MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Content Buying from Amazon US, although in another country

mgmueller · 02-21-2013, 11:27 AM

The question "how to buy from Amazon US, when residing in Europe or Asia" pops up again and again.
There are lots of misunderstandings.

So, to briefly summarise:
You don't need VPN.
You don't need a foreign credit card.
You don't need gift cards.
You don't need various user accounts.
All you need to do, is change the country settings in your Kindle settings on the Amazon website.

Personally, I've started with a German account and added a German credit card with the respective German billing address and a German delivery address.

I'm using the very same German credit card and (valid!) German billing address, no matter from what country I'm purchasing.

If I want to buy from Amazon US or Amazon UK (those are the 2 countries I'm using in addition to my original German residency), all I do is switch to the respective country in the Kindle settings in my user account on the Amazon website.

And now the tricky part:
You only can switch to another country, if you've got an address there.
But: It only has to be a valid address, not your permanent residence.
I'm using my former employer's offices.
But rumor has it, never before have been so many residents living in the FBI headquarters, the White House and other addresses you easily can Google.

Meaning: If you've got some relatives or friends, take their address. It has to be valid, that's all.

You can switch back and forth between countries.
Sometimes I'm doing this 5 times per day: 1 ebook from the US, 5 minutes later another one from Germany.
As most of you, I'm not switching countries to reduce costs. Some books simply aren't available everywhere...

When switching countries, you should link your former purchases to that "new" country. You simply do so by clicking the respective link in the country settings.
This doesn't change a thing on your Kindle. Nothing will be deleted or re-downloaded. You just make sure, all your purchases are bundled together. Else you'd only see the purchases from Amazon Germany for example but not the ones from the US.

There are "horror stories" about Amazon shutting down accounts and such.
I'm switching accounts for more than 4 years now. I've bought about 800 books that way from Amazon. About 5 from UK, about 500 from the US and the rest from Germany.
Amazon US did contact me once or twice and wanted to know, whether I had moved recently and whether I wanted to change my account permanently.
I simply told them (and this actually is the truth, but shouldn't really matter), that in my projects I'm often spending months in another country and then sometimes switch my account accordingly.
They didn't contact me like that for at least 2 years now, though.

That's it.

BTW: This works in all directions. Not just for buying from the US. Theoretically, someone from the US could buy from Germany that way as well.

02-21-2013, 11:27 AM	#1
mgmueller Member Retired Posts: 3,308 Karma: 13024950 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Augsburg (near Munich), Germany Device: 26 Readers, 44 Tablets	Buying from Amazon US, although in another country The question "how to buy from Amazon US, when residing in Europe or Asia" pops up again and again. There are lots of misunderstandings. So, to briefly summarise: You don't need VPN. You don't need a foreign credit card. You don't need gift cards. You don't need various user accounts. All you need to do, is change the country settings in your Kindle settings on the Amazon website. Personally, I've started with a German account and added a German credit card with the respective German billing address and a German delivery address. I'm using the very same German credit card and (valid!) German billing address, no matter from what country I'm purchasing. If I want to buy from Amazon US or Amazon UK (those are the 2 countries I'm using in addition to my original German residency), all I do is switch to the respective country in the Kindle settings in my user account on the Amazon website. And now the tricky part: You only can switch to another country, if you've got an address there. But: It only has to be a valid address, not your permanent residence. I'm using my former employer's offices. But rumor has it, never before have been so many residents living in the FBI headquarters, the White House and other addresses you easily can Google. Meaning: If you've got some relatives or friends, take their address. It has to be valid, that's all. You can switch back and forth between countries. Sometimes I'm doing this 5 times per day: 1 ebook from the US, 5 minutes later another one from Germany. As most of you, I'm not switching countries to reduce costs. Some books simply aren't available everywhere... When switching countries, you should link your former purchases to that "new" country. You simply do so by clicking the respective link in the country settings. This doesn't change a thing on your Kindle. Nothing will be deleted or re-downloaded. You just make sure, all your purchases are bundled together. Else you'd only see the purchases from Amazon Germany for example but not the ones from the US. There are "horror stories" about Amazon shutting down accounts and such. I'm switching accounts for more than 4 years now. I've bought about 800 books that way from Amazon. About 5 from UK, about 500 from the US and the rest from Germany. Amazon US did contact me once or twice and wanted to know, whether I had moved recently and whether I wanted to change my account permanently. I simply told them (and this actually is the truth, but shouldn't really matter), that in my projects I'm often spending months in another country and then sometimes switch my account accordingly. They didn't contact me like that for at least 2 years now, though. That's it. BTW: This works in all directions. Not just for buying from the US. Theoretically, someone from the US could buy from Germany that way as well. Last edited by mgmueller; 02-21-2013 at 11:30 AM.