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Yapyap · 11-06-2012, 02:47 AM

The surcharge is there for many countries. It has nothing to do with where you are physically located and it has nothing to do with whether you have a WiFi-only Kindle or no Kindle device at all; it has all to do with what your country setting is.

If your country setting is set outside a country/set of countries with their own Kindle store or outside the major English-language markets (Australia, Canada for countries without their own Kindle store), you'll get the surcharge added, more likely than not.

Amazon DID remove it for free books about a year or year and a half ago - until then, all free books were $2.30 for me ($2 surcharge + 15% EU VAT). But it's still there for almost all non-free books, with the very occasional exception, in which case there is never VAT added either (I assume these are either glitches or deliberate decisions from Amazon), i.e. there is the very rare occasion that a $0.99 book will show as $0.99 for me, too.

It's difficult to tell this accurately from trad-pubbed books as the pricing there can depend on other things, e.g. it can just be higher because the publisher has set it higher for my country, but as a rule, a book that is $9.99 for Americans will be $13.79 for me in Estonia (which comes to exactly $9.99 + $2 surcharge + 15% VAT - yes, they're still charging 15% VAT from me in most cases, in spite of the Luxembourg change, and 15% isn't my country's VAT rate).

It's the most evident and easiest to tell with Kindle KDP published books, i.e. self-published via Amazon - a book that is priced $0.99 by the author will be $3.44 for me ($0.99 + $2 + 15% VAT), a book that is priced $2.99 by the author will be $5.74 for me and so on. And this is Amazon's doing, not the author's, as most self-pubbed authors have been completely surprised by being told how much their "very cheap" books cost for people outside the major markets (a $4.99 self-pubbed book will be over $8 for me, for example).

And yes, this is still going on - I see it every day. And from what I've heard from non-EU European customers, they get the $2 surcharge as well (no EU VAT added for them though, obviously), so for them, a $0.99 self-pubbed book will cost $2.99 and so on.

I'm an Estonian, with a WiFi only Kindle, and was charged the surcharge already when I had no Kindle at all and just used Kindle for PC.

When I change my country to either the US or a EU country that has their own Kindle store, e.g. France (while still staying in the Amazon.com store and shopping from there), the $2 disappears (although for the EU countries, the books do have VAT added, which is again the most clearly evident with Kindle KDP books, e.g. a book priced $0.99 will be around $1.14 etc).

It's got nothing to do with the customer using 3G or not; it has everything to do with the customer's country setting.

11-06-2012, 02:47 AM	#43
Yapyap Guru Posts: 861 Karma: 3543721 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Estonia Device: Kindle Paperwhite, iPad 3, Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge	The surcharge is there for many countries. It has nothing to do with where you are physically located and it has nothing to do with whether you have a WiFi-only Kindle or no Kindle device at all; it has all to do with what your country setting is. If your country setting is set outside a country/set of countries with their own Kindle store or outside the major English-language markets (Australia, Canada for countries without their own Kindle store), you'll get the surcharge added, more likely than not. Amazon DID remove it for free books about a year or year and a half ago - until then, all free books were $2.30 for me ($2 surcharge + 15% EU VAT). But it's still there for almost all non-free books, with the very occasional exception, in which case there is never VAT added either (I assume these are either glitches or deliberate decisions from Amazon), i.e. there is the very rare occasion that a $0.99 book will show as $0.99 for me, too. It's difficult to tell this accurately from trad-pubbed books as the pricing there can depend on other things, e.g. it can just be higher because the publisher has set it higher for my country, but as a rule, a book that is $9.99 for Americans will be $13.79 for me in Estonia (which comes to exactly $9.99 + $2 surcharge + 15% VAT - yes, they're still charging 15% VAT from me in most cases, in spite of the Luxembourg change, and 15% isn't my country's VAT rate). It's the most evident and easiest to tell with Kindle KDP published books, i.e. self-published via Amazon - a book that is priced $0.99 by the author will be $3.44 for me ($0.99 + $2 + 15% VAT), a book that is priced $2.99 by the author will be $5.74 for me and so on. And this is Amazon's doing, not the author's, as most self-pubbed authors have been completely surprised by being told how much their "very cheap" books cost for people outside the major markets (a $4.99 self-pubbed book will be over $8 for me, for example). And yes, this is still going on - I see it every day. And from what I've heard from non-EU European customers, they get the $2 surcharge as well (no EU VAT added for them though, obviously), so for them, a $0.99 self-pubbed book will cost $2.99 and so on. I'm an Estonian, with a WiFi only Kindle, and was charged the surcharge already when I had no Kindle at all and just used Kindle for PC. When I change my country to either the US or a EU country that has their own Kindle store, e.g. France (while still staying in the Amazon.com store and shopping from there), the $2 disappears (although for the EU countries, the books do have VAT added, which is again the most clearly evident with Kindle KDP books, e.g. a book priced $0.99 will be around $1.14 etc). It's got nothing to do with the customer using 3G or not; it has everything to do with the customer's country setting.