Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Crouch
I've got to say my experience in Australia is very different.
There have been plenty of times that I've looked at a book on Amazon and found that they won't sell it to Australia. I've then gone around and looked at BooksonBoard, Fictionwise, Kobo, Diesel and others. I think in only one case did I find another store that would sell it to me.
Conversely I've found several times that Amazon is the only place that I can buy a particular book in Australia.
One thing I've heard though is that not all stores are equal when it comes to pretending to be in the US. Amazon and Kobo seem the hardest to spoof - they check IP address and credit card location. Others take less care - a friend told me he regularly buys from Fictionwise using a fake address, no VPN and using an Australian credit card.
Another difference is how the different stores show geographic restrictions.
Amazon won't show you a book in search results if the book is unavailable to your area. If you get to the book page (I usually get there by searching for "book title kindle"), it'll show you the normal page with "this title is not available to customers in Australia" where the buy button would normally be.
Kobo will show the title in search results, but will prevent you from seeing the product details page at all, replacing it with a generic page about geographic restrictions.
Fictionwise will show you everything. There's a small line on the product page that shows geographic restrictions.
Diesel will only tell you about restrictions at checkout time, removing items from your cart. It's extremely annoying.
BooksonBoard will show you book details. When you try to add a title to your cart the "buy" button is replaced by "not for sale in you country".
----
Anyway I certainly agree with the sentiment of not wanting to be tied in to both a particular store and a particular device. All other things being equal I'd prefer to have choice in both device and store.
Unfortunately all things are not equal, which is why I bought a Kindle.
Chris
|
Thanks Chris (I have posted another message to you down the page) for your info. What I would like to know is how the downloads work. If I download via computer, does that mean my monthly Telstra wireless usage is involved? I can't seem to get my head around how all this works. I live in country Victoria and we have G whatever it is phone coverage. Hope you can fill in the gaps for me! Thanks, Val