|
Hello,
I am a resident of Switzerland but mainly read English language books so the shortage of other language titles is not an issue for me. I travel a lot and have easy access to wifi hotspots. I am interested in buying the new WiFi only Kindle for $ 139, which seems to me to be an Amazon loss-leading marketing bargain, to be financed through book / magazine purchases of the new customers.
Partly because of the US-only availability of some material (in particular The Economist subscription) and the generally lower price of US titles, I would be interested in setting up a US account. I understand that this is very straightforward even if it might involve payment through Amazon gift vouchers to get around the problem of not having a US issued credit card for payments.
And now my question:
Is there still a $1.99 surcharge for US account holders buying material when outside the US and using WiFi only for connections? Is this surcharge intended to cover 3G roaming charges or actually a VAT / sales tax? I am very confused by this and also by reports I have read here that the $ 1.99 is being phased out anyway.
A second question (if anybody is in a position to answer)... if I set up a subscription to The Economist as a US account holder and then attempt to download the weekly issues in Europe where the subscription is not available, will this be possible or restricted because my hotspot / IP address is recognised as being outside the US?
I am not a techy despite my earlier-adopter interest and do not know how easy it is in practice to hide the IP address of my hotspot so that amazon.com does not see me as "foreign".
Many thanks for your advice on these questions.
Kindle seems quite fantastic as a way for me to obtain English language books at really competitive rates. Germany and Austria do not allow any discounting of current book prices by law (!), so Amazon.de competes by offering free delivery on purchases of over €20, but no discount on cover prices of German books. Imagine that!
The alternative for me is to buy books from amazon.uk or US and then incur high postage rates and / or import duties. It seems to me that Kindle offers me a great way avoid these costs.
Look forward to your answers and opinions,
Noosahead
|