in the position of telling all those Australians who manage to track down the eBook "Sorry, you aren't allowed to buy that because YOU'RE AN AUSTRALIAN!"

There are numerous threads around on tricks and tips to circumvent the roadblocks. I could tell you that if I were Australian, I'd learn them.

[SirNose]

In terms of outlets that don't require circumventing, I've found kobobooks to have the most semi-decent selection, but that is still not saying much.

Back when I was deciding between the kindle or the kobo, I spent a few weeks searching through kobo (well, actually the borders australia site before I figured out it was cheeper to just go through kobo with their discount codes etc) and the kindle store and, while i did find a few books that were not available on either, I'm sorry to report that *none* of the books i looked for were available in australia through the kindle store. not one. (of course, this is just my taste in books, amazon may have a good taste filter for us aussies...). Most of them were available through kobo so I went epub.

It's so blo*dy frustrating to see all the US-ians on mobileread rave about the amazing selection of books on the kindle store. not to mention nook-ers talk about B&N. or sony-ites the sony store.

Australia - the ebook revolution. just not quite yet.

[amward]

Guess it depend on your reader and what format you need. I have had no trouble so far, I've used Be Write books, Diesel ebooks, Smashwords, Book Depository.

[neilmarr]

Try ours (linked below) for instance, Kerrys. DRM-free and no geographical restrictions. And now that you're a member here, you can take advantage of the offer in my temporary signature line and choose any two or three books free and gratis to kick off with. It's Read an Ebook Week after all. Give-away time. It's the ebook version of Christmas. Very best wishes. Neil

[sabredog]

You could also try Baen and Smashwords. DRM free and no geo restrictions.

[jehane]

Originally Posted by kerrys

I am having a lot of trouble finding ebook sites that let me download. They all keep telling me this title is unavailable in your country. Driving me nuts. Any help would be great.

Kerry, the problem is more likely from the publishers or authors - they have not made the ebook available in Australia. The reason you can buy paper books from overseas shops is that with paper, the point of sale is considered to be the location of the shop. So if the book is published in the USA or Equatorial Guinea, then you can buy it from a shop from those countries at their prices, even if it's not offered for sale in Australia. However for ebooks the point of sale is considered to be the location of the buyer (you), so you can only buy it if it is for sale in Australia.

If you are looking for specific books, if you have come across this message the chances are that it will hold for all bookshops. The only way to be sure of getting around it is to hide your IP address - it doesn't require high-level computer skills but if you're not comfortable with running scripts then it may not be the best solution. Buying from gift cards from any foreign online store is not guaranteed to work - Amazon has stopped me from downloading books in the past because my IP address showed I was in Australia.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by kerrys

I am having a lot of trouble finding ebook sites that let me download. They all keep telling me this title is unavailable in your country. Driving me nuts. Any help would be great.

There are actually several stores which sell without geographic restrictions.

As well as the ones already mentioned I suggest you google for:
Read Without Paper, Central Book Services, Double Dragon ebooks, and Direct ebooks.

Regards, Alex

PS Also Angus and Robertson, Dymocks, and Borders. Some of the major publishers sell or used to sell directly.

[kerrys]

Hey guys, I actually have a KINDLE, but am really pissed about the amount of restricted books I would love to get. I am actually trying to find a good ebook site for my friend who has a sony one. Can anyone tell me how to hide my IP address????

[sabredog]

Best way is a VPN service. OpenVPN is a possible choice.

[chamekke]

Originally Posted by mattsholtz

You could buy a US Amazon gift card code from here http://instantgiftcards.net which gives you the gift cards claim code right away, and then go to the US Amazon site and buy whatever eBooks you want. Amazon does not ask for your address when using gift cards so you can shop on the US store with no problems.

I'm confused by this advice. If you want to redeem a gift card, Amazon prompts you for your username and password - or to create an account, as the case may be. I'm pretty sure an address of some sort is a prerequisite to creating an Amazon account.

Am I missing a step or two here?